Love Story Season 1 Episode 9 Review: Search and Recovery
Carolyn and John reach their heartbreaking, inevitable conclusion on Love Story Season 1 Episode 9, “Search and Recovery.”
In an attempt to work through their marital issues, the couple attends counseling, but it proves to be largely futile. They continue to reminisce on past moments and experiences without having an honest talk on how to move forward.
Their reconciliation is sleeping together, and the next morning, when Carolyn brings it up, it demonstrates how she still seems to be the only one affected.
Genuinely, how much can Carolyn talk about it? John needs to be just as present as she is.
It isn’t until John and Carolyn have individual conversations with their respective siblings that something shifts between the couple.
John’s talk with his sister is long overdue, but perhaps this is a deliberate choice to reflect how timing is frankly not always in his favor.
John is so insistent when he tells Caroline that he feels he’s destroying Carolyn’s anonymity and cannot make her happy. He’s self-wallowing, and Caroline finally gives him a wake-up call as she stresses that he is not their dad and Carolyn is not their mom.
For so much of Love Story, John struggles with crafting his own identity outside the bounds of what it means to be a Kennedy.
When Carolyn comes along, she challenges the beliefs John holds, and as Caroline puts it, doesn’t contort herself to fit into what John is used to experiencing in relationships. His idea of love is tilted on its axis when he realizes the kind of person he can be with Carolyn.
It’s only after his talk with Caroline that John slowly leans into the very real truth of having the power to change his life to better fit the needs of his marriage.
Carolyn and Lauren have a similar discussion in which Lauren gets the sense she’s projecting their issues with their father onto John. She urges Carolyn to just try to work toward the future she wants with John without letting her pride get in the way.
Lauren’s admissions hold some truth, but throughout the time when Carolyn and John’s relationship is on the rocks, it still feels like Carolyn continues to fight for John more than he does for her.
When Carolyn and John relive their first date, it brings into perspective how much they’ve gone through. Furthermore, the exact same atmosphere pushes them to finally be open and honest with one another on how to build a life together.
The moment almost feels like an illusion because what follows is the only way their story could end.
The depiction of the plane crash is intense, but not in the way you’d expect, which makes it that much more harrowing to watch since you’re aware of the outcome. Neither Carolyn, John, nor Lauren is freaking out.
Carolyn knows what John needs at that moment, and it isn’t chaos. The music turns eerie as the camera keeps panning to the foggy glass, emphasizing the complete lack of visibility as John attempts to course correct.
The camera also flits between close-up shots of Lauren’s closed eyes, along with Carolyn’s, reflecting how both sisters are trying to be present within themselves.
When John calmly tells Carolyn to go back to her seat, all she says is, “I want to stay with you.”
At this moment, Carolyn knows there is nowhere else she is meant to be other than right next to John. Carolyn’s last few words are telling John to breathe, and it’s a comfort for him just as much as it is for her.
As we leave Carolyn, John, and Lauren on the plane, we’re now exposed to the unavoidable grief that both the Kennedys and the Bessettes face.
The scene between Caroline, Carolyn, and Lauren’s mom (Ann Messina Freeman) is so emotionally intense. It takes place in Carolyn and John’s apartment, which reflects the gaping loss both families are experiencing.
A part of Ann is resentful toward the Kennedy family because she knows all she has left is to protect both of her daughters’ legacies.
Constance Zimmer delivers a heart-wrenching performance, and you can feel how unbelievable Ann’s reality is just as it is for Caroline.
During the funeral, Ann reads aloud a poem that, in many ways, encapsulates Carolyn and John’s eternal love. The last few lines are: “Do not stand at my grave and cry; / I am not there. / I did not die.”
The last shot of Love Story involves Carolyn and John sitting together by the beach in what can be interpreted as their version of the afterlife. As the camera pans out to the expanse of the ocean, it signifies how their love will live on among the elements of the Earth.
What did you think of this episode of Love Story? Share your thoughts in the comments below, and don’t forget to leave your own rating!
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All episodes of Love Story Season 1 are now streaming on Hulu.
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Revati Gelda
Revati Gelda is a writer and journalist whose work focuses on the arts and their importance in today’s society. Her reporting has appeared in Hudson Valley Magazine, her alma mater’s newspaper Pipe Dream, where she served as Arts & Culture Editor, and more. Currently, she is an Assistant Poetry Editor for Decolonial Passage, a literary magazine.