Lessons in Chemistry Season 1 Episode 4 Review: Primitive Instinct
This piece was written during the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike. Without the labor of the actors currently on strike, the series being covered here wouldn’t exist.
Lessons in Chemistry Season 1 Episode 4, “Primitive Instinct,” casually yet thoughtfully ponders the impacts of some of humankind’s greatest forces while Elizabeth navigates the early days of motherhood.
In a teleplay written by Elissa Karaisk and directed by Bert & Bertie, the limited series dips its toe into the perpetual debate between science and faith.
Lessons in Chemistry can believably do so because it leads from character. “Primitive Instinct” doesn’t sacrifice why the Remsen Grant and Supper Six matter to advance said plot points. Instead, it favors character over plot to find subtle sources of those developmental turns and philosophical debates.
The most shining example of such is through Brie Larson as Elizabeth Zott.
With the most screen time and the most depth to mine from the source material, Lessons in Chemistry gives an abundance of story — and emotion — to Elizabeth throughout “Primitive Instinct.” The daily ins and outs become compelling because of the candid writing and Larson’s authentic performance.
Lessons in Chemistry Season 1 Episode 3, “Living Dead Things,” sits in Elizabeth’s denial and shock after Calvin’s death. This episode opens the character up to even more alongside her daughter Madeline, or Mad.
Though, it is intense to watch Elizabeth experience labor in the 1950s. Medicine has advanced, but brutal and legal limitations around women’s healthcare persist. Oddly, some elements of this show feel specific to its time setting; others are eerily prevalent today, like the systemic racism and sexism embedded in society.
Consequently, it’s easy to cheer Elizabeth on as she pushes back to find compensated work after her unjust firing by Donatti on “Living Dead Things.”
Lessons in Chemistry has yet to find an on-screen balance (or something resembling it) with Harriet and her experiences as a young Black woman and legal aid who raises her children mostly alone while her husband is overseas.
After changing the character from the book (for the better, in my opinion) and expanding all roles beyond the page, the show needs to spend more time with Harriet, her family, and her career. “Primitive Instinct” suggests that as a possibility in the show’s future with Charlie’s return.
Their conversation in the kitchen is such good character work that details Charlie and Harriet’s history in minutes. It is filled with love and urgency, especially from Harriet. Aja Naomi King’s representation of Harriet’s passion makes it more disappointing that her career is more discussed than exercised on this episode.
Unfortunately, those sequences with Charlie are only small vignettes into Harriet compared to Elizabeth’s exploration and how Harriet shows up for her.
Harriet offers evergreen advice about motherhood to Elizabeth in a time that pre-dates a progressive understanding of postpartum depression. She provides support whenever Elizabeth and Mad need it, but Lessons in Chemistry has yet to let the reciprocal be unequivocally true. Ideally, that will change with time.
This episode breaches that two-way street of friendship when Elizabeth and Harriet meet in the middle at Charlie’s welcome home party. Hopefully, that and Elizabeth finding her way in motherhood are turns in the more mutual direction for the two because it is a joy watching Larson and Naomi King work together.
That party also introduces a fascinating dynamic between Elizabeth and Reverend Curtis Wakely. Readers of Bonnie Garmus’s bestselling book will know about Elizabeth’s complex history with faith and her family, but “Primitive Instinct” only begins to tease the meaning behind that sore spot.
Nevertheless, Lessons in Chemistry does just enough for intrigue to ensue.
The scene quickly establishes that Elizabeth doesn’t see faith and science on opposing ends of the same spectrum; they’re two different foundations built from guilt and proof. It’s riveting that the episode follows that assertion with Elizabeth seeing Calvin, who has died, playing with an airplane with Junior.
Calvin’s not there, of course, but Elizabeth believes in his presence enough to follow him, and consequently, Elizabeth utilizes the Spinning Top to progress her and Calvin’s work. The tension between faith and science is beautifully baked into that and every interaction between Elizabeth and Calvin.
Like the allusion to her parents and faith, “Primitive Instinct” briefly discusses another one of Elizabeth’s formative relationships — that with her brother. Interestingly, this scene doesn’t play out as a flashback, similar to the one in the book, but as a conversation with Calvin’s spirit.
It’s a tender and vulnerable exchange on the book’s page, only elevated by the show’s manifestation of Calvin from Elizabeth’s memory. Larson and Pullman’s performances emphasize the ache of Calvin’s inability to divulge personal information because he’s born from Elizabeth’s limited perception of him.
Regardless, Lessons in Chemistry knocks the wind out of the viewer with Pullman’s return in the opening minutes. It’s wonderfully directed and performed, as is his arrival when Elizabeth needs him to soothe Mad. Those fleeting moments are precious and substantiate a loved one’s omnipresence after their death.
“Primitive Instinct” plays with how much faith or fiction drives those interactions, including when Dr. Mason unexpectedly arrives on Elizabeth’s doorstep to remind her to take care of herself and ask her to join his rowing team. Most importantly, Elizabeth finally has the chance to say she loves Calvin because of that exchange.
But the question remains: How much is personal projection or divine intervention? “Primitive Instinct” doesn’t need to directly answer that subjective query for its debate to hold meaning. Alternatively, it should and does provide clarity about Mad’s future, which becomes Lessons in Chemistry‘s present.
Alice Halsey makes a brilliant debut as Madeline Zott.
Madeline is every bit of her mother and father with a distinctive, fiery personality. The gradual reveal isn’t shocking to book readers who know Amanda Pine and where she leads Elizabeth. However, the show plays with assumption enough to instill uncertainty if it will once again diverge from the page.
Ultimately, as Lessons in Chemistry heads into the latter half of its season, it finds a creative resurgence in a new phase of the characters’ lives that challenges primitive instinct and defining societal structures.
“Primitive Instinct” promises more intimate explorations of a growing cast as Elizabeth finally takes the (sound) stage at Supper at Six.
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Shelby Elpers
Shelby is a TV enthusiast and pop culture writer. She's an avid podcast listener, green tea drinker, and soccer fan. Her brand can be summarized in rom-coms, superheroes, teen dramas, and workplace comedies.