Everyone can find different friendship portraits nowadays, no matter if it’s in movies, TV shows, or books, but the story of the young girls who met on Firefly lane catches the eye by presenting the same two friends in three different moments of life and their respective challenges. Developed by Maggie Friedman and based on the novel by Kristin Hannah, this story will certainly embrace your heart.
- Review
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The show is divided into ten episodes, alternating between the 70s, 80s, and 2000s. In the first decade, the public is presented to Kate Mularkey (Roan Kurtis), a quiet and introverted girl who was created in the middle of a classic North-American family, she meets Tully Hart (Ali Skovbye), who is completely different, full of audacity, she came from a chaotic home that includes a hippie mother with substance addiction. Both living on the same lane, they start a beautiful, genuine, and long-lasting friendship, but with its ups and downs, which makes the story even more real.
In the excessive 80s, Tully and Kate, now played by Katherine Heigl and Sarah Chalke, both with a journalism degree, face the challenges of one of their first jobs, that’s when they meet Johnny (Ben Lawson), a journalist who will enchant Kate and test her friendship with Tully.
The 2000s show the duo already in their most developed stages, Kate needed to put her career on the back burner since Marah (Yael Yurman), her daughter with Johnny, was born, and as if the motherhood challenge wasn’t big enough, she also needs to face all the divorce problems with the man she fell in love with at work. Meanwhile, Tully is a North-American television star, being very successful on The Girlfriend Hour, her talk show. However, she doesn’t live in a bed of roses, since a life dedicated completely to her career has its surprises.
The production succeeds very well in portraying the two protagonists’ personalities, the girls are similar in choosing journalism but different in opting to be in front or behind the cameras within the profession. It also shows that the differences between Tully and Kate can complete them, but sometimes it can also be the reason for obstacles in both their lives.
The Netflix show also deserves praise for including varied and important themes within the narrative: sexism, questions involving homo-affective relationships, abortion, sexual assault, family issues, and motherhood are points that “Firefly Lane” does not leave out, but even bringing visibility to complex life issues, the show still guarantees to the audience light and funny moments.
Highlighting technical aspects from “Firefly Lane”, the production does not impress as a cinematographic masterpiece, but for being an honest friendship portrayal, it isn’t difficult to feel fireflies in the stomach in situations that Kate and Tully go through. Truthfully, after watching each one of the episodes, everything you want to do is to call your best friend immediately, because you don’t have to look like one of them to understand what they are passing by, best friend issues are universal.
With a final episode that left the public sad and angry, it’s important to reflect on the end chosen by the show. A story that focuses on the strongness and beauty of a best friend relationship should think twice about leaving the plot’s main link destroyed. The possibility of a second season is underpinned by a fight that doesn’t match with the lessons that Tully and Kate showed the public during the entire series.
- The future
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However, the feeling of wanting more is inevitable, Firefly Lane left questions and the audience needs answers. What happened to Johnny? Is he safe? Will Tully go back to The Girlfriend Hour? And most important: What is the reason for Kate’s quarrel with Tully?
Until the present moment, a possible second season is not confirmed, but there is a place in the universe where the answers already exist and it’s also possible to discover more about Kate and Tully’s future: The literature. Kristin Hannah not only wrote “Firefly Lane’ but also “Fly Away”, the sequel to the first book, if you only watched the TV show, it’s recommended to read both books, since the first one gives important information (that the show has not covered, as it is probably saving it for a future season) in which the reader needs to know before starting the second book. And here is a tip: For the reading, prepare twice as many tissue boxes as you used when you watched “Firefly Lane”.
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The article above was edited by Thays Avila.
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