Brockmire Season 4: Jim Gets Some Mail in New Clip (Exclusive)

For its fourth season, IFC’s baseball comedy Brockmire has flash-forwarded to a dystopian world ravaged by climate change, disease, and unfettered capitalism run amok. So, you know, nothing like our current present! It’s comforting to know, however, that even in a strange, difficult future, some things remain the same. 

That’s one thing that we can glean from this exclusive new clip from Brockmire season 4 episode 5 “Double Header” at least. In this privileged look at a classic Jules James’ (Amanda Peet) hangover, her dynamic with former (and maybe future) lover Jim Brockmire (Hank Azaria) has a lot of familiar beats. Give it a look below and discover what has the newest MLB commissioner upset. 

The description for “Double Header” from IFC reads:

“Jules tries to win Beth’s approval of the relationship she and Brockmire are trying to rekindle, but they don’t get along until Jules takes Beth under her wing as a drinking buddy; Jim is irate that Jules was a bad influence on his daughter.”

Lo’ and behold that’s pretty much exactly what we see in this clip. It’s one thing for Brockmire to come across a hungover Jules. That’s pretty much par for the course given their relationship in the past. It’s another thing entirely, however, for him to discover that Jules has made his daughter Beth her new day-drinking buddy. 

Beth seems to have been an amazing drinking partner for Jules for what it’s worth. Based on Jules’ (surprisingly lucid) recall of the night’s previous events, Beth punched a cult leader in the balls. That’s the Brockmire spirit! Of course Jim has some other non-ball violence complaints to address with Jules. Jim is an alcoholic, having only achieved sobriety at the end of Brockmire season 2, and he’s understandably concerned about passing that noxious “gift” down to his daughter like his father did to him. That alone is enough for Jim to kick Jules out of his house. Suffice it to say, this could impede Jules’ attempts to get back with her man. 

This moment perfectly illustrates the delicate balance between comedy and drama that Brockmire has walked through its entire run and particularly in this final season. Jim Brockmire and all his friends are somehow the perfect combination of cartoon characters and real, lived-in humans with deep reservoirs of pain. Jim’s terror at the prospect of raising a daughter to avoid his flaws is very real. Less real but no less enjoyable is his truly bizarre decision to apparently order 500 boxes of tampons for Jules and Beth. Jim usually has a disturbingly thorough knowledge of female anatomy but even he would have to admit that he wildly overshot it on this one. 

Brockmire season 4 episode 5 “Double Header” will air on Wednesday, April 15 at 10 p.m. ET on IFC.