‘Single Drunk Female’ Recap: ‘Higher Parent’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episode Nine of ‘Single Drunk Female’. To revisit the previous episode, click here.
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Often times, stories revolving around addiction and the long road to recovery, tend to reach their conclusion shortly after a big milestone arrives for the former addict in question. Specifically, their one-year anniversary. For that is a long time to work on oneself and since they’ve likely had ugly confrontations with the people that hurt them and found stable love and a way forward by the time, they reach the podium for their one-year chip… what’s the point in continuing the story? For they have conquered their demons and the addiction that nearly destroyed them. So, what better time to have a moment of inflection and tear-filled joy about the journey before we fade to black? But while that makes for good storytelling for certain, the kind that forces the audience to wipe the tears away before going back to their lives… it once again portrays the recovery process in an incorrect manner.
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Because there is no fade to black in real life and there will be more tough days down the road for us, the kind where a former addict would turn to their new skill set to keep them away from substances, when the going gets tough. Plus, sometimes we don’t find a partner after going through hell and confrontation and amends sometimes end in a sour nature and we need to acknowledge that reality more often and that is why the Freeform series, Single Drunk Female, continues to impress. Because it never shies away from presenting recovery in the raw, and its latest episode is no exception to that rule. For ‘Higher Parent’ saw Samantha Fink arrive at her one-year anniversary for sobriety and rather than have her give her powerful speech and fade this story to black, this episode made it clear that such an important milestone signifies more than an ending, but a new beginning.

After all, this also meant the end of Sam’s probation period and with that closing out, she now came to realize that she was free to just live her life as she pleased once again and really explore what the world of sobriety looks like and it also allowed for her to realize… that the time had come to make amends with her mother and find peace there as well, and even that… had quite the realistic and surprising twist. Since Carol was actually open to the conversation and willing to make amends on her end as well. A move that shocked Sam to no end since she was expecting a sour ending to that conversation. But it just goes to show that sometimes making amends is easier than we think, because no journey to make peace with our demons ever ends the way we expect it to and kudos to the series for taking the time to offer up a realistic ending to a dark chapter in Sam’s life. 

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Plus, this episode also deserves a round of applause for showing us exactly what drives people to want to try substances and/or potentially abuse them and that was handled by way of Brit and Felicia. For Brit was feeling the pressure of her impending nuptials and a bold move on Joel’s part, pushed that pressure to the Nth degree. Which in turn motivated Brit to ask Felicia to help her buy some drugs and that led to a ridiculously hilarious sequence, wherein she and Felicia and Felicia’s dealer partook of mushrooms and got high as kites. But all hilarity aside, this sequence really did make it clear that drugs and alcohol are escapes over anything else and should never be seen as a cure or a fix, because they do have negative power if we see them as that and this was a fascinating examination to inject here, one that was lighthearted enough to help us to cope with the solo dark revelation in this tale.
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Because there was mention of the fact that sometimes our romantic endeavors aren't where we want them to be when we’ve emerged from dark times or in this case our recovery, and that was handled by way of James. Because despite getting the girl at last… since he and Sam indulged in their powerful mutual attraction shortly after the one-year chip ceremony… it didn’t take long for that fear of things going too well, that James mentioned he suffers from last week, to claim him here. For he fell off the wagon and went back to drinking, out of the belief that he was going to screw everything up. Setting the stage for an eventual showdown with Sam over such matters since this kind of secret cannot stay hidden forever and sadly, this really did remind us, that happy endings when we emerge into light really are reserved for fantasies and entertainment.

If anything, all of these elements made this a brilliant penultimate episode. One that took the time to teach us that the big moments in our lives really do wash over us without us knowing it and happen on unremarkable days, and it is the journey and the lessons it teaches us that matter more. Plus, this episode also made it clear that recovery from addiction is an going process, wrought with failure more often than we’d like and that addressing our root causes is the only way to properly find stability, and well… now that we’ve reached the end of this particularly harrowing chapter in Sam Fink’s life, it will be interesting to see what awaits her in the next one, now that is she firmly on the road to recovery and in control of her life at last. Until next time.  

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