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Better Things gets better: Pamela Adlon triumphs without Louis CK

In its third season, the smart, un-flashy series about a single mother juggling her life as an actor with her role at home, feels fresher and more daring than ever

Since it first began in 2016, Better Things has been slowly becoming one of the finest comedies on television, but it has always been resolutely un-flashy in its brilliance. Partly that’s because its subject matter is contained and domestic, and because, in a typical episode, not very much appears to happen at all. Pamela Adlon, who writes, directs and stars, has fashioned a gorgeous and loosely autobiographical story about a raspy-voiced single mother, Sam, who is a jobbing actor, and her three daughters, living in Los Angeles. It touches on elements that are at once familiar - ageing, mortality, how women and men relate to one another - and gives them all new powers.

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