“Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette” is a respectful look at the relationship between the president’s son and the Calvin Klein employee.
It references the tabloid fascination with their relationship and, in many ways, suggests there’s a template for these kinds of stories. Replace Carolyn with Diana and you’ll note similarities.
Paul Kelly and Sarah Pidgeon look a lot like the couple, but this story unfolded so long ago, it’s hard to remember specific details. John on a bike? Check. Darryl Hannah in the wings? Check. George magazine? Check. Mom’s indifference? Check.
Sarah Pidgeon and Paul Kelly in a scene from "Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette."
What we didn’t remember was John’s “hunk flunks” the bar exam and Carolyn’s flirtation with a Calvin Klein model. Heck, this suggests she was so essential (as a VIP whisperer), you’d think she was responsible for the fashion line’s success.
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Considering this could have been sassier than other Ryan Murphy productions, “Love Story” is quite tame. It makes you feel for John’s place in the world and wonder if life would have been more forgiving had it turned out differently.
Naomi Watts, the best part of “Feud: Capote vs the Swans,” shines as John’s mother, Jackie. She frets continuously and keeps a distance when she thinks his choice in women is suspect. Hearing her weigh in on Hannah is worth the build-up it takes. Watts is elegant, measured and bright — all things you’d want from a former first lady.
What surprises is how much she — and Pidgeon’s Bessette — smokes. There are cigarettes everywhere, punctuating statements in ways only Bette Davis could.
Paul Kelly and Sarah Pidgeon in a scene from “Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette.”
More telling (at least in the first episodes) is the way Calvin Klein conducts business. His underlings are silent; his rules are legion (no roses in the office). When Carolyn dares to offer an opinion, he’s intrigued and lets her speak. That means she’s invited to company events and gets to whisper in ears like Kennedy’s. Alessandro Nivola, who plays Klein, has enough of the designer’s hallmarks to make us buy the impersonation.
And that’s the way much of “Love Story” unfolds. It’s enough to remind us, not enough to make us rethink the relationship.
Family conversations give us a Kennedy family we didn’t know (but wanted) and Caroline (Grace Gummer) is snarky enough to make you believe she had a true handle on her brother.
Where this heads (we saw four of the first episodes) is anyone’s guess but Murphy’s restraint suggests this “Love Story” is one he respects, not one he dissects.
“Love Story” airs on FX and FX on Hulu.
