To See Or Not To See: Z: The Beginning of Everything

Amazon Studios has done it again. Z: The Beginning of Everything is everything you want in a television binge. It’s fun, smart, and sexy, and the 30-minute bite-sized pacing is just right. So, what are you waiting for? Feast away on this delicious guilty pleasure.

The show centers on Zelda Fitzgerald, the fascinating, troubled wife of the lion of American letters, F. Scott Fitzgerald. Zelda famously was a hard drinker, a boisterous wit, a beautiful debutante, and a no-nonsense Southerner with a spine of steel. With her swagger, voice, bobbed hair, and flashy dresses, she was the very embodiment of a Jazz Age that her husband captured in prose. But Zelda wasn’t all fun times and hard liquor– she also suffered from fragile mental health, and she actually died in an asylum fire in Asheville, North Carolina, at the age of 47.

The show does much to rehabilitate Zelda Fitzgerald’s image in history. Taking a cue from Ernest Hemingway– who once remarked that Zelda was a distraction and drain on F. Scott Fitzergerald and his literary greatness– history often remembers Zelda as a wild party girl who led her husband astray, and she has been painted as an insane nag on her superstar husband.

This daring, feminist series turns that old myth on its head. In Z, it’s Scott’s neediness that emerges as the primary force in their marriage. More often than not, the literary wunderkind is the one instigating wild, drunken parties, and it’s his wife who simply plays along. Make no mistake: Zelda is a wild child in her own right, and there are plenty of hints at her approaching emotional and mental issues– but, more often than not, the show portrays Zelda as the real savior in the marriage, not Scott.

Zelda Fitzgerald’s life is the stuff in which filmmakers and writers revel, but only recently has Hollywood turned its gaze on her notable life. With two more Hollywood biopics incubating about Zelda Fitzgerald– one starring Jennifer Lawrence and another starring Scarlett Johansson— Amazon’s production is the first one out of the gate, and it sets a decent bar for what a Zelda Fitzgerald biopic should achieve.

But, being the first Zelda biopic among many isn’t the only thing Amazon has going for it. What is the real secret to the show’s success? In two words: Christina Ricci. Ricci throws herself into the role with passion, intelligence, and guts. It’s a complex role, to be sure, but she nails every glance, word, wink, and gesture. This might be Ricci’s best performance to date, and expect her to get some nominations for her masterful performance.

While Ricci’s Zelda appropriately soars in this series, David Hoflin‘s F. Scott Fitzgerald doesn’t fare as well. To be fair, any cursory look at Zelda Fitzgerald’s life will reveal her husband to be a complicated, dominating, and sometimes cruel and callous figure– and that’s all in the series. The show depicts him as a thin-skinned party boy with a genius complex. While there might be truth to that, Z‘s Scott too often comes across as a self-centered, pretentious brute, and more often than not I was left wondering why Zelda had fallen for him in the first place. Further, Hoflin’s performance is uninspired and lacks sympathy, sensitivity, and imagination.

The supporting cast is largely good. Corey Cott— an Amazon and Broadway alum– makes a sensitive Townsend Martin. Kristine Nielsen is bubbly and affectionate as Zelda’s supportive mother. David Strathairn does what he does best– formal reserve– as Zelda’s straight-and-narrow father. Christina Bennett Lind cloaks herself in the role of the iconic Tallulah Bankhead, Zelda’s hometown friend.

Amazon clearly spared no expense with this series– the costumes are straight-up eye candy, the props and sets are painstakingly detailed, and the marketing campaign was energetic. By the looks of the first season, the show was well worth the investment. Amazon has yet to renew it for a second season, however. Considering how much more there is to Zelda’s story– Paris, asylums, novels, and Hemingway (who do I have to beg to cast Corey Stoll— whose performance as Ernest Hemingway in Midnight in Paris was magnificent– as Hemingway?)– I sincerely hope that Amazon will give us more champagne, jazz, flappers, and Fitzgeralds soon.

Photo Credit: Amazon Studios