Between the success of projects likeThe White LotusandGlass Onion, “rich people going on vacation” seems to be a whole genre that’s emerging nowadays, and it’s not hard to understand why. There’s nothing like the escape that watching beautiful people in beautiful locations provides. On paper, Netflix’sThe Four Seasonsis a recipe for success, showing a group of beloved actors playing in a quartet of stunning locations that range from the beach to a snowy wonderland. Unfortunately, it proves to be arather lackluster getaway.
What Is ‘The Four Seasons’ About?
The Four Seasonsfollowsthree couples over the course of a year, checking in on them during their quarterly tripstogether. We meet Jack (Will Forte) and Kate (Tina Fey) first. It’s immediately clear that Jack is the more sensitive and idealistic of the two, while Kate is more blunt and cynical. Though their marriage seems to be relatively happy at first, as the series goes on, it becomes apparent that there are some resentments there — namely, Jack feels like Kate is neglecting their marriage, while Kate grows frustrated that she’s constantly taking care of him.
Next, there’s Danny (Colman Domingo) and Claude (Marco Calvani). Danny is a workaholic with health problems he’s hellbent on ignoring, with Claude his doting and sometimes smothering husband. The two of them have an open relationship — a fact that occasionally baffles their more traditional friends.
Finally, there’s Nick (Steve Carell) and Anne (Kerri Kenney-Silver), who have been together for 25 years. Though they, too, seem content on the surface, Nick surprises all of them by announcing he wants to divorce Anne. To further complicate matters, he begins dating a much younger woman named Ginny (Erika Henningsen), which proves a major adjustment for all involved.Nick and Anne’s breakup has a ripple effect that impacts everyone, forming cracks that might prove impossible to repair.
‘The Four Seasons’ Wastes Its Incredible Cast
The Four Seasonsis a character-driven show, which makes the fact that none of the characters have much depth or development baffling. You immediately get a sense of everyone’s archetype — the nagging wife, the pushover husband, the flamboyant younger gay guy — and rarely do they subvert the stereotypes associated with each, nor do their arcs go anywhereunpredictable. There’s a distinct lack of specificity and surprise, giving the whole thing ageneric and formulaic feel that rings inauthenticand keeps you from truly investing in any of the characters despite having normally delightful A-list talent playing them.
It’s difficult to buy into the bond thatThe Four Seasonstells us these characters have, as we rarely sense any real chemistry or history there apart from fleeting moments, like when the group recalls a wild New Year’s Eve hot tub memory. The group’s origin story is randomly thrown in for exposition purposes instead of acting as the cornerstone of their relationships. In fact, it’s hard to see why this story needed to unfold with the group always together at all, as the couples are often siloed and dealing with their own problems without a ton of intersection into each other’s storylines. The fact they’re alltrapped togetheris a concept rich with possible complexities and messiness, butThe Four Seasonsnever fully indulges in its potential, keeping everything too neat, tidy, and consequently boring.
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The most intriguing dynamic is between Kate and Danny, who get the most development. Theirfriendshipfeels the most fleshed out and genuine, with Fey and Domingo playing off each other well as the most skeptical and logical of the bunch.Domingo, in particular, is able to light up the screen on charisma aloneand inject the script with some much-needed life, and it’s delightful to see him get a chance to flex his strong comedic chops for a change. It’s no coincidence that Danny and Claude’s relationship is the most intriguing of the romances, with Calvani’s earnest nature acting as the heart of the show and getting the most smiles, if not outright laughs. When the show does work, it’s because of them. The others try their best with what they’re given, but even heavy hitters like Carell and Forte can’t redeem their one-dimensional characters.
‘The Four Seasons’ Isn’t Funny Enough to Make You Laugh or Deep Enough to Make You Care
The structure ofThe Four Seasonslogically makes sense, with two half-hour episodes devoted to each trip, butthe pacing proves slow and sluggish, with characters rehashing the same predicament over and over again to tedious effect. There’s no real bite to the conflict or stakes to the tension, making all of the problems shallow and irrelevant. A show likeThe White Lotus, of course, mostly revolves around petty grievances andpassive-aggressive arguments, too, but there’s a soapy, self-aware quality to it that’s notably missing inThe Four Seasons, which lacks any real sense of style or edge. This would be fine if it played into the silliness and heightened hijinks, butThe Four Seasonsdoesn’t go there either, leaving the audience stuck in a sanitized, risk-free limbo that’s not sharp enough to bring the laughs or dramatic enough to evoke an emotional response.
The best episodes of the bunch are its fall installments, purely because they ground us in the day-to-day lives of these characters via Nick and Anne’s daughter Lila (Julia Lester) during parents’ weekend at her college. There’s a flicker of a slightly more substantive show there, anchored by morelayered moments from Carell, Kenney-Silver, and Lester, though it doesn’t ultimately come off as transformative or impactful in the context of the rest of the series. The twist at the end of the penultimate episode comes off much the same way. It’s clear what the showwantsus to feel and think, butits by-the-book execution keeps us from experiencing it the way it was intended.
The Four Seasonsisn’t a horrible show, but considering the talent it has in front of and behind the camera, it’s a letdown that never finds a unique voice or clear purpose. I would almost have rather it had been a bold, experimental disaster, as the fact it settles for being broad andunmemorableseems an even bigger waste of the legendary actors it assembled.The Four Seasonswon’t offer you the vacation of your dreams or your nightmares. In fact,it’s one mental vacation you’ll probably quickly forgetyou even went on at all.
The Four Seasonsis available to stream on Netflix.
The Four Seasons
Netflix’s The Four Seasons is inoffensive but unmemorable.
