Alcoholism is a disease, and a comedy show dedicated to letting the viewers know, coupled with humor, that too much alcohol consumption could be harmful to the extent that it would affect not just them physically, but also the people around them. It is as difficult to get over alcohol dependency as it is to get out of drug addiction, or any kind of addiction for that matter. “Single Drunk Female” talks in detail about one character amongst many who are unfortunately addicted to alcohol and presents the story of a woman who is deep down in alcoholism and how she recovers and goes through her ups and downs repeatedly to be able to finally conquer this disease. Created by Simone Finch, the story is a tale of a young, educated, employed girl who goes from bad to worse when it comes to intake of alcohol and how she must make some big changes in her life to combat this big problem. A Hulu original, “Single Drunk Female,” Simone Finch’s retelling of a story from a female perspective, is a fresh approach.
‘Single Drunk Female’ Season 1: Recap
This ten-episode comedy show begins with Samantha Fink arriving at her office drunk, and her having a meltdown in front of her boss in the wake of her alcoholism, who fires her. Unable to accept the fact that she has been fired from her job, Sam ends up badly injuring her boss in the process. Drunk early in the morning, she is escorted out of the office. Post this incident, she faced a lawsuit that cleared her of many indictments, and in return, she ended up spending mandatory time in rehab to combat her big problem at hand. With Sam losing her only job in New York, she is forced to move back to Boston to live with her mother, Carol Fink, who herself is territorial about her space and has a set of rules for her only daughter. Sam reluctantly moves back to her mother’s home; she knows her mother and Sam herself have had a difficult relationship since her childhood, and right now, they are trying hard to accommodate each other. Carol is happy to have her daughter back, but she is a strict person herself and considers her boundaries to be sacred. Since both have lost a male figure from their lives, which is Carol’s husband and Sam’s father, to cancer, their relationship has kind of taken a turn for the worse.
With Sam back in Boston, a situation both are happy with; they start to be around each other and adjust and factor each other into their lives from now on. Sam Fink, within 24 hours of getting out of rehab, manages to get drunk with her high school friend Felicia and confronts her former best friend Brittany for having a relationship with and getting engaged to Sam’s ex-boyfriend Joel. Sam never got over the fact that Brit started dating her ex-boyfriend, and ever since, she has stopped having a relationship or having a conversation about this topic. Brit apologizes many times at the bar where she is celebrating her bachelorette party. Sam, under the influence of a lot of alcohol, ends up damaging not just her car but also another bus that was hired by Brittany for her party. Sam spirals, and she ends up facing jail time for her misdemeanor. Her probation officer ends up putting forward a solution that would take up to a year out of her life, but Sam will have to come out sober and sorted if she follows the plan allotted to her.
Sam tries to find a way to get out of this mandatory plan for herself, but she ends up having no choice but to live in Boston with her mother and must give time to Alcoholics Anonymous, spend time doing community service, get a job in Boston to keep her income coming in, and stay away from alcohol as much as she can. Sam has no idea how she will manage living in Boston, the place where she grew up and where everyone knows her. It starts as something very difficult for her, but slowly she gets the hang of the work assigned to her, and Sam starts fitting in.
She starts working for a local grocery store thanks to the connection provided by her sponsor, Olivia, who herself is going through a struggle with her marriage. Olivia and Stephanie are planning to have kids through IVF, and they have their own set of issues they must sort out that might affect their marriage. Sam runs into James at AA, who has a memory of having spent an evening together drunk, but Sam has no memory of it. They become friends and start helping each other control their urge to drink at any given moment. Olivia, Sam’s sponsor, plays a major role in Sam’s life by bringing some sort of clarity of thought and understanding of how she should lead her life from here on.
Since she has moved back to her hometown, Sam will have to face her past, which includes her friend Brit. Sam is aware of the fact that she was unfair to Brit for getting into a relationship with her ex-boyfriend. As suggested by Olivia, on her path to recovery, she will have to apologize to as many people as she has hurt during her drunken bouts Sam would have to begin by making amends with Brit, not just with words but by actions as well. Sam tries to be there for Brit during the wedding dress shopping and tries to communicate the fact that she wants to be there for her as a friend. Brit is not sure what Sam wants from here at this point, so she does not trust her at all. Brit keeps Sam distant but eventually realizes she means well. Brit and Joel end up inviting Sam to their wedding.
