Note: This story contains spoilers from “Somebody Somewhere” Season 3, Episode 7.
“Somebody Somewhere” sang its final song, and Bridget Everett said the uplifting performance made for the HBO comedy’s perfect unplanned ending.
After three seasons of laughter, music and big emotional lows, the critically-acclaimed series from Hannah Bos and Paul Thureen ended its run with Everett’s Sam inviting her friends and loved ones to a celebration at her bar, where she sang a tearjerking rendition of “The Climb” by Miley Cyrus.
The song also served as the perfect bow to tie up a standout seven-episode season of “Somebody Somewhere,” which followed as Sam, a grief-stricken but lovable resident of Manhattan, Kansas, made huge strides to grow her confidence — and even found a romantic connection in her family farm’s tenant Iceland (Ólafur Darri Ólafsson).
The fact that Sunday’s episode, titled “AGG,” was not originally intended to be a series finale makes the performance even more poignant. Everett, who also served as an executive producer, said that “The Climb” was always meant to be the closing moment of Season 3, and producers didn’t change a thing about the episode when they learned it’d mark the end of the series.
“The first thing we talked to our music supervisor about was, “Whatever our music budget is, we have to have ‘The Climb.’ I’ve been singing that song for years and I just love the message of it. It is a little on the nose, but it’s really fun to sing and it matches the moment perfectly,” Everett told TheWrap.
“Maybe we’ll get to do a movie or something one day where we can wrap it up the way that I pictured in my head,” she added. “ But I think this is the best season. I’m really proud of it and that’s hard for me to say. I’m never proud of anything.”
Co-star Jeff Hiller said his “neurotic mess” self first sent him into a frenzy when he learned the news of the show’s cancellation. He agreed, however, that the finale episode ended up sticking the landing by leaving viewers with the characters just continuing to live their lives.
“I really loved that we had that beautiful scene where Joel tells Sam, ‘You’re my person,’” Hiller said. “We upheld this weirdly radical thought that a friendship can be a beautiful bond and be enough. I love that even though Joel found romantic love with a different person, he’s not giving up on that beautiful friendship he found later in life.”
Bos told TheWrap that changing the ending wouldn’t have felt right for the spirit of “Somebody Somewhere.” But having the characters gathered for the performance was just right anyway, given the role that music played in “unlocking” Sam’s journey of recovery throughout the show’s run.
But the finale did give Sam a much-needed full-circle moment with her sister Tricia (Mary Catherine Garrison). The pair gathered after realizing they had forgotten their late sister Molly’s birthday, whose death first brought Sam back home at the start of the series. The heart-wrenching scene followed as they grappled with the sadness surrounding the loss, while also celebrating the fact it helped them grow closer than they’ve ever been before.
Beyond the sister breakthrough, Sam and Iceland proceeded in establishing their own romantic relationship. Tricia was busy working on planning a lavish cancer research fundraiser with a rich investor, while Joel spoke up about the compromises he’d made in his relationship with Brad (Tim Bagley) and made moves to return to his journey of faith by visiting his former minister.
“I love how the season ends and that it’s like a springboard for the characters to just grow and live on forever,” Thureen told TheWrap. “We can imagine where they are, 20 years from now, Sam and Joel are still sitting in cars together. There’s some comfort in that.”
All episodes of “Somebody Somewhere” are now available to stream on Max.
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