Occasionally they arise series in which you would stay to live. Whether by tone, story or characters, when you see them you feel comforted and welcomed. And if, in addition, the series is remarkably good, better. This is the case of ‘Somebody Somewhere’, the HBO Max comedy.
Starring and produced by the comic Bridget Everett (‘Inside Amy Schumer’), we find the story of Sam, a 40-year-old woman who has returned to her hometown for family and tries to navigate the midlife crisis and reconnect with his surroundings.
It’s easy to relate ‘Somebody Somewhere’ with other dramedes of the same cut. In terms of themes, we can easily talk about ‘Puro Mississippi’ (‘One Mississippi’) by Tig Notaro, ‘Baskets’ by Zach Galifianiakis or even ‘Togetherness’ by the Duplass brothers (in fact, Jay appears and directs here). Modest series but they hit the nail on the head with what they want to tell in their personal growth story of their protagonists.
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The script of Hannah Bos and Paul Thureen take us through a heartfelt portrait of people who, for whatever reason, have slipped through the social cracks and make up a kind of community of marginalized, so to speak. Of people who have not managed to fit into their “primary” environment or who simply seek to change.
Something that comes as a consequence, in the case of our protagonist, of an end (or change) of stage, not professionally but in life itself, and I am not referring exclusively to the family tragedy. ‘Somebody Somewhere’ speaks with great tenderness and heart without looking for sensitivity or forced emotion. To give an example, there is an unsettled duel (or overcome) but the series is more concerned with the process of existential crisis.
Its protagonist may be resigned to her current life, battered by frustrations and cynically looking at the purposes and dreams of others, but neither series nor character they lose sight of the positive, bright, comic tone and quite honest in its intentions, without forcing predictable turns.
Nor does it lose exploration of the ties that are formed from certain ages and the transformation of these. Mainly we can talk about the friendship that is born between Sam and Joel (Jeff Hiller) and the relationship between Sam and his sister Tricia (Mary Catherine Garrison), with whom he finds it difficult to find common ground. Both are strong points of the series.
In short, ‘Somebody Somewhere’ It is a jewel that deserves to be discovered. Without a doubt, one of the best dramedies so far this year with a successful script and well-defined, complex and fantastically acted protagonists.