It might seem like an odd way to praise a TV series, but it’s how I feel, so here goes: I am very glad that there isn’t a dead body in *The Five-Star Weekend*. Ever since *Big Little Lies* kicked off the trend in 2017 and *The White Lotus* took it to the extreme three years later, prestige series about wealthy people in paradise-like settings tend to come with a lethal catch.
Whether used as a hook (as if the scenery and star power weren't enough) or as a form of karmic justice (we can't stand to see these people enjoying their wealth without a hitch), a suspicious death has become the unwritten rule of this kind of escapist entertainment. Even *The Perfect Couple*—the first major TV adaptation of a work by Elin Hilderbrand, who also wrote *The Five-Star Weekend*—featured a murder as a key element of a destination wedding in New England.
Creator: Bekah Brunstetter
Stars: Jennifer Garner, Regina Hall, D'Arcy Carden
*The Five-Star Weekend* is not without its melodramatic twists, and the story unfolds in the wake of a profound loss. However, there is no mystery surrounding the tragedy faced by food influencer Hollis Shaw (Jennifer Garner, who also serves as executive producer), nor is there a hidden killer responsible for her husband’s death in a terribly mundane car accident—one that occurred six months prior to the getaway that gives the series its title.
Instead, *The Five-Star Weekend* tackles the day-to-day burden of grief in the months following a loss, as well as the complex relationships between Hollis and the friends she invites to her childhood home on Nantucket to help her cope. Freed from the obligation to plant clues or introduce red herrings, *The Five-Star Weekend* is able to delve into the nuances of platonic bonds and midlife reinvention among its central group of mature women. Developed by Bekah Brunstetter (*This Is Us*) based on Hilderbrand’s work and adapted into a Peacock miniseries, *The Five-Star Weekend* begins with a somewhat clunky premise that nonetheless gains fluidity and coherence as the characters come into their own.
Acting on a suggestion from her agent—who realizes Hollis isn't ready to return to the public eye after becoming too emotional to speak during a live appearance with Jenna Bush Hager (NBCUniversal synergy!)—Hollis gathers a friend from each stage of her life to spend 72 hours together and strengthen their bonds. Tatum (Chloë Sevigny), a blunt and authentic woman, grew up with Hollis "on the island"—as the locals call it—and stayed behind while her childhood friend rose to fame and fortune. Tatum harbors resentment toward Dru-Ann (Regina Hall)—her college best friend and an overworked sports agent—for usurping her role as Hollis’s closest confidante; after all, it is Dru-Ann who serves as godmother to Hollis’s daughter, Caroline (Harlow Jane), given that her job involves helping young women navigate crises.
Brooke (D’Arcy Carden)—painfully insecure and prone to filling silences with nervous chatter—is Hollis’s "motherly" friend from Wellesley, a Boston suburb. Rounding out the quintet is Gigi (Gemma Chan), an online follower and airline pilot who has somehow managed to work her way into Hollis’s real-life inner circle. Gigi arrives in Nantucket harboring a secret and possessing an absurdly poor knack for decision-making, making her the least believable—and consequently the least moving—fictional creation in the group. However, as the women follow the itinerary meticulously planned by Hollis—whose phases give each episode its title, in the vein of "Friday Night: Sleepover Party"—in pursuit of mandatory fun, the rest of the group develops a dynamic that doesn't need to rely on an opening flash-forward featuring a floating corpse to hold our interest.
These friends, strangers, and "frenemies" are there to support Hollis, but they also have their own problems to leave behind for a few days. Tatum is awaiting the results of a crucial biopsy. Dru-Ann is being torn apart online for having pressured a client on camera. Brooke’s detestable husband is pressuring her to back him up against allegations of workplace misconduct. None of them is really in the mood to—as one of them puts it—play "Meghan Markle cosplay" all weekend; consequently, Hollis’s fantasy of creating an aesthetically perfect distraction begins to crack almost immediately. "Your best friends in the whole world are here, and we’re eating fancy nuts?" asks Tatum, who is not one to mince words.
In other words, *The Five-Star Weekend* does not view Hollis’s success as something to be punished. She has already suffered enough, and her friends refuse to handle her with kid gloves; she deserves a break—including a fling with Jack, her handsome high-school ex-boyfriend (played by Timothy Olyphant, a spot-on piece of eye candy). Many of the characters are well-off, yet—unlike so many recent series about how the wealthy spend their leisure time—the plot does not revolve around wealth *per se* or its collateral damage. A series finally finding fresh themes to explore is just as comforting as the stock footage of ocean waves and shingled houses.
Comments
Post a Comment