Grace And Frankie Series Review & Summary: Doesn’t Fall From Being A Heartfelt Comedy

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Video Source – Netflix (Netflix YouTube Channel)

The second part of the seventh and final season of the hit show, Grace and Frankie released on Netflix on 29th April 2022. Produced by Marta Kaufmann and Howard J. Morris the show is a heartfelt comedy series. 

Grace and Frankie Series Cast

  • Jane Fonda as Grace 
  • Lily Tomlin as Frankie
  • Sam Waterson as Sol
  • Martin Sheen as Robert 
  • Brooklyn Decker as Mallory
  • June Raphael as Brianna

Grace and Frankie Series Plot

A story about two women who adjust to the reality of their husbands coming out as gay and moving in with each other, Grace and Frankie is about how life will continue throwing curve balls at you even in its last few years. 

Grace and Frankie Series Review

Grace and Frankie Series Review

Representation. A buzzword that should never go out of style. It is a demand that often results in underperformed and researched art but sometimes it provides us with shining jewels. When it was first released back in 2015, Grace and Frankie was definitely a one of its kind series. Two men coming out as gay and divorcing their wives to be with each other is a story that would easily sell but Grace and Frankie went up another level to make the story about the women and specifically make the entire story revolve around the senior demographic. A bold and risky decision. 

Releasing a show about geriatric couples on a platform that is primarily used by the demographic that watches Riverdale was a shocking call made by Netflix. Though it did star big names like Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin, Martin Sheen and Sol Waterson, it is peculiar to think that it was these yesteryear names that made the series a hit. I would give the writing, the performances and the hilarious dynamics of the show this credit. 

It is such a well thought idea because of how completely absurd it seems. Grace and Frankie’s husbands, Robert and Sol (respectively) were divorce lawyers who realised were gay and in love with each other sometime around the 80s. 30 years later they came out to their family and broke their marriage to get married to each other leaving everyone speechless.

While Grace and Robert had a loveless marriage, Frankie and Sol were best friends. Grace and Frankie hated each other. It did not seem like any of this would work out well but now we are seven seasons in and everything is far from well. Grace and Frankie can’t live without each other so much so that Grace’s new husband divorces her because of it. Frankie is convinced that she is going to die within 3 months. Robert starts losing his memory and well, Sol is the sweetest and the most confused soul on this planet. 

Along with them are their children. Brianna and Mallory are Grace’s daughters and Bud and Coyote are Frankie’s sons. They each have their own running plotlines, each as interesting as the others. They are unique and fresh that makes you laugh out loud while at the same time starting a warm fuzzy feeling within you. Even the youth (trust me, I am youth) cannot help but relate and fall in love with this show.

The writing of the series relies on the duality of the star cast. Grace is a prim and proper lady that deals with problems by drinking them away. Frankie on the other hand is an artsy soul that thrives on talking, getting stoned and painting. Similarly, Robert and Sol as well as the children are each as different as they can get. These differences help to drive the story ahead. Having such a simple force helps them to build complex subplots and introduce challenges that other shows aren’t able to. 

For example, Brianna is the sister that has been business-oriented from the time she was a child while her sister, Mallory has been groomed to be the family woman. There is a point in the show when the sister decided to give up a prestigious position in a company for her relationship and this job ends up with Mallory. Now Brianna, who has been the boss her entire life is working under Mallory who has almost never had a career. This new dynamic is so well explored by the creators like all the other plotlines. 

Having raved about the show, there is a feeling that the second part fell short of everything that had been built up till then. As mentioned there are a lot of storylines and character dynamics that get explored through the series so with the final part releasing, it felt that the show had too many loose ends left to tie. 

The final few episodes seemed rushed and stories were finished before one was completely able to comprehend them. We were told of more things than shown and that put down the six and half seasons’ worth of entertainment by a notch. Some characters felt a little overlooked too. Sol and Mallory didn’t seem to have much going on than being the sidekicks for Robert and Brianna. They each did their parts so well that I wanted to see them more and get the recognition they deserved. One more thing the second part missed was the amazing interactions the 4 main characters have. This entire part had none of that. Even though all 4 of them were present at the same scenes several times, there wasn’t a single minute of shared screen time.

With the tying of the loose ends becoming too much, the show managed to give justice to the representation it was aiming for. It spoke of death and how it becomes less scary to die than to see life crumble. Frankie losing her ability to pain because of the worsening of arthritis, Robert forgetting about the most special days of his life and Grace having to cope with the fact that this is happening to people around her.  

The children too grew up a lot through the season and their stories headed up to reconciliation, acceptance and happier times. The title of the first episode of the first season was The End and the last episode of the series is The Beginning. Everything fell through in the start and everything is just the way it is supposed to be in the end and thus we know that maybe they are finally heading off to the lives they deserved. 

The Movie Culture Synopsis

The final season was definitely a lot and it was heart touching, to say the least. It may not be a tear-jerker but it does not fall from its promise of being a heartfelt comedy. It ended at an appropriate point which is a lot to say in comparison to other Netflix shows.