It’s been nearly a year and a half since we last checked in with our friends in Manhattan, Kansas, but the first teaser for Somebody Somewhere’s third season makes it feel like almost no time has passed. The last time we saw the Midwestern besties Sam (Bridget Everett) and Joel (Jeff Hiller), it was their friend Fred’s (Murray Hill) wedding, and Sam was performing a triumphant rendition of Laura Branigan’s “Gloria”. It was a moving moment and one that could have worked as a series finale if it had to. Thank god it didn’t, and that they have one more outing.
While the first look at season three is brief—as in, about 30 seconds long brief—it certainly promises a return to the form the first two seasons established. Sam jokes about squeezing her breasts into an infant’s onesie labeled “World’s Smallest Fanilow.” She knocks a bottle of wine in her sister Tricia’s (Mary Catherine Garrison) direction at a dinner party. When Joel has what looks to be a diarrhea emergency, Sam yells, “Here, I’ll help!” and, baffled, he responds “What are you talking about?” After a few bumps in the road in season two, their relationship seems stronger than ever.
Somebody Somewhere, of course, is a show about community; both the process of finding one, and about this very specific group of largely queer people in what is sometimes dismissively called fly-over country. “You know, it’s just different people in a different place—or, the same people in a different place, really. Since I’m from Manhattan [Kansas], I feel very committed to trying to make it as Kansas-y as possible.” Everett told The A.V. Club last year ahead of season two’s premiere. “We want our show to be not snarky, but kind of wear its heart on its sleeve and let that be cool again. Is that cool again? Probably not.” Whether or not it’s “cool,” it’s certainly beloved, both by its audience and by critics; it returns for season 3 as a Peabody Award winner. The fact that Somebody Somewhere is ending is bittersweet, but hey, the show itself is bittersweet, too.
Somebody Somewhere returns to HBO on October 27.
