Despite the weather, hopefully your Fourth was a good time to spend with friends and family. Possibly you got to see some all year round. Or maybe you get only fleeting moments with them. Recently, a close confidant from the city moved a suburb over. With the summer in full swing, your small group can go on a trip. Netflix’s The Four Seasons could give you some inspiration.
For a year, this little gem has been a blind spot in my viewing until earlier this summer with the drop of season two. Now fully caught up, it is safe to say that I will be returning for the next go-around. The show, spearheaded by Tina Fey, has been greenlit for a third next year. And it is easy to see why. Charm just emanates off the television screen with this cast. Fey and fellow SNL alum Will Forte are so perfectly cast as a couple in mid-life crisis. Humor gives way to an amazing wealth of empathy without bogging you down in saccharine. Coleman Domingo shows that drama isn’t all he can do. He can be adorable even as he snaps off a sassy quip at others’ expense. Marco Calvani, who popped up in You Me and Tuscany earlier this year, plays his husband as a goof without falling into self-parody. Kerri Kenney plays the bumbling divorcée but doesn’t sacrifice her humanity. Even Erika Henningsen, who could’ve become a punchline for the other woman, expresses so much depth where you least expect it. Through these eight episodes, we are brought into their shared travels and life journeys.
But a trip with even besties can be a hassle, as this show even demonstrates. Concerts can be a better fit, as this city friend I mentioned will be attending Lollapalooza with me later this month. Luckily, we will not be attending with bloodsuckers, as is the case with AMC’s The Vampire Lestat. Picking up where Interview left off, our title antihero is back strutting stages as a 70s glam/80s hair metal throwback act. The original music written for this season is quite good and Sam Reid really sells it. Because we can’t get enough, Jacob Anderson is back as Louis. This does affect the pacing of the show even if I am only a few episodes in. Eric Bogosian returns as Daniel and Jennifer Ehle manages to chew whatever scenery is left as Lestat’s vampire mother Gabriella. Fair warning: there is a bit of incest sub-plot that may leave you squeamish. Not that the sight of all that blood wouldn’t either.
Perhaps a staycation is more in order. Even though the weather hasn’t been the most cooperative. A good time to dine out? It only seems fitting that The Bear’s final season, on FX, begins with a torrential downpour that lasts one whole night. Taking a cue from the show 24, creator Christopher Storer has inadvertently made a closer for the ages. One that pays homage to our hometown while crafting a magnificent ending to this found family of culinary misfits. I mean, even Tom Skilling makes an appearance as a guest on the craziest night in the restaurant’s short existence. Even as the basement begins the flood and pipes burst in almost biblical fashion, their shared adversity and history makes up for whatever is thrown at them.
I will miss these people. A show can have a way of getting under your skin, making characters feel like people you’ve known your entire life. It only helps more that it takes place in a landscape most of us have, at least, ventured into. Chicago becomes more than just a backdrop. It’s baked into the DNA of this show. Mentions of Schaumburg and the Publican are just window dressing to the already beating heart at its center, one that is as constant as the waves off Lake Michigan. I cried several times, not the least of which was a fitting tribute to the late Rob Reiner. Even if we may never see some friends again, we are forever changed by them for the better. Much like Carmy and his crew.
