The first two episodes of the second season of the critically acclaimed HBO dramedy series “Somebody Somewhere” have premiered, and the wonderful story about Sam and her friends and family continues as she makes some changes and tries to juice the joy out of her mundane yet special Kansas life.
Spoilers Ahead
Episode 1: The Overhaul
The series begins, and we catch Sam and Joel enjoying their mornings together with a walk. There have definitely been some big changes in everybody’s lives. For starters, Joel put his house up as a rental residence and decided to shift with Sam. In Sam’s life, the overhaul looks something like this: she works at a jewelry store, her father decided to sell the farm after getting convinced by her, and her mother is still in rehab because of her alcoholism, but the change is that her alcohol issue seems to have been replaced by a cigarette addiction. The awesome choir parties at the church in the mall have been put on hold for the time being.
Sam’s sister, Tricia, also goes through some rough changes. She sold her store to pay for her daughter’s education and now works at a department store. Shannon, her daughter, is all grown up and ready to bid her farewell as she leaves for college. The vacuum left by her departure on top of the recent divorce with Rick (who cheated on her with her business partner Charity) proves quite a challenge for her, but with Sam and Joel around, she manages to have a good time without sulking at this newfound loneliness.
A letter arrives from Sam’s father, Ed, listing out the responsibilities related to the barn. Sam takes charge but is suddenly overcome by an intense emotion while cleaning it out as it reminds her about her father’s entire life. He didn’t enjoy anything; he just spent his energy in the barn taking care of the family farm. The barn reminds her of her whole life in a way, as she now has the responsibility of cleaning it out herself.
Fred Rococo returns from a sabbatical and is delighted to see Sam and Joel’s new arrangement. Joel moving in with Sam does them both a world of good. Their bond deepens, and nights become less lonely and more fun.
Episode 2: Sneaky Fred And Pupil Sam
Now that the choir party fun has been put on hold, Sam and the gang decide to entertain themselves by playing cards. While they are playing, the gang is visited by a complete stranger, Susan. Well, she may have been a stranger to the rest but not to Fred. It turns out that Susan is Fred’s fiancée, and they are planning to get married soon. Stunned by the revelation, they are all bamboozled by Fred’s nonchalant disclosure of their relationship. Before they get all judgmental, they are disarmed by Susan’s nature as they together begin telling their love story thus far. All are quite shocked to know about Fred’s discrete vacations, which they knew to be for visiting Fred’s mom, but the actual reason for them was now sitting at their table.
Fred asks Sam and Joel to be of service on his wedding day. He asks Joel to officiate the proceedings, while Sam is asked to be the singer on an auspicious day. Delighted but having a few reservations about accidentally butchering such an important day for Fred, Sam hesitates at the request, but Fred talks her into it.
Days pass, and everybody returns to their routine lives. Sam senses anxiety building up in her leading up to the wedding. The last thing she wants is to somehow botch up the proceedings with a poor rendition of a classic song. She even makes Joel listen to the song she chose to sing at the wedding. Working at the jewelry store, she is serendipitously told by the store manager that his daughter takes singing lessons from Miss Darlene Edwards, who is quite the name in Kansas. He invites Sam to his daughter’s fall recital, where Sam would have a chance to meet Darlene. She asks Joel to accompany her to the event. At the get-together after the event, Sam finally asks Darlene for lessons, and she agrees. Joel and Sam return to Sam’s house and have a bit of gross but hilarious tummy trouble.
Episode 2 Ending – What Happened To Joel And Sam?
At the event, Sam and Joel feasted together on a strange dish. At the time, they didn’t find anything fishy, so they ate a mouthful. Upon their return, like a thief in the night, a diarrhea attack sneaks up on them, and both find themselves in their respective rooms’ toilets. In a bizarre case of unusual intimacy, they both talk on the phone while their diarrhea episode reaches its climax. The dish must have obviously gone stale, but the gluttonous Joel and Sam couldn’t resist and paid the price, but it must be said they extracted the laughs out of it, that’s for sure.