High Maintenance: Adelante

March 30, 2020 8:42 AM - Season 4, Episode 6

Two characters from the show's past are reunited. A woman living a life of quiet desperation treats herself.

This episode was written and directed by Ben Sinclair.

posted by spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints (2 comments total)

The episode starts with Lainey getting into a rideshare that is hailed for her by a woman who seems to be her personal assistant. What does Lainey do now? How does she have a personal assistant? She's soon joined by a passenger who turns out to be Max, her former friend, confidant, and roommate.

We first met Max and Lainey in the first season of the web series, when The Guy gets a call from "Assholes" needing a delivery. We find them to be vapid and self centered, and they're the worst customers ever as they don't consider that the guy has other deliveries to make. Max steals two bags of weed from The Guy, and The Guy blacklists them in return.

Lainey is seen again in Rachel (season two of the web series), when she casually insults one of Rachel Comey's pieces. She's the worst. Max comes back for a bit in the same season in Matilda, when he surprises The Guy, who's brought his niece (played by Ben Sinclair's actual niece!) to a Broadway actor's apartment to sell weed and introduce her as a consolation for not being able to get tickets to Matilda. Instead she gets to take a selfie with the guy from Wicked, but that doesn't happen because Max enters the room and ruins everything.

We then see Max and Lainey again in Method. Max reveals how toxic their relationship is, and it ends with Lainey filming Max at one of the lowest points of his life. Did she post that on the internet? Is that why they've had a falling out?

When we see Lainey in this episode we're presented with a character who hasn't seemed to evolved at all. She's still the Lainey we've always known, only possibly with more money now. When Max enters the car and the driver asks if they know each other, Max delivers a perfect "yeah" after a long pause. The flat delivery says everything. Max is contemplative and trying to remain calm and controlled. Lainey can't stand the silence. She First tries to fake cry to get a reaction out of Max. Then she resorts to a (perfect!) impression of Buffalo Bill, and Max finally breaks when the clueless driver interjects with "My sister was a fat person".

Lainey apologizes. I wish Max would have asked "For what?".

Max leaves to join his new spiritual friends and Lainey gives the best "What the fuck?" of her life. Opening credits roll over "Goodbye Horses", a callback to Silence of the Lambs.

The rest of the episode is all new characters. We get two more car rides, and in each ride some moment of joy is sparked. With Max and Lainey it's laughing at the driver's out-of-context remark. With The Guy's ride it's the driver's realization/joke that a blind person could use a driver to go to the bank. With the dental assistant, it's just about everything with her ride. The three car scenes in this episode felt like they could be in Jarmusch's Night on Earth (I actually though The Guy's driver might have been in the Helsinki segment of that movie, but he's not).

This episode is called Adelante, which means forward in English. Max has moved forward with his life. The dental assistant we meet in the second act is starting to move forward with hers.

Also, how good of A Guy is The Guy? He deals to Minnie and is happy to chill, smoke out with her, and even gives her pickles, but as soon as Minnie's father needs urgent assistance The Guy can read the room and leaves without a fuss. He knows how to be A Guy.

Again, perfect casting for the show. Peter the suitor. The pervy driver. Nora the dental assistant.

Can someone explain the significance of the Soda Stream bottle?
posted by spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints at 9:28 AM on March 30, 2020 [2 favorites]

not sure about the soda stream bottle yet, but a running theme so far has been that The Guy is in his "eco-phase" and no longer providing plastic baggies, asking ppl to have jars instead, working in the garden, etc.

Also Ben and Katja in real life were the first people I knew to have a sodastream and sing its praises back in...2008? 2009? So idk.
posted by lazaruslong at 8:09 AM on April 2, 2020