I was a late bloomer when it came to watching “Sex and the City,” but ended up binge-watching the whole thing a few years after it ended, before binge-watching was even a term in the TV lexicon.
So I was pretty excited when I heard that Sarah Jessica Parker had a new show in the works called “Divorce.” Because it’s HBO, I knew I could expect the same quality show we had with “Sex and the City.”
“Divorce” follows the relationship of Frances (Parker) and Robert (Thomas Haden Church) who are going through a divorce. In the first episode, they’re still married, but it’s revealed that she’s been having an affair with a college professor (Jemaine Clement), and there hasn’t been a lot of life in their marriage for a while. Robert locks her out of the house (literally), and thus begins their un-coupling.
We’re just four episodes in, but so far, these people seem like real people. They’re not super rich, they don’t live in a high-rise building, and they don’t have high-paying, high-class jobs. She’s working a job she hates to keep their family afloat while he’s starting his construction business. But she really wants to own a gallery, and we see the beginnings of that dream start to take off when she looks at a possibly gallery space.
They have two kids who aren’t the least bit surprised when they learn of their parents’ divorce. Like all kids, they’re not stupid. They can see the signs.
So far, we’ve watched Frances and Robert fight, have tender moments, try therapy, try mediation, and now things are about to get nasty when they both lawyer up.
This show is both fun, but also like real life, and I love the chemistry between Parker and Church, who have both touching and comical moments. There’s also a sub-plot and “come to Jesus” moment for the couple, when their friend Diane (Molly Shannon) accidentally gives her husband a heart attack when she waves a gun around and it goes off at a party in their house.
Talia Balsam (no, not from “Rocky,” that was Talia Shire), Tracy Letts, Charlie Kilgore, Sterling Jerins, and Dean Winters are some of the other cast members that bring it all together.
With so many shows to check out on TV, it takes a really good show to hook me and keep me coming back every week. “Divorce” is one of those shows. Check out the official website here. (You can watch free episodes there.)
Are you watching “Divorce”? What’s your take?
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