ABC
(Season 2, Episode 1 – Season Premiere)
Our favorite amnesiac on TV is finally back! What I was looking forward to the most before the Samantha Who? premiere was the return of Regina Newly in my weekly TV lineup. The character, played by Jean Smart, is one of my favorite ones on TV today. She is a sometime evil lovable neurotic woman, I grew to enjoy over the past season.
I don’t know about you, but before watching the premiere, I didn’t care about what happened to Todd and Samantha over the hiatus. And I certainly wasn’t on the edge of my seat awaiting to see what Dena and Andrea were up to. Both are nice characters but, since their background hasn’t been developed much in the first season, how can we really care about them? What I was really eager to see was what Regina would do this week. Luckily for me, she delivered the goods.
Ah! Finally, Samantha moves out of her parents’ home. It’s not an easy feat because Regina and Samantha grew closer in the last year. Regina is quite affected by Samantha leaving the nest. Howard even has to tell her “Regina, release!” when the latter can’t let go of her daughter. Some people would probably think that Regina was overreacting here. Sam is a grown woman and it’s not like this was the first time she left home. But imagine losing your kid after they moved out the first time.
Regina didn’t really lose Samantha but Old Sam never attended Thanksgiving dinners, didn’t go to the Christmas gatherings and sent her assistant to parties. So in a way Regina lost her daughter for years. In the past year, Regina got Sam back. Regina was able to resume her duties as a mother. She nutured Sam back to mental health (including reteaching how to peel an orange), helped her through the obstacles and challenges of suffering from amnesia, etc. From Regina’s point of view, Sam going back to her apartment is like seeing her kid move out for the first time.
Even if the Dancing with the Stars cross-over in the episode was mostly a stunt to have people stay and watch SW?, I must admit that it was fun to watch mother and daughter practice for the competition and actually perform their routine. Christina Applegate and Jean Smart must have had a blast doing these scenes!
The scenes with Andrea and Todd were a tiny bit amusing but nothing to write home about. Dena and Chapman, who are still together, were merely extras in the episode. If the show wants us to care about these characters, they’ll need to give them more background.
No matter if the scenes with the supporting characters were not much, I still enjoyed the episode and will keep tuning in to Samantha Who?
What did you think of the episode? Do you think it’s time we get back stories for Andrea, Dena and Todd? How about Frank? Let your voice be heard in comments below.
Clacked by Isabelle Carreau 
on Oct 14, 2008 @ 11:20 EST5EDT
