Tales of the City Review: Coming Home (Season 1 Episodes 1-5)

The Netflix series, Tales of the City, is just that — stories of people who live in San Francisco.

It focuses on a “community” of sorts in the unique complex of Barbary Lane with the matriarchal yet mysterious figure, Anna Madrigal (Olympia Dukakis), as the integral landlady. Mary Ann (Laura Linney), a former resident and called the prodigal one by Anna, returns after decades for Anna’s 90th birthday celebration. 

The interconnecting lives and stories of these characters serve as a foundation for broad themes and diverse ideologies. It’s got queer representation out the wazoo which provides abounding opportunity to explore issues like intersectionality, ageism, the fluidity of gender and sexuality, and feminism.

It is really incredible how social and cultural mores, with both its modern benefits and hindrances, are examined by watching the daily lives of these characters unfold. 

There are two main plots that are threaded throughout with the subplots closely orbiting about. Anna has a secret which leads her to sell Barbary Lane, disbanding the core group, and Mary Ann stays in town to go through a chaotic mid-life crisis. All this is an ideal breeding ground for rich storytelling and drama. 

Armistead Maupin wrote the series of nine novels on which the show is based and has producing and writing credits. The first three novels have twice been adapted into miniseries on PBS and Showtime, both starring Olympia Dukakis and Laura Linney in the same roles. Netflix’s Tales of the City is the third and a continuation of the story. 

There is very much a bookish feel to the show. 

And there is a bit of a play-like quality to the dialogue along the lines of Angels in America even though its origins are not from the theater. Consequently, that iconic play is even mentioned in an interesting and importantly uncomfortable scene on Tales of the City Season 1 Episode 4, “The Price of Oil.”

Chris: When I was 28, I wasn’t going to f***ing dinner parties. I was going to funerals. Three or four a week. All of us were.
Ben: I understand that. I do.
Chris: Oh, do you, really? Why? Because you saw Angels in America? F*** that.

Sometimes this throws me; live stage delivery works well on, you guessed it, a stage, but weirdly translates to a screen format. However, on Tales of the City, this theater-esque aspect adds a nice complexity to the woven structure of these stories.

This approach is most evident in the scenes between Margot (May Hong) and Jake (Garcia). Their back and forth often feels like I’m watching live theater, but it works. Hong’s performance is minimalistic, her lines delivered in an unaffected and understated way, but the chemistry with Garcia brings a quiet drama to their interactions.

Michael Cunningham, who wrote the acclaimed novel The Hours, is a consulting producer, and I see commonalities between the film adaptation of The Hours and Tales of the City. I mean this as high praise.

The Hours beautifully tells multiple stories peppered with brilliant one-on-one scenes and dialogue that is powerful and profound. There are many examples of this similarly poignant storytelling on Tales of the City. 

I can’t help but make connections to novel adaptations as I watch the first five episodes. I guess that explains the bookish feel. I am one who wants to read the books before I watch the adaptation, but I have not read any of the novels in the Tales of the City series. 

This makes the mystery surrounding Anna all the more intriguing. Watching Big Little Lies without reading the source material had me guessing the ending all the way up to the final scene. The shocking finale had such an impact as a result, and I’m getting the same vibe as I watch Anna’s story.

There are very vague clues as to what is going on with Anna that I have trouble even speculating her backstory and conflict. Likewise, Victor Garber’s character, Sam, is an enigma, that Garber plays so well. Is he a good guy or a bad guy?

I quite enjoy not knowing and trying to figure it out along the way. 

Zosia Mamet plays the tertiary character of Claire but serves as a sort of inconsistent narrator in the first half of Season 1. She has her own story and problems which are alluded to in exchanges with Shawna (Ellen Page), and she flits in and out of the narrative, but still somehow manages to move the storylines of others along with her presence.

She is on the outskirts, but essential, nonetheless, which makes for an interesting role in the ensemble.

A throughline of the series so far is the concept of truth. There are many conversations where truth is discussed. These are those profound exchanges that I likened to those in The Hours.

Truth should be a cut and dry thing, black and white, but Tales of the City plays with the gray areas, such as the truths we project onto others and “truths” we tell ourselves to explain unexplainable emotions. 

Inka: I am saying it is a partial truth of who I am. Right? Like …okay, there are the factual memories of Inka. And then there are your personal memories of things I have said and done […] the sum of which becomes your truth of who I am.
Eli: But that is my idea of you, not the truth of you.
Inka: Your idea of me is your truth of me.
Eli: But my truth will not always coincide with the factual Inka Gisladottir.
Inka: Who wants to f*** the factual Inka Gisladottir?

This conversation is fascinating on its own, but the way it is shot with Inka and Eli on the edges of the frame and the slow push-in to Shawna in the middle, listening to them, adds a dynamic cinematic layer. Not to mention the mind-bending, cerebral philosophy behind what they are saying.

There are simpler examples of this as well. Jake confides to Anna that he is discovering an attraction to men and is worried about how it will affect his relationship with Margot. She answers, “You know, Jake, there’s only the truth.”

What did you think of the first half of Season 1 of Tales of the City? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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Tales of the City Season 1 is currently streaming on Netflix.

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