"Sorry for Your Loss" Recap, Season 1 Episodes 9 and 10

Six months later, a vacation offers new experiences beyond grief.

Episodes nine and ten of Sorry for Your Loss debuted yesterday on Facebook Watch. The half-hour dramedy focuses on Leigh (Elizabeth Olsen), a young widow whose husband, Matt, died three months before the show's action begins. Her network of family and friends includes her mom, Amy, her sister, Jules, and Matt's brother, Danny. The action shifts frequently between the present day and flashbacks to points throughout Leigh and Matt's relationship.

***SPOILER ALERT*** In this recap, I'll be talking about a major plot point that was revealed two weeks ago in episode five. There are also less-major spoilers from this week's episodes. If you're not interested in spoilers, now is the time to turn back! ***SPOILER ALERT***

Episodes nine and ten find Leigh taking steps to move forward in the wake of Matt's death, even as she does some deeply meaningful things in remembrance of him. She's still grieving and that's not going to change anytime soon, but it feels like we're seeing the most well-adjusted Leigh we've seen yet.

In episode nine, Welcome to Palm Springs, Leigh is taken by surprise by a phone call from a Palm Springs hotel and spa. She and Matt had reservations there—a gift from her stepdad—and she had completely forgotten about them. On the spur of the moment, when the folks at the hotel ask if they'll be seeing her for her reservation, Leigh answers, Yes, turns off her phone, and heads to Palm Springs.

It's not the relaxing, romantic weekend that Leigh and Matt would have had together, but it offers opportunities for Leigh to grow. A scene that probably would have been heart-stopping a few months before—her hotel room, complete with romance package of roses, champagne, and chocolate-covered strawberries—only briefly fazes Leigh. She doesn't demand a new room or dissolve into grief; instead, she sits on the bed among the rose petals arranged in a heart shape, eating a strawberry.

Later in her spa day, Leigh takes an even bigger step. She flirts with a man at the hotel, first having some silly fun with him and then finding deeper physical connection. It's the first time she's been intimate with anyone since Matt's death—five or six months ago at this point—and it strikes a balance for her, neither a shameful one-night-stand that she regrets nor the beginning of a real relationship.

Pretending, a theme of an earlier episode, is central to Leigh's hours with the man—she introduces herself to him as a jewelry thief, inspired by the book she's reading. He counters that he's the owner of the hotel they're staying in. The joke continues and builds, but in the end, Leigh wants to come clean about herself. She tells him who she really is — but she never reveals that she's a widow. (And we never really know for sure if he owns the hotel—he doesn't drop the pretense on that point.) She leaves the question of her marital status in the air as she leaves to resume her normal life.