Pop-Culturalist.com

Amazon Studios is becoming a big deal. It has found critical and popular success with wonderful series like Mozart in the Jungle, Transparent, and The Man in the High Castle, and it shows no signs of slowing down. Its seventh pilot season is about three weeks old. One of two adult shows offered in this cycle was The Interestings, an adaptation of the novel by Meg Wolitzer.

The Interestings follows the 20-year-plus relationship of a group of friends who had met at arts camp in the 1970s. Jules Jacobson is a frizzy-haired outsider whose wit gains her entry into the inner sanctum of beautiful and popular actors, musicians, and dancers. This group is so sure of their successful futures in the arts that they dub themselves “the interestings.” Inevitably, alliances are reconfigured, putting pressure on a number of relationships. The show also traces these relationships in the 1980s and 1990s, showing how the unromantic responsibilities of adulthood often get in the way of the creative optimism of youth. We watch as some of the interestings make it with their talent and passion, while others trade it in for sensible work. We’re also exposed to a mystery, as one of the interestings had disappeared for decades and reemerges at the end of the pilot.

The acting was on point, especially since the adult cast shows breadth, acting as both 20-somethings in the 1980s and then 30- and 40-somethings in the 1990s. In particular, Lauren Ambrose was well cast as adult Jules, as was David Krumholtz and Jessica Paré. I was also pleased to see the show making use of the astonishing talent on Broadway, like Corey Cott as sensitive ex-singer Jonah, Jessica Hecht as Jules’ mother Lois, and Tony-winner Gabriel Ebert as Dennis, Jules’ quirky and lovably unpretentious husband.

But a stellar cast doesn’t always make up for the flaws in the story. The time jumps between the 1980s and 1990s isn’t always smoothly executed, and can be confusing. At its best, the show evokes the same nostalgia and cozy comraderie of films like Now and Then or The Big Chill. But this group of friends is more pretentious than most. Indeed, Jules as a character is often cloying, arrogant, and unlikable. A better conduit into this group of otherwise likable and fascinating characters would have been welcome.

Still, there is enough potential here for a full series, and the end of the pilot left me wanting more. Give The Interestings a shot to see if it piques your interest.

Photo Credit: Amazon Studios