First, There Was the 90s Obsession. Now, There Is the FX Series Giving New Fans Love for JFK Jr.
I grew up in the 90s. My mother, one of my best friends, was a woman who worked in fashion and loved celebrities and their gossip. Meaning she loved John F. Kennedy Jr. and I grew up knowing all about him. So the new series, Love Story, which focuses on his relationship with Carolyn Bessette is right up my alley.
JFK Jr. (Paul Anthony Kelly) was a New York socialite and the son of former President John F. Kennedy. His widow, Jackie Kennedy Onassis (Naomi Watts), and their son had a close relationship and it was one that has always fascinated Americans. Think of the Kennedys as our Royal Family. What Love Story does though is show how the playboy, who dated women like Daryl Hannah (played by Dree Hemingway) and Sarah Jessica Parker, fell madly in love with the fashion icon.
Carolyn Bessette (Sarah Pidgeon) worked for Calvin Klein. Her work in fashion and her own unique style made her an icon of the 90s. So the show does a brilliant job of mixing the look and feel of what Bessette was known for to a modern audience. But it is through those connections that the show really does something special: Allow its audience to remember the aesthetic of the 90s in a fashion forward way.
A lot of our period pieces from the 90s focus on darker stories. So we’re not exactly going for aesthetic and vibes. But with JFK Jr. and Bessette, they were the height of fashion. And it lends the show a unique ability to appeal to the audience in an aesthetically pleasing way. More than that though, I think what has captivated audiences with Love Story is the same thing that made Kennedy and Bessette everyone’s 90s obsession: Their love.
He really was smitten with her
Their relationship was not perfect and given how the show starts, I do think we’ll see that. The infamous park fight is going to be one for the ages. But I do love that the series doesn’t try to make Kennedy cooler than he was. Yes, he had a type and would date women who all were taller and beautiful but I do think that the show is doing a great job of captivating how smitten he was with Bessette.
A lot of people were (rightfully) worried that the series would make Bessette just a lowly girl who suddenly is taken up in the world of the Kennedy family, which is far from what happened. Luckily the show doesn’t do that and it shows just how important and powerful Bessette was in her own right.
All of it works to make this series a fascinating look at the biggest story in American tabloids in the 90s. In a decade filled with scandals, John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette were an obsession that so many shared. I remember how distraught my mother was over their death, even if I didn’t fully grasp how much people loved the two of them.
So watching Love Story, I have realized an important fact: It is just that we all are obsessed with this couple. Maybe it is part of growing up. Eventually you will become your mother and have an obsession with John F. Kennedy Jr. or…maybe that’s just me. But I am obsessed with what Kelly and Pidgeon are doing on Love Story.
(featured image: FX)
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