‘Somebody Somewhere’ Season 2’s Best Love Story Isn’t a Romance

Shoving two people together in front of a camera and calling them “friends” doesn’t always translate well to television—actually, it rarely ever does. In a sense, we’ve collectively become so accustomed to what television friendships look like that we’ve forgotten that they’re really nothing remotely near the close friendships that we have in real life. Hannah Bos and Paul Thureen‘s Somebody Somewhere has managed to showcase two unlikely best friends, and it’s sort of hard to figure out just how they were able to pull it off. Somebody somewhere must’ve had a gut feeling.

In life, you’re lucky to find even one person who you can glance at across the room and absolutely break down in laughter over the most minor look that they just gave you. And the thing is, we’ve become a bit brainwashed into believing that that person has to be a romantic life partner. Thankfully, Somebody Somewhere is here to show you that the person you are looking for is actually your platonic best friend.

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The Key to a Solid Friendship Is Laughing About Nothing

Sure, Sam (Bridget Everett) and Joel (Jeff Hiller) were an unlikely best friend match up, and while many different shows portray these types of unexpected duos, what separates Sam and Joel is their extraordinary ability to make something out of nothing, usually by way of laughing about that very nothing. They could be taking a lunch break at work, jogging in the park, or making cocktails in the kitchen—it truly doesn’t matter where they are or the circumstances they are in. They can find a reason to laugh—and even more so, a reason to continue on.

Both Sam and Joel have spent a great deal of time toiling over the different aspects of their lives as 40-year-olds in Kansas, from relationship and family regrets to just not having everything (or maybe anything?) figured out yet. Whatever the issue is, though, it gets completely thrown out the window when they’re together. Being in each other’s company reminds them that there’s no reason to be upset, regretful, or anything else. It reminds them—and us, as the audience—that there’s more to life than just a preexisting checklist that we’re doomed to keep working our way through.

Real life typically isn’t as set in stone, predictable, or dramatic as it appears in other television shows, or just in our idealized visions of society. That’s one of the many reasons why Somebody Somewhere is unlike a lot of what we see on TV. It doesn’t depend on dramatic, sit-down conversations or spur-of-the-moment, drunken heart-to-hearts to show its cards and prove that these characters have a genuine connection. The series proves that it’s in the otherwise unremarkable moments of daily life where real friendship is found. Those tiny moments—when put together—reveal larger images about each person and how they’re able to almost perfectly mesh together with remarkable ease.

Even though both Sam and Joel initially thought that they were on opposite sides of the social spectrum, upon meeting at work back in Season 1, they quickly realize through small interactions that they had quite a bit more in common than they originally thought. While Joel had always revered Sam from afar during their time in high school choir together, Sam didn’t exactly have the same feelings about Joel. “I knew I recognized you!” Sam says to Joel while at work. “No, you didn’t,” Joel says, smiling. “I didn’t,” Sam finally admits. That same brutal honesty—and the ability to laugh at that brutal honesty—is what carries Somebody Somewhere, and what makes their dynamic so authentic.

‘Somebody Somewhere’s Role in the World of HBO Television

When someone who has never watched this series asks what Somebody Somewhere is all about, it’s almost tough to come up with a solid sentence that sums up the entire show. While it might seem more cut and dry than a show like, say, Succession, it’s actually a bit more complicated than we think. Instead of focusing on the more physical, tangible things that we see with our own two eyes, the guts of Somebody Somewhere comes through in its subtle moments.

Towards the end of the first episode of Season 2, Joel is shaking up a cocktail in the kitchen while Sam walks in and starts singing a random song about martinis. As Joel shakes to the beat of her song, the cap of the shaker flies off, sending the two into an absolute eruption of laughter. Afterward, they sit around the kitchen and break down everything that they did together that day, and even though all they did was jog around the park, talk on the phone, and hang out at Sam’s sister’s house for dinner—things that are, on paper, far more realistic than they are flashy. But that’s the charm of Somebody Somewhere. They aren’t going on an elite business trip to Norway like in Succession. They are laughing, existing, and embracing their flaws.

Somebody Somewhere doesn’t keep viewers coming back in the same way that a show like Succession does. Fans of Succession will spend an entire week arguing about different theories in anticipation of the following episode. But what keeps us coming back to Somebody Somewhere is practically the opposite. Though it’s a smaller time commitment with regard to episode length, it’s like taking a much-needed breath of relief in opposition to the inherent stress that comes along with viewing a more high octane, heightened series. Instead of winding ourselves up, Somebody Somewhere unwinds us and reminds us of what’s actually important in life.

At one point in the first episode of Season 2, Joel runs after Sam in the park to tell her that he loves her. Over and over again he says “I love you,” all the while Sam keeps running away from him and laughing, not wanting to hear him express that sort of thing to her. Though Sam is a bit more closed off to the more out-there type of love than Joel is, it doesn’t stop him from constantly reminding her that she is, indeed, loved—and more importantly, capable of being loved. Though some might dismiss this as a forgettable moment, the essence of friendship peeks through brilliantly. After all, what’s the point of having a best friend if you can’t chase after that best friend in the park and yell to the world that you love them?