Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette

Never expected to feel so much for this series. Excellent acting. The love, pain, suffering and eventual death of the American dream.

Much has been said about the discrepancies in the truth of this series, but ultimately it doesn’t matter. As the title suggests, this is simply a beautiful love story. Sarah Pidgeon and Paul Anthony Kelly play the famous, ill-fated couple and their chemistry is magic from their first encounter. Kelly has the necessary charisma and assured good looks to make him believable, while Pidgeon’s sultry allure is continually captivating. There are other cast members who do equally good work, including Grace Gummer as Caroline, Naomi Watts as Jackie and Dree Hemingway, who does an impressive job channeling Daryl Hannah. Of course, the challenges of fitting into the Kennedy clan and perils of continual media attention add to their conflicts, but in the end it’s about the couple’s magic. It helps that the writing is smart. Since Ryan Murphy is behind this series, you can expect some mild sensationalism, but even if this were all fiction, it would still be one of the best screen romances of the year. (Review based on 8 of 9 one-hour eps and #8 is all bummer personal dramatic conflict.)