The Kennedys

The Kennedys are one of the most talked about American families, fitting that a drama piece would be made about them. Now remember the show is a fiction, liberties are taken, it’s not 100% accurate to history but it does a fine job of capturing the Kennedy family. The mini series is laced in controversy, for good reason. Corruption and death seem to follow the family during the 60s. It’s a must see drama. The show takes the powerful family and their real life drama and fits it into a perfect 8 part mini series that really gives you a great look at the family.

The mini series focuses on the beginnings of the Kennedy legacy. JFK, Bobby and their father Joseph.  Ted Kennedy is noticeably missing, but for the time period they were focusing on, it made sense. Jacqueline Kennedy is also extremely important in this series. The story begins on the eve of JFK’s election to presidency, and involves the Cuban missile crisis, Bobby’s fight against organized crime, the assassination of JFK and the aftermath for the family, and finally the assassination of Bobby.

Throughout all these main events we also get plenty of flashbacks of the Kennedy family prior to a Kennedy administration in the 60s. The flashbacks become extremely important for characterization and how these past events really framed what would happen later on with the characters.

            

One of the things I loved so much about the show was the depth of the characters. JFK is portrayed as a bit of an indecisive man who has a weakness for women and suffers through physical aliments that he is trying to keep from the American people. Jackie Kennedy deals with her husband’s infidelities and tries to balance being the perfect first lady and being a mother.

 Bobby comes off as a very family rounded man, who unfortunately has to clean up the messes of his brother. Joseph is power hungry and is attempting to live vicariously through his sons. He uses dirty tactics to get around and he seems to be pushing his children to succeed and fail where he has. He is also reluctant to lose his power over them.

Now I need to talk about the casting on the show. There were great performances throughout the series, but the ones that really stand out are by Greg Kinnear (JFK), Barry Pepper (Bobby) and Tom Wilkinson (Joseph). The three of them really worked well together and delivered some of the best scenes on the show. This was fantastic casting; I don’t think the series would have been as strong if they weren’t casted. Katie Holmes (Jackie) delivered some great scenes as well, but I felt her performance weren’t as strong as her other cast mates. Without a doubt I’d say my favorite performances came from Barry Pepper. His portrayal of Bobby was consistently top notch. Bobby was without a doubt my favorite character on the series.

Each episode sucks you in with its fantastic writing, acting, interesting characters, and the drama the family went through in the 60s. Of course creative license is taken on the show, but it follows the timeline well and involves people who played an important role, whether negative or positive on the Kennedys. I highly recommend everyone check out this show. It’s without a doubt one of the best of 2011.

Nicole M.