TV’s ‘The Four Seasons’ makes you think

The Four Seasons. Remember the name of this show. Not just because it is one of writer, producer and actor Tina Fey’s finest works since probably 30 Rock, but because it is exceptionally entertaining.

The show is also thought-provoking at the same time and, if you watch and listen carefully, asks all the right questions everyone in every stage of love must ask and answer.

Imagine three couples, middle-aged and likely upper-middle class. For years, they have been spending at least four weekends away together annually. Then, interpersonal relationships are tested to the max when one member of the group leaves his wife and eventually hooks up with a much, much younger woman. In many ways, we can all relate to that. Someone in anyone’s extended circle is probably guilty of such indulgence.

Anyway, Tina Fey plays Kate, a spreadsheet-wielding control freak who plans the seasonal getaways. She’s married to the ever diplomatic Jack, played by Will Forte, whose conflict resolution skills are tested when his mate Nick, played by the brilliant Steve Carell, announces he’s leaving his wife of 25 years, Anne. It takes place when Anne throws a surprise wedding vow renewal to celebrate the pair’s anniversary.

News of affair went down like a lead balloon

Needless to say, this all went down like a lead balloon or, in this instance, with a detonation. After that, the slow burn of destruction continues to burn, one getaway at a time.

Couple number three is husbands Claude, played by Marco Calvani, and Colman Domingo as his partner Danny. Between the two, Claude’s hyperactive personality type and Danny’s dry wit, large gestures and pensive moments with eye rolls often gel the whole debacle together. Sometimes as peacemakers, other times as silent agitators.

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‘Even in a throuple someone’s got to clean the air fryer’

Some of the liners hurled between the cast are absolutely priceless.

The Four Seasons is not the slapstick satire that 30 Rock was. Instead, Fey’s humour this time is as dry as a tumbleweed, and the script plunges into deep emotional murkiness, bounced up with fantastic comedic wit, and then down again. It takes audiences on a tremendously moreish ride.

Lines like “even in a throuple someone’s got to clean the air fryer” and “your face has always been loud” through to explanations to the middle-aged what sexual fluidity means. It’s all highly relatable and oh so very close to home for many. But the show is not camp. It’s not boring for a moment, and it demands reflection in between.

Fey, along with partners Lang Fisher and Tracey Wigfield, created the eight-part series as an extended replay and redo of a 1981 film by Alan Alda, who wrote, directed, and starred in the flick opposite Carol Burnett, also called The Four Seasons.

If you enjoyed The White Lotus and even shows like Modern Family and Ray Donovan, then you will love The Four Seasons. It’s light and dark, and while the final season of You may be stealing the limelight on Netflix, this is a show that must feature high on anyone’s to-watch list.

Beware of leaving the telly on when kids are around though. It’s definitely not for them. There’s nudity, talk of masturbation, all gender sexual activity and foul mouthing. It’s not dissimilar to how any adult engages, but watch The Four Seasons well after bedtime for junior.

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