Funny Woman Season 1 Episode 4 Review

Well that didn’t last long. On Funny Woman Season 1 Episode 4, Sophie and Clive’s relationship is a media hit. Too bad Clive’s still a jerk and is soon revealed to be a cheater, too.

Things don’t hit the fan right away. For most of the episode, the new couple is happy in their shared spotlight, save for a few self-righteous groups and a near-discovery by Clyde’s mother. The cast and crew seem on top of the world, too.

There are a few group nights out (soon noticed by Dennis’s wife), and a new potential role for Sophie. Her family arrives to watch an episode be filmed. And then, right when Clive suggests moving in together, Sophie sees photos of him and another woman together.

After a brief depressive spiral, Dennis encourages her to pick herself back up and use humor to literally hit Clive where it hurts. The scenes are hilarious, the audience is amused, and nobody is any the wiser until Sophie tears into Clive over a live mic. Oops.

Given his attitude when we first met him, Clive’s actions aren’t really a surprise, but they are a disappointment. For a moment there, he almost seemed like a decent guy, even if a tryst behind the scenes of a hit sitcom was likely doomed from the start.

I know this rockiness is truer to life than bliss amongst stars and that carelessness toward the emotions of others fits a class of privileged celebrity that Clive represents. Still, I can’t help feeling like the show is creating a villain where it doesn’t need one.

The “fish out of water” circumstances still create enough drama on their own, and plunging Sophie into the deep end through a mess like this is all the proof we need. As ever, triumph comes with immediate pitfalls thanks largely to the nature of the industry.

As much as we’d like to simply be able to celebrate Clive suffering a bit of deserved humiliation, the varied reactions of everyone overhearing the conversation tell us that there’s going to be fallout, possibly at the expense of the show itself.

This very public romantic demise also means we’re probably going to be dealing with the undertones between Sophie and Dennis sooner rather than later. They may not play out this season. They may never play out if this show isn’t renewed. But they are there.

We’re seeing in stark terms what happens when an affair catches the attention of the public. I’ve already expressed my own discomfort with the possibility of (more) infidelity, but this reminder that it can destroy both careers and lives seems especially timely.

I do love Dennis and Sophie’s chemistry together. I’d like to think there’s a path forward for them that takes it’s time and is fair to their characters, but that feels like a tall order in this world. The spectacle of it all is exhausting for everyone.

Thanks to the strength of the writing and acting, all of this upheaval does work, from the tabloid worthy plots to the slapstick gags. I just don’t know how much more we could face in the last two episode of the season, and I’m a bit nervous to find out.

 

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Funny Woman airs Sundays at 10/9c on PBS.

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