A Recap of the First Half of Season Two of ‘State of the Union’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episodes 201-205 of ‘State of the Union’.
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There are, a great many situations in life that we fear and would prefer to never deal with. For instance, the thought of losing our job is both scary and frustrating since it would put undue stress and uncertainty upon us. As would watching a loved one suffer through a difficult illness. But of the many life events we dread, there are two that hang in the back of our minds above all others; the death of someone we love, for obvious reasons. But also… the possibility of seeing a long-standing romantic relationship come to an end. Because when you’ve vested years in a person romantically and revealed yourself to them and vice versa, and made that powerful connection with them, the thought of that ending is downright terrifying.
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But there is a chance that the day might come when we drift from our partner and we have to reconcile the reality that they might not be around anymore, despite making years of memories with them and well, that difficult aspect of life is top of mind today, because it is the subject of the SundanceTV series, State of the Union. For the second season of this brilliant series made its debut on Monday and has aired a total of five episodes since and well, now seems the perfect time to examine the first half of season two and what it has to say about drifting apart from a person we love. Specifically, what can cause said drift, and one reason as to why it begins in the first place… is because we simply do not grow as individuals. 

For when we meet Scott and Ellen in this new season, they’re in therapy and working toward seeing if their relationship is salvageable and well, what Ellen sees in regard to that, has her concerned to say the least. Because while she has worked to experience life and see what it can offer, her husband has remained stagnant. In fact, Scott is more or less stuck in the past, those golden years when men were men and had no feelings nor talked about them and his desire to just forge ahead and pretend as though the status quo is the way to go… speaks volumes to the point in question. Because now, they have nothing in common and they’re not working toward similar romantic goals anymore, they’re on their own respective paths and going through the motions.

Speaking of that desire to keep feelings at bay, that brings us to the second examination as to what makes us drift apart and that is, a lack of being in touch with one’s emotions. Because Scott really is about as detached from them as it gets and because of that, his icy demeanor and inability to speak from the heart has all but pushed his wife away and what’s worse… is that he tends to project his emotions more often than not when they do appear. As evidenced by how he’s now lashing out and causing trouble in therapy, putting the whole process in jeopardy in a desperate attempt to keep control of feelings he is terrified of experiencing. And well, both of these elements make for a powerful character study on modern toxic masculinity and all the incorrect and destructive expectations we project upon men, regarding how they should act and what they should feel. 

But above all, what truly makes these first five episodes so compelling, is that they all harken back to the biggest reason of all as to why relationships deteriorate and drift. In that, there’s no communication here and there’s been little effort to use it until this exact moment, and that really is the fundamental to maintaining a healthy relationship, and, in the end, this is a brilliant segment of this story. Since it leaves the audience eager to see if a grand split between two people that do indeed care about one another is going to take place or if reconciliation is in the cards. Plus, it features some powerful moments and conversations that are relevant to the times and realistic and well… the good news is, we don’t have to wait much longer to see what resolution awaits us on the horizon. Since State of the Union returns for its second half of season two on Monday, February 21, 2022. Until next time.

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