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We at Vulture have beenhuge fansofBetter Thingssince the very beginning when it debuted in 2016.
Rather than feeling sad because its over, Adlon seems grateful that all five of those seasons happened.
Im sitting in this place that I will cherish it, she told me.
So will we and anyone else who went on theBetter Thingsjourney with her.
Im curious about the song that Duke sings in the finale.
Where did that come from?In the world of the show, Duke wrote it.
Sam directs Duke doing the video, and thats Dukes win.
But a guy named Gideon Irving did theoriginal song and videowith his friends Rocky and Yuan.
At the end, when were high-fiving, Gideon, Rocky, and Yuan are all there.
My friend Heather she used to cut my hair, and we were at the salon one day.
We would always show each other stuff that we love.
She showed me theTilted video.
So I thought,Sam, Phil, and the girls aregoing to do Tiltedin the show.
It was the same with Woke Up Looking; I knew I wanted to do it in the show.
It was the perfect win moment for Duke.
There are a couple of lines that keep coming up this season.
One is I have arms because of you.
Where did that line come from?You find out in the episode in England.
Sam is wasted after she just fell down the stairs.
When I was born, in the 60s, they were giving that to moms for morning sickness.
It didnt dawn on me until many years later.
There was aPeoplemagazine cover story aboutchildren of thalidomide.
And it hit me:Oh my God!
She didnt take it with him.
You would think she would say, Give me the thalidomide.
Youre talking about you, Pamela.Yeah.
And then you put that in the show.Yeah.
In the finale scene, when Caroline comes in and shes like, Your mother.
And Sam says to Caroline, Well, did you like anything about your mom?
It explains why Caroline is annoyed with Phil.
In another show, you would never find that out.
You would just think,Thats the bitchy character.Thats right.
I was like, Does anybody know Eric Idle?
He lives in Studio City.
Ive seen him walk around.
Can you get to him?
Wait, hes friends with my client.
So I wrote him this long letter, and I made a musical sizzle reel for him.
They went hand in hand for me.
You could have used the song in a montage as opposed to having everybody sing it to the camera.
Why did you feel that was important?Connection.
I wanted to see the connection.
I wanted to give that to people.
Of course, everythings an experiment, and I dont know how people are going to respond or anything.
It feels like you are in there, like theyre looking at you.
Youre part of it.
So we just had people look right at viewers and draw them in further hopefully.
Its almost like you could step onto the set, like you are a part of it.
People want to be in this universe, and theyarein this universe.
Cutting that with my editor Annie Eifrig, we lose our shit every time.
Weve seen it 1,000 times.
And we just go [gasps].She had an enormous amount of footage to go through.
And Im like, I dont care.
I just need to have this.
I was driven, and we didnt know how it was going to turn out.
But it just really it gets me.
It gets me and Annie.
We hope that everybody else feels what we feel.
When that whole table, the village, looks up and says, I love you that kills me.
Were just going, Were all in this fucking thing together.
Its cheesy, but I love it.
I guess I started thinking about it in January.
I want to make more television.
And I want to do features.
I want to do plays.
I cant imagine what it feels like for you to not be working onBetter Thingsanymore.
Itll be hard for me to not be able to watch it anymore.Maybe Im in denial.
Because everybodys asking me.
Theyre like, Arent you sad?
And Im like, No.
Arent you going to miss it?
Im sitting in this place that I will cherish it.
And it is what it is.
Just like with my kids and the way the world has turned.
I just feel excited.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
