The First Lady Review: Nadir (Season 1 Episode 7)

The First Lady Season 1 Episode 7, “Nadir,” is a heavy episode that deals with issues from our nation’s past as well as our present.

Gun violence, racism, and women’s rights are explored through school shootings, segregation, and Republican gatekeepers. Eleanor fights for racial equality, Betty’s voice is policed, and Michelle grieves the loss of children and Black lives. 

These are tough topics, and while The First Lady handles them with appropriate gravity, it still feels rushed and merely scratches the surface of the stories that are available to tell.

In horrific coincidence, the Obamas deal with the aftermath of the Sandy Hook shooting as we, in our current reality, mourn a tragedy all too similar. 

This storyline really brings the emotion with heartbreaking performances from the cast, especially Viola Davis and O-T Fagbenle. It’s further pushed into darkness with the senseless killing of 15-year-old Hadiya Pendleton (Leeann Ross) just a mile from the Obama’s home in Chicago. 

Michelle: Is it ever going to change?

This is a devastating question because we’ve seen just how much things haven’t changed in terms of gun control in this country. The loss of life from guns since 2012 is a staggering figure, and the weight of this is felt, crushingly so, in the telling of these stories. 

The focus on Michelle and her show of support to the Pendleton family and the South Side community is very moving, as is  the scene with her mother Marian (Regina Taylor), but the introduction to this gun violence plot starts with Barack. 

This has been a trend on The First Lady—showing the President’s reaction to things and then the story integrating the First Lady’s side. As much as the series says it centers the women’s stories, there is still too much time spent on the men. 

The episode even begins with two men: Donald Rumsfeld (Derek Cecil) and Dick Cheney (Rhys Wakefield). They claim that Betty is being too liberal and too vocal; however, she is polling higher than her husband, so they need her help with the campaign.

These two constantly trying to rein her in is exhausting just to watch, and Michelle Pfeiffer does a commendable job in portraying how exhausting it is to be the one they seek to silence and control. 

The Betty storyline also shows the kind of things that contribute to her alcoholism and addiction. There’s a bit about suicide and mental health, too, but it’s but a blip, even though there is a flashback of young Betty mourning her father’s death by apparent suicide.

It’s a whole-ass flashback, but it feels like a footnote. 

Add it to the slew of other examples that suggest that the sheer amount of story has overwhelmed the series. 

This episode of The First Lady might be aptly named “Nadir,” though it is clear that America’s lowest points continue to plague our society.

Of course, this is evident in Michelle’s storyline with the more modern problem of gun violence, but the relatability of Eleanor’s and Betty’s strikes on the raw nerves of many in today’s world.

Eleanor: Racial justice and unity is the only way forward for America.

Eleanor used her influence and privilege to do great things, and “Nadir” shows some of what she did for civil rights. It’s a huge deal—and even bigger back in 1939—that Eleanor resigns from the Daughters of the American Revolution because of their rules of segregation. 

Marian Anderson (Roslyn Ruff) performing on the National Mall in front of Lincoln Memorial is a notable event in the civil rights movement, but most likely not widely-known. It is history that The First Lady uses to not only convey the evils of segregation, but also how important it is to hold organizations accountable.

Thankfully, Eleanor didn’t have people like Rumsfeld and Cheney to contend with. Their service to the patriarchy and skewed “Christian” values is repugnant ,and they do the most to wear the First Lady down.

Even going as far as crashing the Ford family’s Christmas Eve dinner.

Pfieffer plays her disdain for these men and their opinions in a wonderfully defiant way, but they are horribly persistent, and along with other hardships and setbacks, Betty’s dependency on drugs and alcohol grows stronger.

It’s incredibly disheartening that in 1975 Betty is worrying about the rights of women in much the same way as so many women of today.

Betty: If they win, women will be barefoot and pregnant with no rights at all. 

Impressively though, Betty is able to manage her commitments and proves to be a vital asset to her husband’s campaign.

The subject matter on this episode is heavy and somber, and the stark relevance to current events makes it even more so. 

Cohesiveness remains an issue, though, and the connections among the three leads and their stories leaves much to be desired. There needs to be more moments like Malia and Sasha watching Marian Anderson’s monumental performance with their grandmother.

It’s those connections that I find the most interesting, but sadly, there are too few.

What did you think of this episode of The First Lady? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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The First Lady airs Sundays at 9/10c on Showtime.

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