The Tamesis
When she didn’t give him her phone number, I wanted to throw tomatoes at the TV screen. I experienced the same anger a short time later when he asked to see her again after their first date and she just said “good night.” And then, to my indignation, she succeeds again when he leans his face against hers after a late-night walk and she just smiles and walks away, a careless blonde disappearing into the New York City mist to the sounds of Bewilderment Star. Never had a woman acted so calmly – and subsequently made me green with envy.
what i said is Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. and Caroline BassettRyan Murphy’s new series for FX/Hulu follows the intoxicating relationship between two of America’s most beautiful people (and notoriously doomed people). The show opens with the couple boarding a small plane piloted by Kennedy in what many viewers would consider to be their final moments – before the plane crashed off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard in 1999, killing both of them and Caroline’s sister. He is 38; Bassett is 33.
Their love is a tragedy. It remains to be seen how much Murphy and series creator Connor Hines will include. The first three episodes of the nine-part series were dropped last week, with new episodes being released every week until March. Currently, the focus is on the early love between two smart, attractive, well-dressed young people (played by Paul Anthony Kelly and Sarah Pidgeon). On one hand, a 30-something from one of the world’s most prolific political dynasties is stuck trying to shake off his playboy image; on the other, a stylish 20-something hustling through 1990s New York takes a masterclass in minimalist dressing at a time.
As the TV show tells it, they met at a party at Calvin Klein, for which Bessette worked at the time. What follows is a slow-burning flirtation between the hopelessly obsessed Kennedy and the utterly carefree Bassett, whose attitude in the face of such heat is worth studying. “For all I know, you might be a serial killer,” she deadpanned to Kennedy’s son after he asked for her phone number. He asked to give her his, and she replied, “I don’t want to get your hopes up.” He replied that he was not averse to begging. She calmly retorts that he knows where she works. coin.
In all subsequent encounters between the two men, Bassett’s seductive ennui returns, putting Kennedy at a disadvantage—something the audience soon learns he’s never been in before. What’s interesting about this relationship is that it subverts the obvious power dynamic. Kennedy may be the one who has the world ready to cater to his every whim, but when it comes to the two of them, it’s Bessette who’s in charge — and as the motel’s “Total Control” plays, the music director seems to nod playfully while she measures him for a suit.
Based on what we know about the couple, Murphy’s description is based on Elizabeth Belle Once Upon a Time: The Charming Life of Caroline Bassett-Kennedyvery reflective of their real-life dynamic, with Bessette being dismissive of Kennedy’s initial advances. “She didn’t think he was serious,” their friend Gustavo Paredes told people 2014. “He couldn’t believe she turned him down. It had never happened before.” Speaking during a 2019 ABC News special JFK Jr.’s last days, Kennedy’s friend Brian Steele agreed: “He would say, ‘I called her and she didn’t call me back.'” John didn’t like that. “
