Bridget Everett reveals why Sam’s voice sounds extra special in the Somebody Somewhere finale.
Somebody Somewhere Season 3 is a big season for Bridget Everett’s Samantha Miller. She opens her heart to new experiences, including pursuing a relationship with the mysterious Iceland (Ólafur Darri Ólafsson), whom Everett sees as a little like Sam.
“He’s a loner and keeps to himself,” says Everett. “He’s very handsome and quiet and a little odd and those are all things that are little magnets for her. Obviously, I’m glad she got the courage to do something about it.”
Right! Especially since it takes her a while to get the guts to go after things she wants, like adopting a dog. Everett says that was Sam’s first step toward taking a chance on love: finding a furry friend.
“Then she sits back and rolls the dice, and the dog’s gone. And it’s so devastating because it took so much courage for her to walk in and take a gamble on love.”
Kind of like Joel (Jeff Hiller) did in the first season when he adopted a dog and wasn’t ready. Dogs definitely represent love on the Peabody Award-winning comedy series.
“They are a big deal! We’re all dog people on this show.”
Somebody Somewhere and Its Closed Loops
Of course, dogs aren’t the only things that come full circle in this final season. In Season 1, Sam catches Rick (Danny McCarthy) cheating on her sister Trisha (Mary Catherine Garrison) and worries about revealing this information. Now, in Season 3, Rick becomes yet another reason to bond them when Trisha gets an STD from her ex! In one of the funniest scenes of the series, Trisha asks Sam to look at her nether regions to help her identify the pain.
“When we were talking about how to show the growth of their relationship, I was thinking about how when I was little, my sister showed me how to put a tampon in. That kind of intimate moment. Mary Catherine was so funny that day. I couldn’t get over it!”
In addition to Trisha’s health scare, Sam discovers she has to start looking out for herself after a visit with her doctor.
“I don’t think she’s cared enough about herself to take care of herself. So having someone sit there while you have a gown that won’t close in the most undignified way and having someone you’ve known for most of your life as a family doctor telling you you need to take care of yourself, she’s probably ignored a lot of that, but also probably ignored a lot of herself not to take care of it. I love that moment for her. It’s another thing forcing her to go back into her hole or take a step and change.”
Given that her mother Mary Jo (Jane Brady) neglected her own health, does Sam fear she’ll turn into her?
“I definitely think Sam doesn’t want to turn into her mother. She had great comfort with her sister Holly. That was her person. Then she lost her and now her dad’s sort of gone, too. She really struggles with the relationship with her mother and doesn’t want to end up like her.”
Somewhere Somebody Song in Finale: It’s The Climb!
Throughout the series, people always ask Sam to sing, but in the finale, she invites her friends for a private performance of Miley Cyrus’s “The Climb.” Everett says that there’s a reason her voice might sound a little different in this final scene.
“Early on in other episodes, I might not have warmed up as much or might not have worried about a perfectly polished vocal because Sam is not a trained singer. But ‘The Climb’ is something I’ve sung many times, and it’s so much fun. She’s having a good day and that’s kind of enough for her. She’s somebody who doesn’t have a lot of good days. She invites her friends and makes a decision to sing for other people when normally people ask her to sing. It’s a small triumph for her. And when you’re feeling that good, you’re gonna sing a little better.”
But Everett doesn’t see this as Sam starting a new singing career anytime soon. She works to live rather than lives to work.
“Sam is not somebody who wants to sing at Carnegie Hall. I see her as somebody who’s happy working at the bar because she’s happy. She’s not going to try to go off and get a real estate license. She’s more driven by finding happiness with the people around her and trying to find a little more self-worth every day.”
All episodes of Somebody Somewhere are streaming on MAX.
