Here’s to you, Mrs. Fletcher
“YOU HAVE TO BE NICE TO WOMEN,” EVE FLETCHER, played by a sublime Kathryn Hahn, tells her son Brendan (Jackson White). They’re in the car, on their way to drop him off at college. Before they’d left, she’d overheard him in his room with a girl, using misogynistic language obviously borrowed from porn. Eve had also fielded a last-minute phone call from her ex, Ted (Josh Hamilton), informing her that he wasn’t free to help her move their only child into his freshman dorm after all. She’s worried Brendan will become just like his father—with good reason.
Eve and Brendan are the dual protagonists of a richly observed adaptation of a novel by creator Tom Perrotta that premieres on HBO on Oct. 27. A single mom who runs a senior center, Eve is constantly caring for others—many of them oblivious, ungrateful men. Brendan is the most oblivious and ungrateful of all, a casually cruel jock who has swaggered through high school bullying less popular kids, treating girls like chew toys and avoiding introspection. If he had any self-awareness, he’d see that he’s really angry at his dad, who’s busy with his new family.
