Single Drunk Female’s Samantha Finke (Sofia Black-D’Elia) is a strong new addition to television’s recent trend of hot mess protagonists from shows like Fleabag or Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. These shows tell the stories of clever, competent women coming apart at the seams, struggling to put their lives back together. In the tradition of its predecessors, Single Drunk Female is honest about the grueling work of being a better person. Unfortunately, pacing problems are getting in the way of the most revealing minutiae of Sam’s journey.
The first three episodes of Single Drunk Female take place in the first thirty days of Sam’s sobriety, and they are appropriately messy. We meet Sam at her lowest (drunkenly assaulting her boss) and follow her through rehab, community service, moving home with her mom, going to Alcoholics Anonymous for the first time, backsliding, and finally committing to sobriety. It’s a lot of material for three episodes, but that’s also where Sam is on her journey: unable to recognize herself as a genuine alcoholic, she wants to fast-track the process. She tries to skip steps and make amends with her ex-best friend Brit (Sasha Compère) before she’s ready, and wants to rekindle a sexual relationship with sober pal James (Garrick Bernard) despite his warnings about early-sobriety relationships. She learns the hard way why certain rules and suggestions are in place for recovery. By the time she receives her 30-day chip, she has achieved a measure of acceptance for the process.
Unfortunately, the fast-track approach doesn’t stop there — but this time, it’s not Sam rushing the process, it’s the show itself. Episode 4 jumps forward a full 30 days; after witnessing every painstaking moment of her early sobriety, we’re suddenly missing a huge chunk of her journey. For any show, a time jump is a risky maneuver, as the device runs the risk of missing crucial character development. This is all the more obvious for a show just finding its footing, like Single Drunk Female.
In "Shamrocks and Shenanigans," Sam and her sponsor Olivia (Rebecca Henderson) exchange platonic, "Love yous," a level of closeness the audience didn’t get to see fully develop on screen. When we last saw our heroine, she was begrudgingly proud of getting her first chip, and an episode later she suddenly considers her sponsor one of her closest friends. Episode 5, "Sober for the D and V," speeds up even faster, bringing us a full 120 days ahead (at Sam’s 180-day sobriety mark). More promising developments have been introduced — like her new, sober friend group of James and Mindy (Jojo Brown), or the tentative repairing of her relationship with Brit — yet not fleshed out. As a television viewer, one can’t help but feel frustrated at the loss of time with our main character.
The fact that the time we’re missing out on is crucial to Sam’s sobriety journey makes it all the more frustrating. As the excellent first three episodes demonstrated, there is so much worth exploring in Sam’s early sobriety. We’re not just missing out on relationship and character development, but the development of coping mechanisms and sobriety tools. There are lessons that can only be learned through making mistakes and putting in the work, but the show passes over these rich storytelling opportunities in favor of skipping to cleaner milestones.
Recovery can be a process of rediscovery. Olivia tells Sam at her six-month sober celebration, "You’re just emerging from sobriety survival mode. … But you’re not a walking nervous system anymore. You’ve settled in for the long hall, and all the normal feelings are coming back." Of course, this stage has its own challenges, and it’s a positive step forward for the character. But the audience missed out on a lot of "sobriety survival mode," which could have made for compelling (and oftentimes relatable) storytelling. We miss key moments of Sam figuring out who she is as a sober person.
None of this is to say that Single Drunk Female hasn’t done a good job of depicting a young woman’s sobriety journey. Only that the pacing choices so far in the first season don’t do justice to the fullness of that journey. Of course, we don’t need to spend every day with Sam, but ideally, there would be some middle ground between witnessing each agonizing moment of her sobriety and skipping over months of her life.
Recovery is a lifelong process, and there are plenty of stories to tell along the way. This is also evidenced by the supporting cast of sober allies who support, uplift, and sometimes complicate Sam’s journey. Focusing on the early days of her sobriety isn’t to detract from the joys and challenges that one can experience with more chips under their belt. But the series introduced us to Sam at the very beginning of her journey, and it only feels right that we should be with her during every messy, difficult stage. As Sam quickly learned, there’s no reason to rush through the steps – it’s about the journey itself, not the six-month-chip destination. Like its protagonist, the show should slow down and take its time discovering what it really is.