I was definitely intrigued by this comedy drama series from Amy Schumer back when it dropped on Hulu last year, but there are just so many dang shows out there! But finally I made time for Life & Beth and was quite pleased with the outcome.
Though not quite as simplistic as Somebody Somewhere, it made me feel a similar way while watching it. Beth is approaching 40, thinking she’s happy as a fairly successful sales rep for a wine company, content in her six year relationship with co-worker, Matt, and has an okay relationship with her mother. All of these things change when her mother suddenly dies in a car accident at the end of the first episode. From there, Beth, along with those closer to her, can’t understand why almost two weeks later she still hasn’t cried about it. Beth is at an emotional standstill. All it takes to kind of push her out of it though are two things: Matt proposing to her, and meeting a socially awkward farmer, John.
John is blunt in a way that makes most people a little uncomfortable, but Beth finds it refreshing. It’s in his presence that she finally breaks down in tears about her mother’s death and realizes that maybe she’s not as happy as she’s fooled herself into believing. From there, she makes a series of changes, but they seem to be a total 360 to how she was living before. I understand wanting to start fresh, but I think Beth was just changing a lot for the sake of change, still not aware of what she wanted out of life. It’s finally when she goes to address some back pain in an MRI machine that we finally get a full look at her adolescent life.
Like most people, it was filled with lots of very high stress events. Her father is an addict, only there sometimes for his kids, and her mother is an endless flirt, never committing to someone for too long. It’s her mother’s first relationship, with her best friend Liz’s father, that really wrecks her life, and from there she just keeps making choices that aren’t really best for her. It’s this episode where Beth finally makes some big realizations about her life and starts taking small steps to make things right.
Amy Schumer and Michael Cera have really great chemistry, and I think it’s even more neat that it’s meant to represent the relationship she shares with real-life husband, Chris Fischer. The series got picked up for another season, so I’m excited to see what’s next to come for this little slice of life show. If you enjoyed Somebody Somewhere, give this one a chance!