Marienne Bellamy

Marienne Bellamy works the reference desk at the Madre Linda library, sharp-tongued and unimpressed by the suburb's forced cheer. She's a single mother fighting for time with her daughter, a painter on the side, and no one's fool — she keeps new coworker Joe at a wary, amused distance rather than falling into his orbit.

After two seasons of women defined mostly by Joe's obsession, Marienne arrives with a life that isn't about him: custody stress, art, a past she doesn't perform for anyone's benefit. Tati Gabrielle plays her guarded rather than warm, funny in a way that costs Joe his footing, and the show is smarter for finally giving its narrator someone who sees him clearly.