Brit and Joel, on the other hand, are going through a difficult phase with their wedding planning. They seem to have stopped communicating, and Brit ends up wondering if she is doing the right thing by getting married. They disagree about the topic of kids and building a house, which again makes Brit and Joel have second thoughts about whether they are meant for each other at all. Sam’s other friend, Felicia, comes across as a party girl, but she ends up being there for Sam in her hour of need. Felicia works at a salon, and she has a young kid, but that does not stop her from having the time of her life. Sam and Felicia end up disagreeing on what Sam wants, but they patch things up and become each other’s best friends for life from here on.
Sam and her mother have friction in the beginning days of her moving back over her mother dating a man named Bob, but she soon realizes her mother needs to move on, and Sam becomes more accommodating of Bob in their lives. Sam’s life soon starts getting organized, thanks to Olivia, who makes sure Sam does not spiral. Her making amends with her friends and mother over her past behavior is all credited to Olivia, who wants to be there for Sam as much as she can. Sam is also offered a job in New York City by her former boss, seeing that she is recovering well. Sam ends up rejecting the job offer because she realizes her job would end up taking her down the old path, which she wants to avoid at this point. Sam has made great progress being sober for months, and she wants to stick to the schedule. At this point, she does not want to disappoint anyone.
Along with Sam, James also joined the AA. Initially, Sam is attracted to James, but he rebuffs her moves because he does not want to get involved with anyone from the AA group. They become fast friends and try to be there for each other when they try to rebuild their professional lives. An episode is dedicated to why James started drinking and what made him join AA. James comes from a privileged family, and he was the prodigy kid of the family who loved him to bits. This kind of family pressure for him to be perfect led him to alcoholism. His brother helps him join AA so that James can finally deal with his issues the right way. James and Sam end up liking each other and begin a relationship. But the pressure of being in a relationship pushes James to again take up alcohol, which he hides from Sam. Sam ends up getting everything right, and she finishes a year sober, a milestone she never thought she would reach. Sam is more than happy with her life right now. With things being okay with James, her mother, and Brit, nothing could go wrong for her, except it does.
Brit reveals that she and Joel started falling in love when they were trying to be there for Sam during her father’s cancer diagnosis and ended up sleeping with each other on the night of her father’s funeral. This puts Sam on the back foot, and she takes a leave from the wedding ceremony. On the same day, she learns James has started drinking. James tries to pacify her by making it look like it was a small setback for him and them, but Sam has no trust in James anymore, and she ends up leaving the wedding without him. Sam is not sure if she can be with someone who lied to her. It was not James’s relapsing that was the issue, but his lying to her about being sober, all while making her rethink the entire relationship. It is not known if the couple took a break or broke up, but Sam surely wants time away from James to sort out her priorities, one of which is staying away from alcohol.
Brit reaches Sam’s home and breaks down over the fact that she went through with the wedding, and she is still not sure if she did the right thing by marrying Joel. Brit still has her doubts about him, and she leaves the wedding festivities halfway through just to be able to have a conversation with Sam, who she knows is the only person who would be honest with her. Sam calms Brit down. Season one of “Single Drunk Female” ends with old best friends Brit and Sam ending up spending the night playing video games and not talking about the issue at hand. Brit is also not in the mood to carry on the conversation at all. At this time and place, they know they are there for each other, and they can just exist without having to speak about their problems in depth.
“Single Drunk Female,” though it has its issues, does the job of talking about how alcoholism affects not just one person but all the people around them, be it family or friends. Sam spirals multiple times, and she gathers the strength to come back strongly. She has a group of people who are there for her at her worst times, which includes Felicia and her sponsor Olivia. Sam has a lot to look forward to, and she has the right people around her now.
What To Expect From Season 2?
The first season of “Single Drunk Female” ended with Brit realizing that her wedding had happened, even though she was still not sure if Joel was the right man for her. She seeks out Sam because she is the only person who would be honest with her. Sam, on the other hand, breaks things off with James after he begins to drink again, and lies to her about it. Her dynamics with him would be the key plot point of the second season. Brit and Sam start understanding each other once again. Sam would be there for her, and Brit would slowly begin to trust Sam once again.
Brit, Sam, and Felicia will probably form a bond in “Single Drunk Female” Season 2, and the girls will go through their own set of ups and downs. Felicia, who was set up with Brit’s colleague, will end up having a good time with the man. Hopefully, the man would not end up having a quality that would be a deal breaker for Felicia because she has a son to consider as well. Sam’s professional life will probably take off in the second season, for she will certainly find a calling for herself. Something that would not force her to resort to drinking alcohol. Alcoholism is a bane to anyone’s existence, and Simone Finch will make sure to talk about and discuss in detail why it is necessary not to overindulge in it.
