Okay, look, this five-part miniseries really grew on me as it went on, but I had to agree with SNL’s take on it two and a half episodes in. They made a fake trailer and then had a critic’s quote at the end stating, “Who is this for??” and I found myself asking the exact same question.
First things first, Scenes from a Marriage had so much dialogue it almost made my head spin. I mean I can’t imagine how long this script was per episode. In the 60-ish minutes it aired each week, I’d say all but maybe eight minutes of it was dialogue. In the first episode and a half it almost had me on the verge of a headache, but then I found myself growing used to the cadence of the conversation between these two people. And that’s really what this show was about, the unbelievably complicated relationship between these two people and the space they inhabit together. The house was really almost like a tertiary character in the story. It was there for every major roadblock in their lives.
With that, the story was broken up into five distinct parts. The first part shows a congenial Jonathan and a rather stilted Mira. It turns out Mira is pregnant, and while at first the two want to keep it, it’s clear Mira cannot handle a second child. Or rather, she thinks their marriage couldn’t handle another child, so she gets an abortion. Naturally, that’s a very difficult trauma for two people to go through, so it sort of comes as no surprise in the second episode when Mira comes home from a trip announcing she’s in love, wants a divorce, and is going to be gone for three months. Jonathan is frankly shocked by this news, having no real clue that Mira was as miserable as she it making herself out to be. Obviously, what’s best for their daughter comes into play, but ultimately Mira wants out. And she does it.
Much of the third installment in Mira trying to convince Jonathan to move himself and their daughter out to London for a lucrative job offer she’s received. I think Jonathan is in the right here, thinking of their daughter before what Mira thinks is best for her. It’s also clear that even though the two have been separated for a good chunk of time now that there is still a lot of love and attraction there. Jonathan has sort of rearranged the house and Mira is insecure about how much hold she still has over him. In the fourth installment, Jonathan in moving out of the house and wants to finalize the divorce with Mira so he can have another child. This episode at first is filled with passion, but then turns violent, ultimately ending whatever was still there between the pair.
In the final episode, we see that both Jonathan and Mira have moved on and are in decent places in their own lives, but they’ve come to the conclusion that while they were never meant to last married, there is still the strongest connection. They seem to be hooking up constantly, and they just might continue to do it forever. Somehow, even though they wanted to be out of each others’ lives, they ultimately didn’t want to be.
I don’t know, in my eyes, the divorce was unnecessary. It’s clear a good chunk of time has passed between all of these events for them to end up back together just in a different way, but why? Mira is clearly toxic and really she sucked for most of the show. Maybe Jonathan deserves her if he’s going to be stupid enough to let her back in time and time again. Even though I ended up enjoying the show more than I initially thought, I can’t imagine this would appeal to a wide audience. I certainly can’t see my parents watching this, or any married couple for that matter, but it certainly packs a hard gut-punch. Not for everyone, but I’m glad I gave it a chance.