My mom is the one who originally brought this miniseries to my attention, and after way too many years of living life HBO-less, I’ve finally made the viewing of Olive Kitteridge a priority in my life. Honestly, it was worth the wait!
The titular Olive is brash and unapologetic, and while it seems like her love is painful for her to give, I can sense that she loves fiercely in her own way. Apparently almost everyone sees it that way, too, otherwise she’d be a lonely woman. The only person who never seems to fully understand her way of loving is her son, Christopher, which I don’t think I can blame him for. Despite being a teacher, Olive doesn’t really care to be around people, is blunt and speaks in a clipped tone to everyone, including her family. More than once throughout the miniseries, I was sort of shocked that her and Henry stayed married at all. She didn’t seem like she liked him that much, and was crushing on another man while he seemed to be crushing on a new employee. I think that’s sort of the difference between then and now. Couple don’t easily give up on each other, although there is something to be said for happiness.
Each of the four episodes of the series focuses on a different period of time in Olive’s life. The first is when her son is young and both her and Henry’s eyes are straying elsewhere. A large portion of this episode focuses on Henry crushing on and helping out the somewhat air-headed Denise. He feels a sense of responsibility for her after he witnesses her husband get killed in a hunting accident. Olive can’t stand Denise, but she can’t stop her good-natured husband from helping her out. In the next episode we see Olive reach out to a grown boy whose mother suffered from mental illness. He is suffering from the same mental illness and it’s obvious he’s attempting to kill himself while he’s back in town. Olive can sense something is off and tries her best to include him activities to get his mind off of it. By the end of the episode, it’s not clear if her efforts were successful or not, but this happened to be my favorite episode! Also noteworthy, is her now grown son is engaged to someone Olive clearly disapproves of.
The wedding takes place in the following episode, and while Olive makes her distaste palpable if not stated, it appears her daughter-in-law feels the exact same way about her. On the way home from a dinner with friends, the two become part of a hostage situation at the local hospital. It has clearly shaken both her and Henry, although she forces down her emotions related to the incident. By episode’s end, Henry suffers a stroke and it basically non-responsive. After some time, he passes away in the hospital, and before Olive can kill herself she learns she’s going to be a grandma. This is especially surprising because she didn’t even know her son got remarried after his divorce a few years prior. She goes to visit and it’s clear that the tension between the two stems from her harshness in his youth. Even though she it prickly, I still feel for her in all of these awful situations.
Overall, this was a really enjoyable miniseries, and if you get the chance, I encourage you to watch it, too! This entry in Frances McDormand’s career further cements how great of an actress she is.