Adlon was discussing her new show, Better Things , which had just finished its first season. Adlon went on to explain that the actress, Hannah Alligood, was nothing like Frankie. She had to work hard to capture her voice, body language, and energy. I knew trans characters should be played by trans actors. And I knew trans people were certain of their transness long before they turned I was right about only one of those things. The next two years Better Things joined shows like Transparent and One Day at a Time β shows I adored but that carried an asterisk for casting a cis actor as their most prominent trans character.
Like those shows, Better Things cast trans actors in other parts β notably Jen Richards and Ser Anzoategui β and, additionally, had a trans editor, Debra F. But that asterisk still existed. It felt like such a shame, because Better Things was otherwise a remarkable show. From the beginning, people framed it as a sort of female version of Louie β Louis C. Better Things may in fact be the female version of Louie , but only if male and female are played out to their most basic cultural extremes.
Frankie, her older sister Max, and even her younger sister Duke can all be nightmares like teenagers are prone to be. Frankie leaves home and completely shuts Sam out. Sam desperately wants to be there for her child, but Frankie responds with increasing cruelty. She chooses instead to spend time with the character played by Ser Anzoategui. Luckily, Better Things has never been conventional. Season four starts with Sam picking up Frankie and Duke from the airport after a visit with their father.
The tension from the previous season seems to have subsided. It seems as if the show is dropping everything it built in the previous season. Once again Sam just has daughters.
Frankie even wants to celebrate her womanhood. Sam walks in on Frankie in bed with a boy. I started to wonder if someone had talked to Adlon and told her to drop this storyline. I felt relieved, but also saddened by this supposed dequeering of Frankie. Because discussion around trans youth is still so fraught, the stakes can sometimes feel too high for complexity.
