Single Drunk Female season 2 review: Messy but maturing

Once a Single Drunk Female, always a Single Drunk Female: That’s the lesson of the second season of Freeform’s 12-step comedy, premiering April 12. Samantha Finke (Sofia Black-D’Elia) is struggling to accept the things she cannot change, number one being that she sometimes still behaves like a drunk even when she’s sober. There’s a certain relief in being able to explain (or excuse) her worst behavior by pointing to her disease, but there’s also frustration in not being fully “healed” at this stage of her journey. Especially when some of those 12 steps are more difficult than others.

Sam has gotten comfortable and confident in her sobriety between seasons, but these new episodes quickly strip her of her crutches (most notably her sponsor, played by Rebecca Henderson), leaving her once again on shaky ground. It’s more difficult for Sam to get through the hard times because she never connected with a higher power, choosing to put her faith in places far more human and fallible. Here’s where the show is most brilliant, explicating for a wider audience just what it means for an alcoholic to need a higher power and what that could be. For some in her group, it’s a traditional church-bound capital-G God. But that’s not what works for Sam, which serves to illustrate how every person’s journey is different even as it complicates her already complicated life.

Despite her struggles, Sam’s character development is evident in the new season, with clear examples of her setting boundaries and making healthier choices (of course, there’s plenty of unhealthy ones, too). But as her bestie Felicia (Lily Mae Harrington) points out, alcoholics don’t have a monopoly on bad behavior. Her friends can be just as selfish, dishonest, and immature, and they don’t have a 12-step program and built-in community to fall back on. That support system makes a world of a difference for Sam and for her mother when Carol (Ally Sheedy) finally agrees to check out Al-Anon.

The new season does share a flaw with the previous one in that time feels quite slippery in the world of Single Drunk Female. Somehow, it’s been two years since Sam first hit rock bottom. Sometimes weeks will go by between episodes, while a single conflict in Sam’s relationship, presumably lasting a few days at most, stretches across multiple episodes. Much like the way the first season hurtled through Sam’s sobriety chips, this season speeds through James’ (Garrick Bernard) recovery as he falls off the wagon and figures out how to get back on. There isn’t enough time in these 10 brief episodes to dwell on interesting concepts like his attempt at consuming in “moderation” and the potential pitfalls of his chosen method.

Perhaps also due to the low episode count, the show stumbles on an occasional plot contrivance, like the shuffling of bosses at Sam’s new job, which begins to feel like an unrealistic effort to drum up drama in her life rather than a logical way for an organization to be run. This similarly applies to the sudden friendship between Joel (Charlie Hall) and James, who are now for some reason basketball buddies, even though the only time we’ve seen them before was when James showed up drunk to Joel’s wedding at the end of the first season. It comes across as a thin excuse to give two side characters their own plot lines.

Regardless, it’s impossible to fault Single Drunk Female too strongly when it remains consistently funny, clever, and affecting. Much of the success can be attributed to the performances from D’Elia, who ably carries the show with caustic everywoman charm, and Sheedy, who brings pitch perfect realism to the role of the overbearing mom who doesn’t even recognize the way her actions hurt her loved ones. The mother-daughter relationship is the aching heart of the show, and a fundamental wound for them both. Though the guest stars are pulling their weight too: A Breakfast Club reunion delivers a sharp performance from Molly Ringwald as Sheedy’s sister-in-law, and Busy Phillips has a fun turn as Sam’s unconventional new mentor. We would’ve liked to see more of Mindy (Jojo Brown), who gets sidelined as a quippy voice of reason without a real story of her own, but in general the supporting cast is solid with lots of thoughtful avenues to explore when the plot momentarily turns away from Sam.

With a strong cast and a relatable story unlike any other currently being told on television, Single Drunk Female has a lot to offer in the second season—and hopefully beyond. It only wants to luxuriate a little more in Sam’s journey, to experience more deeply those highs and lows. But to be messy and imperfect, beautiful and entertaining all at once—that’s Sam’s story in a nutshell.