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The Chosen Adventures
The Chosen Adventures is not Scripture. But for those who don’t mind a little talking sheep with a lot of strong life lessons, this show might be a nice fit for your family.
Being sober is hard. And 20-something Samantha Fink is not really into it.
After her father passed away, Sam hopped on a train from Massachusetts to New York and never wanted to look back. Because looking back would mean she’d have to confront trauma, her passive-aggressive mother and the small town she’d escaped.
But her ability to run from her problems changes when Sam shows up to work, intoxicated, and hits her boss upside the head with a telephone after he fires her for being, well, drunk. One call to security later and Sam finds herself back home, living with her mother and trying to fulfill a court sentence of staying sober for a full year, serving hundreds of hours of community service and the promise that if she slips up she’ll head straight to prison.
It seems simple enough. I mean, the threat of incarceration should be enough to keep anyone away from the bottle, right? But Sam quickly realizes that temptations are everywhere. And if she’s going to break free from her old life, she’ll have to join Alcoholics Anonymous, become accountable to her sponsor and confront xq all of the emotions she’s worked so hard to drown out.
Single Drunk Female is Freeform’s effort to deal with the harsh realities of alcoholism–and ask you to laugh about it.
This TV-14 rated series focuses on Sam and her battle for sobriety. So far, eight episodes in, Sam is still sober. But that doesn’t mean it’s easy. And most every episode deals with the circumstances, and the people, that can make staying clean a lot harder.
Sam’s mother Carol, also known as “smother,” is an overbearing spiritualist healing from her husband’s death, hooking up with her boyfriend and figuring out how to coexist with her daughter; Brit Montclair is Sam’s ex-best friend who is now engaged to Sam’s ex-boyfriend, Joel; Olivia Elliot is Sam’s sponsor and pseudo-mother figure, as well as a married lesbian; Felicia is Sam’s close friend who used to party with her back in the day; and James is Sam’s sometimes love interest and fellow AA member.
These characters allow for genuine moments that show viewers the weight of alcoholism and the work it takes to stay sober.
But, unfortunately, I can’t end this review on that nice note, because this series has a whole lot of additional content issues.
Sex, sexual activity and conversations about sex are everpresent in this series. Some people talk about the fluidity of their sexuality while mocking traditional values. Some are openly transgender while others are gay and lesbian. Sam and James have sex (although nothing graphic is shown) and it’s also implied that Sam has sex with a girl after the two make out in a bathroom. Sam lies in bed and uses a vibrator (some of which we see), while looking at pictures of James.
Sam’s mother talks about her spiritual group while Carol, Sam’s sponsor, references a “higher power.” Sam jokes about wanting to take “all the drugs,” drink “all the booze” and have “all the sex.” And harsh profanity is scattered amongst all of these shining moments.
Needless to say, this isn’t the resource you’ll want for any help with issues surrounding alcoholism and sobriety.
James leaves his family’s Thanksgiving Day celebration and heads to a bar, where he meets Sam. Sam and James spend the day drinking, having sex and talking about family trauma.
Both Sam and James drink to try and cure their loneliness and the pressure they feel to perform for their families. Sam primarily drinks, it seems, to heal from family trauma after her father’s death.
James’ older brother tells the family that James has a drinking problem, something the entire family isn’t willing to accept. James and Sam drink hard liquor and beer at a bar and elsewhere. Sam jokes about vaping.
James and Sam make out and have sex in the bathroom at the bar (we see Sam take her pants off and hop onto the sink counter, but nothing more). Sam jokingly tells James they should start a cult where all they do is “have sex all the time.”
James’ family prays during Thanksgiving and James later references that they’re people of faith. God’s name is misused twice, once paired with “d–n.” The s-word is heard three times. Other profanity includes words like “a–hole” and “d–n.”
Kristin Smith joined the Plugged In team in 2017. Formerly a Spanish and English teacher, Kristin loves reading literature and eating authentic Mexican tacos. She and her husband, Eddy, love raising their children Judah and Selah. Kristin also has a deep affection for coffee, music, her dog (Cali) and cat (Aslan).
The Chosen Adventures is not Scripture. But for those who don’t mind a little talking sheep with a lot of strong life lessons, this show might be a nice fit for your family.
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