What was "Alarms", the latest episode of Better Things, about, exactly? At first glance, that's a hard question to answer, given how much this episode bounced around from storyline to storyline seemingly at random, with no apparent direction. At first, this episode seemed to be merely a collection of (really great) individual scenes that didn't necessarily add up to a larger whole. We got a little bit of Sam's family life, how she spends the little bit of free time she has, and some of her work life. But what tied it all together?
Early on in the episode, I thought the show had returned to explore Sam's fear of ageing, a theme it had already dipped into a couple of weeks ago. But as the episode went on, that analysis didn't really match up. You see, what this episode was really about was sexism, and all the small moments of it women encounter every day. And maybe it's because I'm a man and so don't share the same experiences, but it took me a little while to realise that not only may "Alarms" be the best episode of Better Things yet, but also it's angriest.
In almost every encounter Sam had with a man in this episode she was objectified, with each scene having a sexually aggressive undertone. The episode opened with Sam going to an art show, where a man casually flirts with her only to walk off with a much younger woman. Jesse, the young man playing Sam's son on a sitcom pilot, can't help but see her as an object of his own sexual desires, and feels comfortable enough not only to tell Sam of his erection, but to show her too, in the episode's most blatant example of sexual assault. Sam's co-lead on said pilot calls her "a hottie", if she had tits, and then goes on to talk about how he, being the male lead, has all the pressure of the pilot placed on him.
But what this episode also does is explore the roles society has forced upon women, and places Sam in said roles. At the department store, a woman tells Sam how lucky she is to have three daughters. Sam's role in the new pilot is that of the loving housewife, the on who has to play scenes straight while her co-stars get the funny lines (if you could call those lines funny). Sam's ex can't help but see her as a hawkish shrewd who won't let him see his kids, despite her being more than reasonable with him. And, in perhaps the most devastating example, Sam's friend Sunny, a smart and successful woman, can't build up the courage to leave her cheating husband Jeff, who has done nothing but drag her down and treat her like sh*t for as long as they've been married . This really was one incredible episode of television, and one of the angriest I've seen in while (and, considering what has been dominating the news recently, it feels especially relevant).
Grade: A
