Better Things has a feeling of such understated authenticity that is so unlike most other shows. In general, when shows try to be "real" they shove it down viewers' throats and then pat themselves on the back, but Better Things, despite being almost entirely made up of small, authentic moments, never draws attention to itself. It's a humble show, and that's one of the reasons I'm quickly falling in love with it.
I have to point to the episode's main setpiece, the dinner scene (which will likely take up the bulk of this review). This scene is going to be remembered for Phil's casual racism (more on that later), but that doesn't happen until about half-way through the scene. Beforehand, the scene revolves around Frankie trying to tell an embarrassing story about Max, while Sam and Max try to stop her. And everything about Frankie trying to tell this story rang so true. Just like any kid her age trying to tell a funny story, Frankie's recounting of the embarrassing moment is almost incoherent and full of laughter, shouts, and stutters. I was having a hard time following it until the last line, which was likely intentional. The kids in Better Things speak like actual kids, and kids are terrible storytellers.
But while I love little details like that, the highlight of this episode is how much it gets right about modern day racism, which is, of course, most clear in Phil's uncomfortably long monologue at the dinner table in front of Lenny Kravitz's Mel. This scene is so wonderfully awkward, but it also captures perfectly what racism looks like today in the developed world: an underlying, subconscious prejudice against black people (I actually think Mel was being a little generous when he said that this prejudice only applies to those over 70. From my experience growing up in Dublin, it's probably closer to 50 than 70). But what made it even more perfect was Sam's original dismissal of Mel's suspicions. Sam is a progressive, enlightened woman, but she can never truly understand.
Now that I think about it, I think that as a whole this episode was far more outright dramatic than the show's previous two instalments, including Sam's epic take-down of Jeff, the terrible husband of her friend Sunny, a scene that had a layer of tragedy underneath the humour. But while this episode was more dramatic, the first couple of minutes had me laughing harder than I even have at the show, with David Duchovny's cameo being perfectly bizarre. He even gets the episode's best line. After finding some Tibetan prayer beads, he insists to Mel on wearing them in the movie, saying "I know it doesn't match, but continuity's for p*ssies" (I'm not sure if I can write that word on the site, so I'm playing it safe).
I also want to quickly address the character of Frankie for a little bit. Last week in the comments someone mentioned that perhaps she has some sort of psychological condition, and so I paid extra attention to her in this episode. And I have to say that this theory has some credence, and I am now a firm believer that there's more to Frankie. My theory at the moment is that she has OCD (the handshake with Mel seemed to indicate this), but as I said in the comments, I doubt the show is going to make a big deal out of this.
Grade: B+
