Love Story Season 1 Episode 8 Review: Exit Strategy

Carolyn and John’s relationship is on a downward spiral throughout Love Story Season 1 Episode 8, “Exit Strategy.”

Rightfully so, the focus remains on Carolyn’s anxieties surrounding not only her marriage, but certain expectations in reference to her identity. 

The opening of “Exit Strategy” is unapologetic in depicting Carolyn’s dissociative state through her sunken eyes, faraway glances, and constant smoking. It’s a jarring, yet necessary difference in demonstrating just how much of Carolyn’s emotional and physical autonomy is stripped from her.

The major through line revolves around John’s inability to grasp Carolyn’s reality and circumstances despite firsthand experience with constantly being under the eyes of the press. 

The beginning of what’s a long-winded tension between Carolyn and John kicks off after Princess Diana’s untimely death. 

The audience learns the news through Carolyn’s perspective as the camera slowly zooms in on her face, and her eyes are glued to the TV. The close-up shot elicits an intense fear within Carolyn and the bitter understanding that it’s not out of the realm of possibility for her to end up in a similar position as Princess Diana. 

On the other hand, upon hearing the news, John promptly decides to go for a late-night run, and there’s a similar shot of him looking fearful as he’s smoking a cigarette. 

Carolyn and John are battling the same feeling, but on their own. It’s a little frustrating to watch, and one wonders why John is adamant on extricating himself from the apartment rather than sitting with Carolyn, even if it’s in silence.

It seems as if John is trying to subdue what’s happening by clouding his thoughts with the adrenaline that running brings.

Furthermore, the scene taking place at night represents John not only physically secluding himself from others, but also emotionally, especially from Carolyn. 

When it comes to having conversations on the difficulties of public perception, Carolyn and John continue to go in circles, which is why they are wrongfully isolating themselves from each other. 

Even though they love one another, their experiences with public scrutiny are so different that perhaps they cannot reach a point where both of them feel heard.

Such a chasm is prevalent in their relationship because while Carolyn sees John as family, she doesn’t view any other Kennedys to fit that title. This suggests that Carolyn doesn’t wholly see herself as part of the Kennedy family because of their inherent separation when it comes to priorities. 

When John returns from his run, Carolyn is still fixated on the news, and a heavy conversation ensues. 

Understandably, John has abandonment issues, and seeing Princess Diana’s death only exacerbates this for him. Carolyn takes a moment to console him, and yet, John holds the unfair belief that she’s “choosing the darkness” by not living her life as she should be. 

This statement emphasizes John’s consistent lack of understanding of how overwhelming Carolyn’s life has become. 

Carolyn’s lost a little bit of her sense of self because she doesn’t even have the choice to be by herself anymore.

There are several successive shots of Carolyn lying under a glass table, leaning against a window, and sitting behind a wall in the apartment. Such imagery indicates a sense of entrapment. Carolyn feels increasingly isolated not only from the outside world but from John himself. 

The entirety of the episode, save for the nighttime scene, takes place in their apartment. This reflects the constant suffocation Carolyn experiences and the strain their relationship is under. 

There’s a one-year time jump toward the latter half of the episode, and it’s as if nothing has changed. 

John believes that anytime Carolyn raises a concern, it will escalate into a fight, and this is shown by his saying, “What now,” which indicates the frequency with which they argue with one another. It illustrates how they’re still unable to coexist. 

What’s more is that John diminishes Carolyn’s vulnerability by chalking it up to her having “no identity outside of her victimhood” and that she “enjoys” it. 

For John to assume Carolyn enjoys what’s happening to her, considering the multiple breakdowns she’s had in front of him, is insensitive behavior. Sure, it’s a heated conversation, but John is a grown man, and he should be more than capable of thinking before he speaks. Why would you say that to someone you love?

John cannot for one second step out of his own identity and perception of the world to understand what his wife is going through.

John always spins the narrative back to himself. He drones on about how much he feels like a failure, citing that he couldn’t save his mother, his attempt to become a lawyer was unsuccessful, and now he’s failing as a husband. He refuses to see that Carolyn is right here in front of him, willing and waiting. 

There’s a point where Carolyn is desperately telling John to simply listen to her and let her “be lost.” 

The phrase, “Let me be lost,” is one of the best lines of the entire episode. Through so much of their argument, John seeks out over and over again to find tangible solutions to fix the feelings Carolyn is experiencing, and in doing so, he doesn’t allow himself to listen to her.

In the end, John does what he knows best and chooses to run away from the situation, leaving Carolyn in the apartment sobbing for him to stay.

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Love Story airs Thursdays at 9/8c on FX, with next-day streaming on Hulu.

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