Please Like Me continues to be fantastic with another funny and emotional episode. In Coq Au Vin, the gang welcomes back Claire (Caitlin Stasey), returning from a working stint in Hamburg, and sadly says goodbye to Adele, Josh’s “transgendered” rooster. Chronicling the demise of Adele, the episode is broken up into passing days beginning with Tuesday, the day after the night before i.e. the MDMA incident and the end of Alan and Mae’s relationship. This particular Tuesday could’ve been a day of contemplation, Alan’s speech the previous night had a lot of weight to it, yet all attention was on dear Adele and her inevitable execution. It’s actually quite endearing how much thought they put into how to best handle Adele’s situation since it’s more thought then they give to some of their own choices. In the end, they decide to kill her themselves than let some stranger do it.
Meanwhile, Tom and Ella’s relationship appears to be heading in the right direction. Initially she had a slight manic pixie dream girl vibe about her but, and this is the beauty of the show, in just one scene we are given quite a lot of character development that makes them all more human. Still reeling from Claire’s insults, Ella seems quite self-aware in that she knows the main reason she feels hurt is because Claire is pretty. Her spiel to Tom about how she tried to feel like a better person than Claire by signing an internet petition perfectly showed us that root of the problem has to do with a lack of self-respect and some self-esteem issues. So Tom telling her he thinks she’s pretty actually means a lot. It would be great if Ella stuck around for a while but knowing Tom he’d mess it up sooner rather than later.
Lastly, while it would seem the concerning content would be killing Adele, it was actually Claire’s bombshell that is also partly responsible for the disclaimer. Claire’s move to Europe for work was meant to be a life changing experience for her, yet from the Skype conversations we saw of her over the episodes it was clear she wasn’t happy. It’s quite a moment of realness to anyone who’s tried to distance themselves in order to change things up only to realise the issue was not solely connected to their hometown. So her return was not unexpected but revealing that she’s pregnant to Josh was quite a surprise. Stasey herself has been a staunch feminist and her website shows just much she wants women to finally have full autonomy over themselves. So when Claire told Josh she was getting an abortion and needed Josh to go with her it was quite a powerful and important moment. There was fear in her voice and her trying to convince herself that an abortion is the right choice made it all the more real. The show will no doubt handle this storyline quite well, at least more openly than Tom’s rape, but it will still be a touchy issue.
Please Like Me will continue to be equal parts funny and emotional thanks to the excellent writing and great casting choice. A lot of things are happening at once and it’ll be interesting to see how these kids cope with it all.
Author’s note: usual Please Like Me reviewer Tegan is on a break so I’ll be taking over the rest of the season (or until she gets back)
