Better Things Review: No Limit (Season 3 Episode 5)
On Better Things Season 3 Episode 5, “No Limit,” Sam faces some biological realities which force her to examine her life.
If I had to draw a comparison between menopausal women and snowflakes, it would be that no two are alike. No woman experiences the exact same physical or emotional symptoms for a predetermined amount of time.
While plenty of celluloid is devoted to the male mid-life crisis in varying forms, a woman’s “change of life” doesn’t receive the same attention.
Because Better Things is creatively helmed by a middle-aged woman, viewers get to see at least a part of Sam’s reaction which is a mix of her signature inappropriateness, dry humor, disbelief, relief, and some fear of the unknown. The process isn’t reduced to a woman behaving erratically while sticking her head in a freezer.
Let’s start with the painfully obvious: there’s nothing dignified about menopause. Sam takes it on the chin when her doctor tells her “you’re degenerating.” I mean, ouch. His horrible puns like “gland finale,” or his metaphor about a reproductive “fourth of July” would be enough for me to consider switching to another physician.
Sam’s not easily offended. She shrugs it off and gets a bit of revenge when she points out the fine line between a pelvic examination and finger banging is a thin layer of latex. His face says it all, and while Sam isn’t trying to be provocative, it feels like a point for the home team.
If you have any interest in getting an inkling of what goes on in the mind of an accomplished woman in her late ’40s early ’50s, “No Limit,” takes you there. We’re the reproductively and physically undesirable, and we know it.
We may be happily married, sticking it out for the kids or financial reasons, in a monogamous partnership, or divorced. We’ll always be caretakers whether our nest is empty or not.
When women hit 40, we become invisible or a joke. A group of older women who flirt are cougars. But we’re not only in on the joke, we wrote the punchline. We’re painfully aware as Sam puts it we’ve “aged out of our men,” becoming desirable to only those 60 and above or young men with mommy issues.
Sam and her friends know they’ve hit a time when they look as good as their ever going to look, feel as good as they’re ever going to feel, made choices they regret, and now they just want to drink wine, laugh, and blow rails in the bathroom.
There’s chatter about making sweeping changes, but when the booze wears off, and the hangover kicks in, we are where we are. Wisdom will never be a fair trade-off for youth and vitality. Don’t let Oprah and all those other charlatans fool you.
Seeing Sam meltdown is validating. Here’s this attractive, cool chick who finally hits a wall. Anyone watching can empathize, even if they don’t have three less-than-perfect daughters and a grating mother.
Maybe my affection for Sam is so effusive because I am a woman in my late ’40s. It’s nice to see someone who’s getting it right, even if it’s just for 30 minutes a week.
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.