Based on Bonnie Garmus’ 2022 book, Lessons in Chemistry is a new series on Apple TV.
★★★★★
Set in the 1950s and 60s in the United States, the show follows chemist Elizabeth Zott (Brie Larson) throughout all of her highs and lows, from terrible loss to being the face of one of the country’s most-watched cooking shows, inspiring women across the country. She begins the story as a lab tech at Hastings, conducting her own experiments by night. After a run-in with scientist Calvin Evans (Lewis Pullman) over a missing chemical from his lab, they begin to form an unexpected bond that will alter the course of Elizabeth’s life.
Brie Larson is undoubtedly the star of this show—as well as an executive producer. She makes Zott leap off the page, balancing her emotional moments and cool, collected TV personality with ease. All the good and bad in Elizabeth’s life needs a versatile actor, and we find this in Larson as she showcases Elizabeth’s anger, her joy, as well as her tremendous grief. It is hard to capture Elizabeth’s dry wit, but it’s a subtle performance feature throughout. A scene whereby she subtly derides a sponsor of the show who she disapproves of remains a stellar example of Larson’s layered performance.
The show also functions well as a book adaptation. There is a great amount of attention to detail when it comes to translating everything from page to screen. For example, Six Thirty, Elizabeth’s uncannily intelligent dog, is given some time to shine, with his internal monologue a feature brought to life on the small screen. He is a more honest narrator in moments where Elizabeth is blinded by grief, and Six Thirty’s use as a narrator in an episode exposes how biased human characters are in their perspectives at times. Within the book, Six Thirty shows us the family dynamic of the Zott household and all of the ways in which he thinks people are making things more complicated than they need to be. The showrunners understand how important he is—which extends to the rest of Elizabeth’s world.
In some ways the show even builds on the book. One way is its development of Calvin Evans. Although he is only present for a short amount of the story, his character’s effect on Elizabeth’s story is enormous. Very few of his inner workings are revealed to the audience, or to Elizabeth. Both the show’s scripts and Lewis Pullman elaborate on Calvin, strip back his layers so we see more of what makes him who he is. We see his struggle to navigate a love life before meeting Elizabeth, how he confides in a friend, as well as more of his habits and routines. He is made to be less of an untouchable, mysterious figure to the audience—something which he is in the book, as a byproduct of us only seeing him through Elizabeth’s eyes. These extra details about him do more to hammer home the extent to which the pair are kindred spirits.
Though Calvin Evans isn’t the only character expansion in this TV adaptation: Secretary Fran Frask (Stephanie Koenig) is given moments of solidarity with Elizabeth and a career she’s satisfied by, and Elizabeth’s friend Harriet (Aja Naomi King) is given a subplot which affects the entirety of the community she lives in and allows her to spread her wings to a greater extent. Her book counterpart goes on her own important journey, no less worthy, though internal. This adaptation makes her more of a driving force as she fights to stop a freeway being built through her neighbourhood and argues with those determined to treat it as disposable. It is made clear that Elizabeth is not the only woman in the show, or in life, with high aspirations and solid convictions, which is turn makes the show more inspiring with the knowledge that everyone has the ability to work towards what’s important to them.
The same can be said of Elizabeth’s colleagues and her daughter too. Everyone is carefully considered and it feels as though the question is always being asked: how can we give this person even more to do? Some book adaptations feel as though there never was a book, though in this case, the source material is firmly rooted as Lessons in Chemistry’s foundation, and upon it, something even richer has grown.
This consideration of characters other than Elizabeth and their rich inner lives makes the show feel more grounded in real life. While there are times when Elizabeth is the focal point and all eyes are on her (literally, when she’s presenting Supper at Six) the expansion of other characters gives the audience the feeling that they could be any one of these people, and they wouldn’t suffer for not being the main character.
The Verdict
This is a show that is for anybody who’s ever felt different, singled-out or as if they’re perpetually frustrated with the world’s lack of understanding. It provides hope that the right people will come, and that you will find them. The show builds a whole community around Elizabeth, emphasising that so many people’s lives intersect in unexpected ways. Witty, devastating and current, it begs to be rewatched as soon as you’ve finished it.
Words by Casey Langton
Support The Indiependent
We’re trying to raise £200 a month to help cover our operational costs. This includes our ‘Writer of the Month’ awards, where we recognise the amazing work produced by our contributor team. If you’ve enjoyed reading our site, we’d really appreciate it if you could donate to The Indiependent. Whether you can give £1 or £10, you’d be making a huge difference to our small team.