- Network: AppleTV+
- Series Premiere Date: Oct 12, 2023
Critic Reviews
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This terrifically entertaining eight-part series more than meets them [expectations]--think The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel as a Ph.D. candidate--as the emotionally repressed Elizabeth opens her life and her heart to memorable characters who challenge and appreciate her. [16 Oct - 5 Nov 2023, p.8]
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For fans of peak TV, the debut of “Lessons in Chemistry” is a sublime confection that sets a new table for period drama enthusiasts looking for a show with bite.
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Take some time to yourself to embark on the journey Lessons in Chemistry lays out. You'll probably be surprised by the turns it takes, but that doesn't make the end result any less satisfying.
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“Lessons in Chemistry” is a joy to watch, an escape with a clear-cut and righteous perspective.
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Larson does a credible job of playing a character fundamentally at odds with her own story, but it’s the supporting actors—especially King and Pullman, their faces conveying a flickering, complicated vulnerability—who give the series its most moving scenes.
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Lessons In Chemistry contains layers of ingredients that build on and play off of each other: romance, drama, history, the second wave of feminism, all snuggled neatly into a 13 x 9 pan. When combined, they’re all greater than the sum of their parts.
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This is a well-made and beautifully-envisioned series whose niggles come from not from laziness, but an excess of ambition.
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Some of the dialogue is rather on the nose, and on occasion, too many ingredients are thrown into the mix. Creator Lee Eisenberg does an impressive job of maintaining the heart of Lessons in Chemistry’s bestselling source material while making some necessary changes. On the whole, it’s a winning recipe.
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Lessons in Chemistry is far from flawless; even those (like me) who’ve never read the Bonnie Garmus novel on which it’s based will be able to feel the seams where the source material and the adaptation do not quite mesh. Nevertheless, it’s worth tucking into, thanks to an endearing cast, witty dialogue and easily digestible themes.
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“Lessons in Chemistry” could have been tighter (trimmed to six episodes), and a subplot about Black neighbor Harriet (Aja Naomi King) fighting racial injustice could be more developed. Still, “Chemistry” comes up with a winning formula in the end.
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Though tonal shifts from comedy to calamity break its stride, this fierce, funny and vital series tackles a mid-century battle for women’s rights through the eyes of a chemist—an Emmy-bound Brie Larson—who uses a local TV cooking show to lead a feminist charge.
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Subtle, it’s not. But it is entertaining, thanks to some outstanding performances, particularly from Larson.
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An enjoyable, gorgeously designed, but somewhat flat miniseries that takes on acute sexism in midcentury America.
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There is very little that's intentionally funny about "Lessons in Chemistry," although some of the dialogue is amusingly insipid. The Oscar-winning Ms. Larson nevertheless makes it a very watchable series, as does the gifted Lewis Pullman as Elizabeth's lover and near-intellectual equal Calvin Evans.
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When it jumps back to focusing on Elizabeth’s life as a woman trying to plant her feet in the soil of a world that seems too small for her, Lessons in Chemistry strives to hold on to its initial greatness, though it doesn’t completely stick the landing.
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While the love story and the cooking scenes are delightful to watch, the rest of Lessons in Chemistry droops. Bonnie Garmus wrote her novel so cinematically that, when actually adapted, there’s no room for creative liberty.
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Though the series might seem like a formulaic underdog tale, it’s not afraid to scramble that formula up, from a shocking character death to a voiceover from the perspective of a labradoodle. That said, not all of the risks pay off.