Have you ever wondered what middle age was like? Maybe you’re deep in the throes of it already, watching The Four Seasons and laughing heartily while nodding your head at the relatable moments. The Tina Fey-created series is back for its second season, and it’s just as endearing as ever. Though the friend group is reeling from the sudden death of their longtime friend Nick (Steve Carell), the seasons continue to turn, and life goes on.
In Season 1, the dynamic shifted as Anne (Kerri Kenney-Silver) vacationed with her friends and soon-to-be ex-husband, along with his new and much younger girlfriend. In Season 2, it’s arguably even weirder with Nick gone and Ginny (Erika Henningsen) still hovering, first pregnant, then with a child. It’s an awkward situation to navigate, so can you blame Anne for being unbearable at times?
While Anne was dealing with the breakdown of her marriage, Jack (Will Forte) and Kate (Fey) were trying to keep their spark going as empty nesters, and Danny (Colman Domingo) and Claude (Marco Calvani) were navigating the complicated nature of an open marriage. What became apparent with every couple is that it’s possible to feel lonely even when you’re not technically alone.
Like the first season and the 1981 movie of the same name on which the show is based, the episodes in Season 2 take us through four vacations, two episodes per vacation, each during a specific season. From reinvention to major life decisions, midlife crises, and changing relationships, you feel like you’re part of this group of 50-something friends by the end, or at least you wish you were.
This season is heartwarming, funny, and entertaining throughout. It’s about journeys of personal discovery, and the hilarious blunders that happen during their time away, trying to break up the monotony of daily life. What I especially love about the show and the group of friends is that every moment feels like one that will come up 20 years from now, while these characters sit in a retirement home, regaling tales that begin with, “Remember that time when… [insert crazy vacation event here].”
The long-time friend group is starting from scratch, in a way; Nick’s journey to self-discovery is no longer at the center of the plot now that he’s gone. But the tone, like Season 1, continues to be both humorous and enlightening, sharp and witty, while also sad and hopeful. Each member of the group grows and shifts, all fueled in some way by their grief as well as reflections on their lives, questions about their futures, and realization of their own mortality. That’s especially complicated for Anne, who is navigating starting over after closing in on a comfortably stagnant chapter of her life.
The ensemble cast is, once again, perfect together, and the wholesome friendship between Kate and Danny is a standout. Jack, a perfect role for Forte, is the goofy glue and moral center, his sweetness so rooted in honesty that his childlike behavior at times is endearing versus immature.
Then, there’s Claude and his never-ending patience for Danny’s quirks and flakiness, and Danny’s self-indulgent aura that only ever seems to melt away when he’s with Kate. Anne is at least trying to let loose. While she’s supposed to represent a strong, independent woman starting over, she continues to give off lonely cat lady vibes.
The Four Seasons isn’t the first to explore the concept of changing lives and friendship dynamics as you get older. Movies like Grown Ups and shows like Friends From College have already done it, but this show offers a welcome mix of maturity and playfulness. While comedic, it explores the sometimes painful issues couples face during the midpoints of their lives in a way that’s raw, real, and relatable. The message it drives home, however, is that solid friendships can help you get through anything.
Whether you’re in your 50s or your 30s, you can’t help but envy this group, and I don’t just mean because they have jobs that allow them to duck away for a week four times a year. It’s because they still take the time to plan these vacations, no matter what life throws at them. The beauty of the show is in the insistence on keeping this tradition going.
The welcome humor supplied by a series of unfortunate events on every trip lightens the otherwise somber mood at times. This season, those involve everything from a lockdown and nachos to a carriage ride in Italy gone wrong. But it’s the moments of raw honesty, sitting on a deck with a glass of wine, chatting with an old friend, that reveal so much.
What The Four Seasons sets out to remind us is that even as you age, even if your life seems to be in a good place, challenges can pop up when you least expect them. Divorce, children, empty nesting, and career stagnation all come into play.
Ginny is a refreshing reminder of the beauty of starting adult life, but her existence and Nick’s death are also wake-up calls to what the others might have missed, failed to accomplish (or might still have the chance to do), or wish they had done differently. “Every decision feels like I’m trying to stick the landing on my entire f*cking life,” Danny says in one of the most relatable quotes on the show, perhaps ever on television.
The underlying message is that deep friendships feed the soul, even if they frustrate it sometimes, too. It’s lovely to see friends lean on one another in meaningful ways through the most complicated life changes.
The Four Seasons is a love letter to honest friendships, the one constant in life through the day-to-day grind. Making the time to get together even once a season is a needed reset because sometimes, your friends are the calm amidst the chaos. There’s value in making memories with friends who aren’t only here for a season or a reason, but for a lifetime.
