A unique sitcom character has a common drinking pattern
"Did I use to have a drinking problem??"
Quick note: Last month, The Atlantic ran a cover story with the headline, “Sucker: My year as a degenerate gambler.” In it, staff writer McKay Coppins, a practicing Mormon, chronicles his foray into the booming world of sports betting apps. The endeavor is aided by the publication staking Coppins $10,000 with which to gamble.
Coppins writes an excellent, compelling story, but I was utterly baffled and slightly appalled by its conception and execution. I wrote about the issues it raises for Slate, and I’d love to know what you think. It’s behind a paywall, but here’s a gift link.
Long before I started the Making a Scene part of this newsletter, I wanted to write about one of the most fun characters in TV history: Schitt’s Creek’s Moira Rose. Played to perfection by the brilliant Catherine O’ Hara (RIP), Moira is the eccentric former soap star and high-maintenance matriarch of the once-wealthy Rose family.
At first glance, her character arc doesn’t quite fit Making a Scene. Moira’s alcohol use isn’t one of the primary themes of the show; it’s always used for comedic effect, and recovery is never discussed (perhaps because her alcohol use is never discussed in the context of addiction).
Her alcohol use is very much a part of her character, and there are some really interesting, subtle moments related to her use that we don’t often see on TV. For those who haven’t had the pleasure, the premise of Schitt’s Creek is kind of reverse Beverly Hillbillies: the formerly wealthy Rose family discovers their business manager has been embezzling from them, and they’re actually broke. The only asset the bank isn’t seizing is Schitt’s Creek, a town Johnny Rose (Eugene Levy) bought as a joke for his adult son David, because of the name. Schitt’s Creek isn’t worth anything, so the bank has no interest in it.
Unceremoniously kicked out of their mansion, Johnny and Moira Rose and their two very sheltered adult children, David and Alexis, move to Schitt’s Creek to a) have someplace to live and b) get away from their high society shame. Many funny and heartwarming adventures ensue.
There are only a few episodes in which we see Moira drink to excess. The first time we see Moira get truly drunk is about halfway through season one, when she films a commercial for the local “fruit winery. ”
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Although she gets pretty wasted, it’s less the specific incident that tips us off that she might have a complicated history with alcohol than the pep talk her husband Johnny gives her when she’s too drunk and self-conscious to continue with the commercial.
Moira: I can’t. Can’t.
Johnny: You can! Moira, remember “Sunrise Bay?” You were drunk most of season three... And half of season four. And the end of season five.
Moira: I’ll have to take your word for it.
Did I use to have a drinking problem?
Johnny: The point is, you can do this, Moira. You’re radiant. You’re beguiling. You’re daytime television’s brightest star!
Although we see her drink in subsequent episodes, it’s not a major plot point until close to the end of the third season in the episode “The Affair.” In her new role as a city council member, Moira is reluctantly cajoled into attending a social mixer after a conference. The next morning, she wakes up in Roland’s bed. Unable to remember the night before, and learning the hard way that Roland sleeps in the nude, Moira (incorrectly) assumes the worst.
Again, this is largely played for comedic effect, and it doesn’t feel particularly problematic because we’ve never seen her black out before, and she experiences genuine regret, even if that regret stems largely from “squandering” her chance to sleep alone in a nice hotel (relatable).
In season four, Moira offers to be the designated driver for Alexis and Twyla’s “girls’ night.” Yet it’s Moira who gets drunk after getting bored waiting for the girls and finding “A charming speakeasy at the back of the club.” Fortunately, Alexis is sober and ends up driving them home.
Although Moira quitting drinking is never fully discussed*, by episode six of season five, she’s deliberately abstaining from alcohol (and pot brownies), even when the vast majority of her casino/concertgoing party has big plans for a debaucherous night. Crucially, when one friend offers “magic brownies,” another woman says, “Oh Moira, we don’t expect you to have one.”
The line suggests her friends are aware that Moira is deliberately abstaining from alcohol and cannabis, or that she has a known pattern of managing her intake at certain times. The show never explains it. The other non-drinker (Jocelyn) is explicitly not drinking because she’s breastfeeding; Moria’s reason is never articulated. They are placed in parallel abstinence without comment. It’s such an interesting choice.
To be clear, our girl doesn’t stay abstinent for too long, though we only see her drunk once more (and it’s very sweet—literally and figuratively, she’s back at Herb Ertlinger’s “fruit winery” because he wants to name a rosé after her. Though she is drinking at the same weird winery as she was in season one, the emotional quality of this drinking is entirely different. She’s open, warm, emotionally available, and bonding with her son. She may still be drinking, but her character has evolved in positive ways.
Throughout the rest of the show, Moira is seen drinking wine or toasting with champagne, but never to excess.
What I love about this almost Rorschach Test of an arc is how it subtly underscores the fluidity of alcohol use. We’re given enough information to know that Moira doesn’t have an entirely healthy relationship with alcohol, but it’s never pathologized, nor is it so disturbing that it overshadows the comedy. In part, that’s because it’s rarely a major plot point; we get the sense that her family knows she goes through these bouts of problematic alcohol use but also fully expects that she’ll come out the other side. That subtlety around substance use is refreshing. So often, addiction is used as a major plot point, and recovery is often used to build tension about whether or not someone is going to relapse.
Even with all of Moira’s character absurdities, her drinking behavior is representative of many, many people. She may have a history of problematic alcohol use, but we only see that a few times in the show. Those few times cause her to at least try to cut back for a period of time, but ultimately she falls back into casual alcohol use. If something stressful rolls around, she may or may not deal with it by getting drunk. This cycle of alcohol moderation, excess, and abstention, and then moderation again, may be reflective of alcohol use disorder, but if so, as depicted, it seems to be on the mild end of the spectrum.
In rehab, the counselors told me that blacking out is a sure sign of alcoholism, yet plenty of people have blacked out at one time or another and aren’t addicted to alcohol. There really aren’t any hard and fast rules that say “if this happens once, you’re an alcoholic.”
Many people’s relationship with alcohol changes over time, or goes through nonlinear patterns that never quite meet the criteria for a disorder, but only by the slimmest of margins. Moira is so dramatic and absurd in...everything, that it’s easy to see her alcohol use as simply another part of the roller coaster ride that is her personality. Maybe it is, and maybe it isn’t, but it’s a good reminder that even fictional substance use can be complicated and the whole picture usually matters more than any one incident.
*I didn’t have time to rewatch all of the episodes mentioned, so I’m going on memory. If I’m wrong about any of this, please correct me.
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I’m not a doctor or mental health professional, so my advice shouldn’t be construed as medical or therapeutic. You are free to take or leave it.
This is such a thoughtful piece. You don’t jump to armchair diagnosing, just make observations and connections. And your Slate story is a smart, well-reported critique of an esteemed publication, the Atlantic, abandoning journalistic ethics. Well done!
1) I've thought many times that Moira's substance use is a subtle set of character and plot points without its notes ever being played sourly. I also think that the obvious decrease in her use of alcohol (and pills, too, although this is more rarely brought up) over the years is part of her growth and arc as a character. When she was rich, she blotted things out more; now that her life is full of actual people, she has less motivation to blot them out, no matter what she says about being unhappy in SC. However, there's also a very sharp downward trend from after she wakes up in Roland's room, which is, again, characterization, imo.
2) There's one more I want to bring to your attention: at the end of the last season, when they're talking about her going back to Sunrise Bay, she specifically says she wants to nurse one drink when in the company of Tippy and Clifton (who is a roaring alcoholic with lots of funny lines related to his addiction, and who is nevertheless clearly the worse for his substance abuse).