The Best Show You Aren’t Watching: Somebody Somewhere

I’ll fully admit to missing the boat on Somebody Somewhere when it came out in January. Sure, I’d heard it was something special – and when it was renewed this spring by HBO, I heard how thrilled my fellow critics were at the news – but I never got around to watching it until last week. And boy, am I glad I did. This small, simple, honest-to-a-fault series absolutely captured my heart and I suspect it might do the same to yours if you give it a chance.

Somebody Somewhere follows Sam (a sensational Bridget Everett, who just walks away with the series), a middle-aged woman who has returned to her Manhattan, Kansas hometown to care for her terminally ill sister. After her sister’s death (which precedes the start of the series), Sam is unmoored and unsure if she can continue living in a town she feels wholly out of place in. Add in that her family – including her loving if gruff father Ed (the late, great Mike Hagerty), alcoholic and deeply in denial mother, Mary Jo (Jane Drake Brody, doing great work with a difficult character), and self-absorbed sister Tricia (Mary Catherine Garrison, excellent in the part) – aren’t able to overcome their homophobia and acknowledge the crushing loss of their daughter and sibling, well, there doesn’t seem to be a lot of upside to Sam sticking around.

But then she unexpectedly reconnects with a former high school classmate, Joel (Jeff Hiller, the heart of the series), and gets pulled into his colorful, kind, and loving group of friends (including the electric Murray Hill as Fred Rococo, who I would watch an entire series about), and Sam starts to see her new life in Manhattan as more than just something to survive.

Stories about the failings and difficulties of family and how a found family can fill in the cracks – and help soothe the pain created by those we are related to by blood – aren’t new. But this series offers a twist on the old “family is what you make it” trope in that it looks to explore the shaky foundation of Sam’s biological family while allowing her the space to branch out and try to find her “people” within her hometown. This isn’t presented as an easy ask for the character – her immediate family has tons of issues that they have been more than willing to overlook for literally years that come to a head throughout the season – but it’s a necessary one for her to grow and change (necessary steps for any protagonist). Similarly, Sam’s growing friendship with Joel – fittingly, she doesn’t recall him from high school even though Joel vividly remembers her – is another slow burn reveal within the series. Yes, they come together early in the pilot, but Sam’s own fears about reaching out and becoming close to someone after the loss of her sister mean that it takes her a bit of time before she really understands how to be a good friend.

And really, that’s what Sam’s journey is all about in this first season – learning how to become a better friend. She’s shown to have truly wonderful attributes – after all, she was willing to drop everything to care for her late sister after the rest of her family failed to heed the call. But how does one pull oneself out of the depressive spiral of that loss? How does one recognize that friendship isn’t something that needs to be transactional – that all it takes is vulnerability? Those are lessons Sam needs to learn – and, similarly, Joel needs his friendship with Sam to help him to better understand that his own wants and needs are just as important to his life than catering to those around him. There are some serious co-dependent vibes in the Joel-Sam relationship that the show tackles later in the season. Most importantly, however, the series makes a case for the necessity of love – familial and fraternal. This isn’t a series about romantic entanglements – although they do factor into a key subplot that sees Tricia and Sam finding common ground after several false starts – but it’s about the deep emotional connection between family and friends.

If you’re looking for a series that will make you laugh, tear up (yes, I did tear up while watching the season finale – there’s a scene that’s just perfect, and beautiful, and so fully earned), and really fall in love with its characters, you owe it to yourself to spend a weekend binging Somebody Somewhere. It’s like a warm, slightly sarcastic hug that will bring some joy to your day. It’s also excellent television – expertly written, directed, performed. But, as the year comes to a close, you’ve earned the right to watch a show that will make you feel good about yourself, life, and how you move through grief into understanding and acceptance. This is that show.

Somebody Somewhere’s first season is currently streaming on HBO Max. A second season has been ordered by the network.