The Pain and the Hilarity of Being a ‘Single Drunk Female’

Getting sober is no easy task. This was explained in vivid detail in the first season of Freeform’s comedy, Single Drunk Female. When viewers first met 28-year-old Samantha “Sam” Fink (Sofia Black-D’Elia) she drunkenly assaulted her boss at work, which set off a chain-reaction of chaos. Sam was sentenced to community service, went to rehab, and moved back in with her mother in the suburbs of Boston. It was a huge wake-up call and one that finally took for Sam—she finally got sober.

As the series confidently enters its second season, Sam is a year and a half sober, but her struggles are nowhere near their end. (The series premieres Apr. 12 on Freeform, where two new episodes will air weekly. All episodes will be available to stream on Hulu beginning Apr. 13.) Sam burned many bridges with family and friends. This season digs into how she manages those relationships—and a few new ones—all while staying sober.

Like its first season, Single Drunk Female continues to give an unflinchingly honest look at the struggle to maintain sobriety, and much of this is in part thanks to creator Simone Finch, who’s sobriety journey the series is based on. One might find this to be a surprising topic for a comedy series, but there are plenty of laughs. In fact, it’s the show’s uncanny ability to perfectly blend humor and heart that is one of its greatest strengths.

Season 2 holds no punches back, kicking off with a big blowout 29th birthday party for Sam, who now has a steady job working for Hit Pause, an online news outlet in Boston, and finally feels like celebrating her existence. This is a big step up from where we first met Sam in Season 1 (see above). The party features a few exes—Joel (Charlie Hall) and still-not-sober former flame James (Garrick Bernard)—a new love interest, Alex (Ricky Velez); her ride or die, Felicia (Lily Mae Harrington); and rekindled bestie, Brit (Sasha Compère).

With two exes at one party, it’s safe to say that Single Drunk Female establishes the show’s tangled web of romantic relationships right off the bat. And all that drama doesn’t disappoint. Aside from her love life, however, things look to be smooth sailing for Sam. But life is never really smooth sailing, is it?

The problems come one by one for Sam, who desperately tries to hang onto her sobriety through every curve life seems to throw at her. It starts when her former boss, Nathaniel (Jon Glaser)—yes, the one she assaulted in Season 1—returns and becomes her boss once again. Then, her sponsor, who has helped her so much to stay sober, moves away. And finally, the biggest of all, she and her mother, Carol (Ally Sheedy), have a huge fallout.

Single Drunk Female is a delightful show, but it really shines when it explores the complexities of the mother-daughter relationship. This season, it dives deeper into that dynamic between Sam and Carol, coaxing out brilliant and heart-breaking performances from both Black-D’Elia and Sheedy.

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Though the tension between Sam and Carol had been simmering since Season 1, their relationship finally implodes when Carol unforgivably violates Sam’s privacy. Carol’s actions have catastrophic consequences, but this massive fallout provides Carol with the opportunity to reconcile her own feelings towards her daughter and sets her off on a poignant path of rediscovery.

It’s not often you find a TV series about a young adult that really knows how to portray two perspectives of a relationship—especially between a mother and daughter. But that is exactly what Single Drunk Female does. It never places the blame wholly on one person, instead showing how two people who care for and love each other can better themselves to salvage their bond.

There is a particularly moving moment in Season 2, where it’s Carol who hits rock bottom. She has pushed everyone she loves away and doesn’t know what to do, so she tearfully seeks help, taking a brave first step that not many people would take. It is here where Sheedy shines the most. She has always brought so much life and emotion to Carol, but watching her devastation in that moment really takes a toll on the viewer. It is impossible not to feel empathy for her, despite being aware that she was the one who got herself into this mess. Sheedy’s work as Carol this season is so masterful that it will probably compel you to give your own mother a call—once the tears stop flowing.

Single Drunk Female is chock-full of wonderful performances. Black-D’Elia continues to flawlessly portray the ups and downs of a young woman struggling with life’s complications and sobriety. She brings so much sharp wit and humor to the show, but it is the quiet, reflective moments—especially with Sheedy—that really show her fantastic range.

The power of Sheedy and Black D’Elia’s performances are especially on display in the season’s flashback episode, which takes place at Sam’s father’s Shiva. The event was much discussed in Season 1, but never seen. Those events in the episode are interspersed with another mournful event happening in present day, highlighting that Sam has never really grieved her father—or anyone, for that matter. The episode, which has a delightful cameo from Molly Ringwald—gotta love a little The Breakfast Club reunion—gives audiences a deeper understanding of the history and baggage that Sam and Carol must wade through to reunite.

There is no weak acting link in the cast of Single Drunk Female. Harrington, who never gets sidelined as just the funny friend, packs a powerful punch this season with her own dramatic storyline. Whether she is making you swoon with her singing, or forcing you to laugh and cry about all her relationship drama, Harrington commands your attention. Compère stuns with her portrayal of a young divorcee trying to juggle being friends with her ex, pleasing her parents, and moving on with her own life.

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Bernard, who was a wonderful example of sobriety to Sam in season one, is magnificent as he struggles to get sober once again. The addition of Busy Phillipps as Sam’s grand-sponsor (the sponsor of her sponsor) to this fun cast is very welcome, as she provides some much needed moments of levity in the back half of the season.

In its second season, Single Drunk Female never falters. It knows exactly what kind of show it is and delivers. You will laugh, you will cry, and you may even learn something about yourself. More importantly, you might finally let yourself understand, as Sam and Carol learn, that life is a journey.

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