‘Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette’ review: A story of love and horror, all at the same time

When Ryan Murphy gets his hands on the most historic event in American history, you can never be sure how it will translate to TV. Will it be a canny re-examination of how this period shaped American culture, along the lines of The People v. OJ Simpson: American Crime Story? Or it will follow the more exploitative path of Netflix A monster an anthology?

That is the question you face A Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessettethe start of a new anthology series created by Connor Hines and executive produced by Murphy. Over the course of nine episodes (eight of which were given to critics for review), Love story gives viewers an intimate look at the growth of one of the ’90s It Couples, and the media pressure they faced. The exhibition make the right love, but the latter aspect depends on romance all the time. Because of this, the real interest of Love story it’s a look at how the series avoids – and sometimes falls into – the very pitfalls of the media it tries to criticize.

Love story measures the relationship between JFK Jr. and Carolyn Bessette.

From its earliest times, Love story I was afraid it would turn to the painful allusions to past events that often haunt Murphy’s plays.

The series begins on July 16, 1999, as John F. Kennedy Jr. (Paul Anthony Kelly), his wife Carolyn Bessette (Sarah Pidgeon), and her sister Lauren Bessette (Sydney Lemmon) prepare to take the plane ride that will eventually take their lives. Thankfully, the show stops short of simulating the actual crash, but the idea of ​​disaster (and worrying about how Love story may finally catch us) continue as the show progresses.

From here, Love story it goes back to John and Carolyn’s life before they met. He is next in line to continue the Kennedy political dynasty, not to mention America’s most sought after bachelor. He is a very confident, self-confident Calvin Klein who doesn’t immediately fall at his feet.

Although it takes a while for the two to fall deeply in love, their chemistry is palpable from the start. Newcomer Kelly brings a zest to John’s early play with Carolyn, which rarely slips into Kennedy caricature. (Naomi Watts’ voice of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis is very much in line with that process.) Pidgeon solidifies the relationship in a cool way, though at some point her constant hair tousles and lip biting read less like instincts and more like a high-performance performance of the cool girl archetype.

Where Pidgeon really shines is in the final part of the show, where John and Carolyn may be committed to each other, but the media is committed to the hunt. Here, Pidgeon turns every moment Carolyn spends in public into a form of social reckoning. You can see him observing how much his presence affects those around him, and almost always making the sad call that he is too much of a burden.

Love story criticizes the media frenzy about JFK Jr. and Carolyn Bessette – but isn’t part of it?

Sarah Pidgeon and Paul Anthony Kelly in “Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette.”
Credit: Kurt Iswarienko / FX

Carolyn’s struggle with the media continues Love storyand the result is undeniably depressing. The series can also be called American Horror Story in parts because of the way it turns the paparazzi into a zombie-like army. Once they’re friendly enough to trade jokes with John (or even jump into a football game with him and his buddies), they become brutal when Carolyn is around. They piled on top of Kennedy’s car and jumped outside their building, until they tried to break into their house. In one scene, the sound sounds like a jump scare. In others, the creeping light of camera lights serves the same purpose.

But just like that Love story highlights the difficulty of all this media attention on Carolyn, still the same space as that media circus, 30 years later.

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After all, the paparazzi were trying to expose the inner workings of Carolyn and John’s relationship to the public, to offer their marriage as entertainment for the masses. this is not the case Love storyA goal again? Even though the show insists it’s a fictional historical account, it still carefully recreates several public moments in the lives of its subjects, including a 1996 fight caught on camera. Sometimes, it also uses images of the real Kennedy family, blurring the line between fiction and reality.

Given how today’s media landscape works, it won’t be long before viewers seek out the details of these times, leading them down a rabbit hole of articles and TikToks dissecting the minutiae of the show’s historical accuracy. The media frenzy of the ’90s, resurrected in a new way. (The Kennedy family was not contacted for this series.)

To its credit, Love story it approaches its trail more sympathetically than the paparazzi. The show rejects manipulation in favor of a sparkling romance, while focusing on Carolyn’s struggle to define herself beyond her husband and John’s efforts to define himself beyond his father. These decisions help to create a better, rounded picture of the couple, but more importantly, they also allow Love story to avoid being a villain in its story.

A Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette starts on Feb. 12 at 9 pm ET on FX and Hulu.