In fact, she goes into active labor as the movie starts. But instead of going to the hospital as directed by her doctor, Dawn requests a big meal at a restaurant, because you’re not allowed to eat in the hospital — leading to a high-slapstick scene at a posh eatery that includes Eden examining, amid bites, whether Dawn is dilated (we told you these are very good friends).
Eventually we’re at the hospital, where Dawn crawls down the corridors in pain, and we learn about more gross things that happen during childbirth (the movie does not crawl toward grossness — it runs headlong into it). We also meet Dawn’s husband, Marty (Hasan Minhaj). Marty is supportive and patient — to the point of utter implausibility.
Eden heads out to buy everyone sushi. In one of many Manhattan vs. Queens jokes, she buys it at a fancy place in Manhattan (she herself has remained in Queens, while Dawn has moved to the Upper West Side) and the bill comes to nearly $500. Unfortunately this IS plausible. It leads to a wonderful sequence where, on three or four subway trains back to Queens (we’re on a holiday schedule), Eden shares this sushi spread with a cute actor (Stephan James) she meets, dressed in a burgundy tux, who’s just left a film shoot where he played “Sexy Black Waiter.”
A one-night stand ensues. And then, Eden discovers she’s pregnant. This will radically shift the balance of her relationship with Dawn — and we don’t need to update you on any other relationships, because THIS is the one that matters.
There’s much here that rings true. Adlon, Glazer and Rabinowitz know how to get across the intensity of female buddyship, with the added complexity — not often explored in comedies — that these relationships can hurt, at bad times, perhaps even more than romantic ones.