Better Things Review: Nesting (Season 3 Episode 3)
On Better Things Season 3 Episode 3, “Nesting,” Sam entertains family and friends, including Jeff (Greg Comer) and his new girlfriend, Reiki (Sharon Stone).
“Nesting” returns viewers to the warm chaos that is Sam’s home where she’s always the consummate hostess. Everyone is welcome, and on this particular occasion, that includes a rented monkey. Just a little reminder that nothing in Sam Fox’s life is ever completely mundane.
The lives of the characters on the show often evolve, and viewers don’t see the changes until after they occur. It’s as if the cast are people we hang out with but don’t get to talk to every day. So when we see them after an absence, their lives have undergone changes both big and small.
Phyllis (Celie Imrie) has a “special friend,” Walter (Harrison Page) which is slightly shocking since Phyllis can be unapologetically racist.
Jeff is moving on from Sunny (Alysia Reiner) with an older woman, Reiki, who has been dating him just long enough to find all the personality traits his ex-wife hates about him charming. Jeff is in for heartbreak because Reiki is so beyond his league, but they’re full of big plans that new couples love to make but never come to fruition.
“Nesting” does a great job in demonstrating the awkwardness mutual friends feel in the presence of a divorced couple. Jeff and Sunny are doing their best at consciously uncoupling, but beneath the thin veneer of civility, there’s a deep rotten cavity filled with lingering pain and resentment.
Also on the menu is family drama. A phone call with Max hints that Sam’s oldest will be returning home sans a degree. This is a far less surprising than Max making it into college in the first place.
While Sam tries to keep one baby bird from returning to the next, she’s also struggling if she should be kicking an old bird out — Phyllis. It would be so easy and forgivable if Sam simply dumped Phyllis off in assisted living. But like the complexities of their mother-daughter relationship, the easiest choice doesn’t always feel like the right one.
Sam continues to be unimpressed and pragmatic when she talks about the supposed blockbuster she’s currently filming, but there’s been one interesting development off-screen. As if Sam doesn’t have enough women in her life, she clicks with an attractive power lesbian on set, Mer Kodis (Marsha Thomason).
When Sam and Kodis’ connection turns to flirtation, Sam immediately makes it clear she’s straight, Kodis is neither embarrassed nor dissuaded.
Why Sam feels the need to lie to Tressa (Rebecca Metz) about Kodis’ intentions is muddled. Sam obviously worries her agent feels threatened by this pretty competitor who has the reputation of flipping straight women.
Maybe Sam doesn’t want to give Tressa the satisfaction of being right, or Sam can’t quite wrap her head around how she really feels about the situation, so she doth protest too much.
Sam insists she’s all about the “D,” and we’ve never seen or heard anything to indicate otherwise. Sam’s sex life and desirability aren’t ignored on Better Things, but they don’t factor significantly into storylines.
But there is a connection between Sam and Kodis which may turn out to be platonic, romantic, or something in between. One of the most interesting things about Better Things is we may never know.
What did you think of this episode of Better Things? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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Better Things airs Thursdays at 10/9c on FX.
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Jennifer Lind-Westbrook
Jennifer has been working as a freelance writer for six years, contributing to BuddyTV, Screen Rant, TVRage, Hidden Remote, Gossip On This, and PopMatters. She prefers binge-watching old episodes of The Office (British and American versions) to long walks on the beach. She's still holding out hope that Happy Endings will get a revival.