[This story contains MAJOR spoilers from the Love Story finale, “Search and Recovery”.]
After seven weeks of ’90s nostalgia and an intimate look at America’s ultimate power couple — John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette Kennedy — Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette concluded Thursday night. And it was an emotional watch, to say the least.
Created by Connor Hines and executive produced by Ryan Murphy, the anthology series picks up shortly after last week’s episode, when John (Paul Anthony Kelly) left for the night. Set during the final weekend of their lives, the episode reveals that he didn’t return after leaving Carolyn (Sarah Pidgeon) during that explosive argument. Still, the two attempt to repair their relationship, visiting a marriage counselor who suggests they spend time apart.
After leaving the session, they head to a dive bar and reminisce about the passion and excitement of their early relationship — before it was strained by relentless media attention, and before Carolyn, in particular, struggled to adjust to such a drastic change in lifestyle.
“If only we knew then how good we had it,” Carolyn tells John.
Though they try to stay apart, neither can follow through. Both turn to family for support — John confides in his sister Caroline (Grace Gummer), while Carolyn leans on her sister Lauren Bessette (Sydney Lemmon) — and each is encouraged to fight for the relationship.
They do. Carolyn even makes a rare public appearance to support John at an event for George magazine. The two also recreate their first date at an Indian restaurant, where Carolyn finally explains what her “sign above her head” means, which she referenced in the pilot: “Please handle with care, not as tough as she looks.” In a rare moment of vulnerability, she opens up about why she kept her guard up early on — and John realizes she is his priority.
About 20 minutes into the episode, it’s now July 16, 1999 — the day John, Carolyn, and Lauren died from a plane crash while en route to attend a Kennedy family wedding in Martha’s Vineyard. The series also opened with this day. Hines previously told The Hollywood Reporter why it was important to begin there, before shifting back seven years.
“We wanted to contrast the Carolyn everybody knows from images with that very bleached blonde hair; very straight aesthetic. It’s very recognizable. We cut back in time to show who Carolyn was before everybody got to meet her. Somebody who had a different sense of style and more bohemian hair,” he said. “There was a whole person before the world got to know her who was living in a studio apartment in the East Village, throwing clothes on and running off to work. To see where she was towards the end of her life, and then cut back to the beginning of a woman just moving through New York like everybody else anonymously was really important and effective for telling the rest of the story.”
Carolyn initially hesitates to attend the wedding in Martha’s Vineyard, but ultimately chooses to go to be with him. John also makes a call to check on the weather.
In their final moments, the three are shown on the plane as the weather worsens, and John’s expression says it all — a quiet, haunting suggestion that he understands what’s coming. Carolyn, seated beside him in the cockpit, senses it too, picking up on his unease. “I want to sit with you,” she says, and the two share a knowing look as he remains visibly shaken, realizing there’s nothing he can do to change the situation.
Carolyn stays calm, as does Lauren in the back. “It’s OK, just breathe,” she tells him, trying to steady his panic. The camera then zooms in on a red light flashing across John’s face — the engine failure warning — before the screen cuts to black.
What follows is the world’s reaction. Police officers show up to Caroline’s home to tell her and her husband, Edwin Schlossberg (Ben Shenkman), that John’s plane has been reported missing. A call in the middle of the night wakes up Carolyn and Lauren’s mother, Ann Messina Freeman (Constance Zimmer), with the news. Newsstands across New York City show a meticulously replicated New York Daily News cover that reads: “LOST.”
As the Kennedys gather, former President Bill Clinton, called Senator Ted Kennedy (Donal Logue) and it’s clear what the conversation means, without it being said: they’ve been found, not not alive.
Gummer then delivers a heartbreaking performance as Caroline, crying and screaming at Ed, unable to rationalize that John is gone. “Please don’t do this to me, I can’t do it again,” she says sobbing into his arms. She has already lost her mother, Jackie Kennedy Onassis (Naomi Watts) to cancer, as portrayed earlier in the season, along with her father, former President John F. Kennedy who was assassinated, and several other members of the Kennedy family.
To access the aftermath of the deadly crash, Ann and Ed meet. He outlines burial plans for John and Carolyn, repeatedly only naming them, prompting her to respond: “You keep saying ‘Carolyn.’ May I remind you that I had not one, but two daughters on board that plane that he crashed.”
Ahead of the series premiere, Hines and executive producer, Brad Simpson told THR that it was always important to honor Lauren as well: “We want to remind people that Carolyn’s mom lost two daughters that day.”
Ann then goes to their Tribeca loft, where Caroline also appears. The two sit down and have a touching conversation, acknowledging their grief and regret. Caroline recalls a near-death experience from her teenage years.
“The only thing I really gleaned from that experience was that there is no rhyme or reason as to why some of us get to stay here a little longer,” she says. “All we know, is that time doesn’t belong to us. Nothing is promised.”
Ann expresses remorse that Carolyn was struggling so much with the exacerbated media attention toward the end of her life.
“She said she didn’t recognize who she had become. And now that person will be immortalized forever,” Ann says crying. “I only wish she had lived long enough to be remembered for something else.”
The two grieve together and begin to consider how to move forward — together.
Caroline leaves John and Carolyn’s apartment — which was always hounded by paparazzi — in a moving scene, as those gathered to pay tribute, and photographers, allow her to pass without intrusion.
The last moments of the finale show Ethel Kennedy (Jessica Harper) offering words of strength to Caroline, followed by a funeral for the three. There, includes returning cameos from John’s cousin Anthony Radzwill (Erich Bergen), Carolyn’s former boss and fashion designer Calvin Klein (Alessandro Nivola), John’s former business partner Michael Berman (Michael Nathanson). Ann delivers a reading at the service, intercut with scenes of her and Caroline scattering their ashes into the Ocean.
The episode ends with Ann reading, “Do not stand by my grave and cry. I am not there. I did not die” alongside a final clip of John and Carolyn on the beach — a reminder that despite the couple’s most challenging moments, their story was indeed a love story.
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Check out all of The Hollywood Reporter‘s Love Story coverage here.
