JFK Jr and Carolyn’s Love Story

We watched on tenterhooks as the latest installment in Ryan Murphy’s “American Story” franchise was filmed in New York last year, and now we have an official trailer by which to judge the renamed Love Story, centered on the ill-fated romance and marriage of John F. Kennedy, Jr. and Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy.

The trailer has me cautiously optimistic.

They were 90s icons, Carolyn in particular defined an entire aesthetic which remains popular today—she was basically the first “clean girl”. The trailer is very much about the public nature of their relationship, the fame that hounded JFK Jr who was, really, a private citizen with famous parents. Paul Kelly stars as JFK Jr and we can see his charm and petulance in turn, while Sarah Pidgeon’s Carolyn, even in a two-minute trailer, slowly melts under the stress of public attention. For those of us who are old enough to remember, or those students of gossip history who studied this story, all the pieces are clear and recognizable, and paired with Japanese Breakfast’s melancholy cover of “Head Over Heels” (by Tears for Fears), a sense of dread coalesces around the young lovers.

This is the correct way to handle a story to which we already know the ending. You’re not going to surprise us with the timeline or the events, so surprise us with tone and texture, and the tone and texture of this Love Story trailer is REALLY good. It’s whirlwind and drama and young and sexy and sad. It’s kind of everything I want from a fictionalized version of the JFK Jr/Carolyn Bessette story? Did, perhaps, Ryan Murphy nail it?

Well, notably, while he is the Big Name Producer behind the show, Love Story was created by Connor Hines, who is also a credited writer on six of nine episodes for the series. While not every directing credit is established yet, six of nine episodes are NOT directed by Ryan Murphy. So it seems like while Love Story is coming out of the Ryan Murphy Machine, Murphy himself doesn’t have everything to do with this one. That might be refreshing to know for some of you. (Also, I assume the retitling to simply “Love Story” means we will get more of these centered on non-American couples.)

But I’m actually enjoying his other show, The Beauty, right now, so I’m not even put off by the specter of Murphy hanging over Love Story. Like it’s not groundbreaking, it’s not saying anything new about our youth/beauty/wellness obsessed culture, it is basically a poor man’s The Substance (and that poor man is, specifically, Ashton Kutcher), but it’s fun and entertaining and stylish and so far, it hasn’t made me want to drown myself in a toilet. So yes, I am cautiously optimistic that we’re on a run of good Ryan Murphy TV, the kind of run that is the whole reason I can never fully write him off in the first place.

Also, can I just note that in a very brief appearance, Naomi Watts looks like an incredible Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. I never think actresses really sound like Jackie, but Watts sounds enough unlike herself to sell the performance. Did she stick it out through All’s Fair just to get this role? And if she did, do we consider that a fair trade? I’m not sure I do. All’s Fair DOES make me want to drown myself in a toilet.

Love Story premieres the first three episodes on FX and Hulu on February 12, just in time for Valentine’s Day. It’s a good thing this is not a binge watch show, because that would make for a hella depressing Valentine’s weekend.

Watch the trailer and let us know what you think at The Squawk. (App link here)