{"id":2281215,"date":"2026-02-13T22:52:17","date_gmt":"2026-02-13T22:52:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2281215"},"modified":"2026-02-13T22:52:17","modified_gmt":"2026-02-13T22:52:17","slug":"love-story-john-f-kennedy-jr-and-carolyn-bessette-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/love-story-john-f-kennedy-jr-and-carolyn-bessette-review\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. And Carolyn Bessette\u2019 Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

\n
\n

\u201cLove Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette\u201d chronicles Bessette\u2019s path from a private citizen working in the publicity department at Calvin Klein to the enigmatic wife of a former president\u2019s son.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

\u201cShe knows if she marries him, that will be her defining characteristic. It will be like she never existed before she met him,\u201d a colleague says about Carolyn Bessette (Sarah Pidgeon) in FX\u2019s new limited series.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

The nine-episode series, part of an anthology by writer-director Ryan Murphy, uses the Kennedy allure that transformed Bessette into an instant celebrity to attract viewers. However, even though the show attempts to explore the inner workings of the high-profile \u201990s couple via fictionalized events and dramatized scenes, it adds nothing new to the public narrative.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

The first episode begins on July 16, 1999, when the tragic love story ends. The two board a small plane with Carolyn\u2019s sister, Lauren (Sydney Lemmon), to head to Martha\u2019s Vineyard, but they never make it. Five days later, the wreckage was discovered eight miles off the coast, and their bodies were retrieved.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

After beginning with the flight that will result in their untimely deaths, the show rewinds to Carolyn and John\u2019s (Paul Anthony Kelly) lives before they met. She is working with VIP clients at Calvin Klein, and he has just failed the bar exam. Over the next eight episodes, the show progresses through the major moments of their relationship: meeting via Calvin Klein (Alessandro Nivola), dating, separating, reconnecting, getting engaged, hosting a secret wedding, and struggling with the pressures of marriage and the paparazzi. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

This straightforward trajectory is its pitfall. The show feels like watching a summarized relationship timeline<\/a> you\u2019d read online as opposed to the organic progression of a romance that you\u2019re watching unfold. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\"Sarah<\/picture><\/div>\n
Sarah Pidgeon as Carolyn Bessette, Paul Anthony Kelly as John F. Kennedy Jr. in “Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette.”<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n
\n

The series, based on Elizabeth Beller\u2019s book, \u201cOnce Upon a Time: The Captivating Life of Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy,\u201d clearly aims for the opposite. It wants to show how complex a figure Carolyn was and how the complicated love between the two unraveled under the pressure of the paparazzi and the expectation of being a Kennedy. Instead, it relies too much on the trappings that made Carolyn and John famous, including her style and his family. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

In one of my favorite moments of Murphy\u2019s 2010s show \u201cGlee,\u201d Rachel Berry (Lea Michele) says that a rival Glee club isn\u2019t worth worrying about because they aren\u2019t talented. Instead, the club is \u201call smoke and mirrors.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

\u201cIt\u2019s called hairography,\u201d Rachel explains.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

\u201cHairography\u201d is an apt description of \u201cLove Story.\u201d This is partly because Pidgeon\u2019s long blonde hair is regularly tossed in scenes to convey Carolyn\u2019s allure, and partly because the show\u2019s high-quality production relies on a carefully curated combination of wardrobe, sets, and styling to lend the story authenticity. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

However, the effect of Carolyn and John\u2019s hyper-glossy world is that, as the series progresses, it all begins to feel like a distraction that\u2019s as surface-level as the tabloid photos of the couple that flooded newspapers and magazines in the \u201990s.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

For a pair whose relationship was so well-covered in the press, the events and pressures that led to their relationship and made the relationship unravel are clear, but the show\u2019s exploration of why they fell in love and how that unraveling happened is pure conjecture, and the guesswork just isn\u2019t that novel. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

So what even is the point of the \u201cLove Story\u201d anthology? <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Personally, the most interesting opportunity in reexamining famous modern couples is the way such stories act as lenses that help us see our own love stories more clearly. Here, I was drawn to the tension that exists between choosing a person and choosing the life that comes with them. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

At one point in the show, Carolyn says that she chose John \u201cin spite of his life.\u201d Her sister-in-law, Caroline (Grace Gummer), responds, \u201cThen I really don\u2019t know what to tell you.\u201d Neither does the show. It highlights how the marriage changes Carolyn\u2019s reality, but it doesn\u2019t do enough to explore why the viewer should care. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

The same applies to the marriage itself. One persistent theme of the story is Carolyn\u2019s distrust of romantic relationships, which stems from her parents\u2019 divorce. At one point in their courtship, she tells John, \u201cEverything ends.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

To which he replies, \u201cNot us.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\"Paul<\/picture><\/div>\n
Paul Anthony Kelly as John F. Kennedy Jr. in “Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette.”<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n
\n

Because the show focuses on John\u2019s infatuation with Carolyn, there isn\u2019t enough space spent on what differentiates this relationship from the other women he\u2019s dated, or why Carolyn is willing to trust and make the personal sacrifices that a life with him necessitates.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

These problems are a loss for the show because the potential to explore them is there.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

This is also why \u2014 even though it is well-produced and may be interesting to those drawn to stories about the Kennedy family\u2019s cultural legacy \u2014 this limited series feels recycled and as irrelevant as paparazzi photos from three decades ago. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

The first three episodes of \u2018Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette\u2019 are currently available for streaming on Hulu, and one new episode will air each subsequent Thursday on FX at 9 p.m. ET\/PT and on Hulu the next day.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n