There’s no such thing as a simple life

Based on Elizabeth Strout's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, this mini-series is everything but a simple life. Set up in the small town of Maine, the opening scene gives us a glimpse of Olive’s life which is as heavy as her footsteps approaching. On surface, Olive Kitteridge is a story about a couple who endured the long slog of love but beneath the surface it chronicles life in a household where love is misplaced and replaced by resentment and subdued anger.

Olive (Frances McDormand) the strict teacher, with a whiplash tongue and acerbic humor is much more than the uncouth mannerism that she displays. Reserved, unapologetic and often unforgiving Olive will embarrass anybody when forced into something, be it on a dinner table in front of guests or at her son’s wedding. She has zero tolerance for idiocy displayed and can be unkind verbally.  She shines in the faults that she displays; there isn’t anything pretentious about her character. It’s difficult to warm up to her at first, but she is definitely a character that will grow on you. You begin to like her not because depression runs in her family, not because she dumps her husband’s valentine card in thrash but when she saves her former math student, Kevin’s (Cory Michael Smith) life. You will like her when she tells her dejected husband, ‘do something Henry’ soon after they receive a call from their son who wipes out her husband’s last hope of finding happiness. You will like her when she visits her son despite all the resentment she has towards him and when she tells in the end ‘waiting for the dog to die so that I can end my life.’ She is far stronger than her docile husband Henry (Richard Jenkins). She is a survivor, a rescuer and very much likable. She is not depressed, she is morose, somebody who while nurturing bitterness and cooking small meals forgot to love and when she found it, it made her numb.

Henry, the small town pharmacist is an affectionate character who finds solace by developing an innocent crush on Denise (Zoe Kazan), an employee at his store. When Olive rejects his harmless display of affection, he finds that much-needed attention by nurturing his relationship with Denise. In the first three parts we see these character struggling to hold on to their objects of affection; it’s only in the fourth act that we find them seeking the actual happiness. They grow as they learn to find comfort in drab moments that happen to visit them often. The only subdued character in the series is Christopher (Devin McKenzie Druid) son to Olive and Henry. A kid brought up in a household where parents speak of resentment more than of care; he grows up to play a victim who ends up blaming his parents and remains a passive character.

The way Olive and Henry let go of their past and forgive each other when they disinter memories allows viewers to witness what goes into making a marriage work. We make the people who love us suffer all the time. Bill Murray shines in the short space and brings a lease of life and wisdom with his character - Jack Kennison. A widower who isn’t dead and who wished he had known how to love better. The best line of the show comes from Jack, ‘Once they are gone all their faults disappear. Don’t they?’  Olive kitteridge gently nudges you to celebrate the people who love you instead of taking them for granted. It’s a show that shows marriage, unlike love is a long, difficult but a worthwhile journey that two people make through together.