Iwona Do you ever feel like watching something where you can finally truly relax? Something that represents the world you really want to live in? I have something like this!
My first discovery was the series „Sweet Magnolias” – yes, it cannot be hidden, it is a typically female proposition, because the main characters are three friends; Sarah, Helen and Dana Sue live in a charming town in South Carolina – Serenity.
The life of each of them is more or less complicated – already in the first episode, one of the protagonists is left by her husband after many years of marriage and two teenage children; his ‘adventure’ for a few nights, a woman who was supposed to be only a mistress in his life is pregnant with him.
And he leaves his family for her – as we learn – not because he had a great love for her, but because „it is just right”.
Another friend, Helen, despite the fact that she is a career woman, independent, self-confident, is not at the same time ruthless and strict – and this model of this type of women promotes cinema today. Something for something.
Helen is not ashamed of her desires to be someone’s wife and mother.
Why does the series promote good?
When we watch a series that focuses on interpersonal relations, we know that the scandal will chase the scandal. There will be hatred, intrigue, lifelong hostility, partner bouncing and the like, devastating emotions and actions. We are able to even predict the reactions of the characters, because they are actually ill-considered, automatically. Egocentrism always wins and scripts.
„Sweet Magnolias” propose completely different solutions – when two teenage brothers argue because one of them did something terrible to the other, the „victim” simply stretches out his hand in agreement.
The character of Noreen (pregnant lover played by … Britney Spears’ sister) is also surprising – she broke the life of the whole family by getting into an affair with a married man and – as we might expect – does not show a proud, self-satisfied attitude. Or rather, she realizes she deserves contempt and tries not to get in the way of either the ex-wife or the children, but surprisingly, she develops a very warm, good relationship with her lover’s teenage son, Kyle, who finds in Noreen a faithful but unimposing confidante.
Three friends meet once a week over a margarita and discuss the whole week. Yes, we will come across rumors, considerations, ideas, support. And no – we will not find intrigues, manipulation, or fueling negative emotions. This series simply proposes solutions closer to God’s heart – it helps to get people out of people. The second series proposal does the same with us:
Chesapeake Shores
It’s also a Netflix option. Who would I give an Oscar to first? Set designers! The action takes place in an insanely beautiful scenery; it is in the charming town of Chesapeake Shores, full of flowers, friendly people and romantic interiors, on its outskirts, in the house of the main characters – the O’Brien family, quite numerous, because it includes an energetic, enterprising grandmother, the father of the family – Mick and his five adult children. The whole story begins when one of them – Abby, after the divorce, decides to return home with two little daughters and start new – or maybe old? living in a place she knows and loves. It doesn’t take long, and we see her old love, Trace, return, who seemed to have been waiting for her all these years, simultaneously making a musical career.
We have quite a lot of women here for unbelievable things to happen! Indeed, small, local „catastrophes” do occur from time to time, most often in the relational field; each of the O’Brien sisters is different, has a different view of her life and experienced her mother’s leaving differently – who suddenly returns; we do not know for a long time why she left and why she came back.
However, male characters are equally emphasized here – they touch upon topics such as the father-son relationship, brother-brother relationship, post-traumatic stress disorder, approach to business and the choice of life partners.
This series not only provides a feast for the eye, but also, like „Sweet Magnolias”, offers non-standard, thoughtful solutions to difficult issues. The simpler ones too! It shows that if you want to have valuable relationships with close people, you need to learn to talk. And forgive. Forget and move on.
An interesting example is Abby – as she returns to Trace, the love of her old days, they both have to learn to carry new luggage – he, his old girlfriend and now a divorced woman with two children, she – his unsettled life as a musician. And she never makes scenes! That he once again chose to live on the road instead of everyday life with her, that she actually doesn’t know what to do next – at the same time, she doesn’t have the attitude of a victim, a woman who clung to a man with whom she decided to be unhappy, just with him.
The third series that I can propose as the one that promotes good is „Northern rescue” (Netflix) – here the main character is a man, the father of three children. We will still meet his wife before he suddenly, unexpectedly dies, leaving the family in disarray. So the series starts out of a thick pipe, a serious crisis for the four people closest to each other.
The father of the family – John – is a rescuer and one of the professional offers in this difficult time for the family makes him decide to move north – or rather to return to the home of his deceased wife.
As you’d expect, three teenage children have to go through some hardships in the new school before finding their way to a new place where they feel comfortable.
They argue and reconcile, they move away and come closer – all in the vortex of adjusting to a new, previously unknown situation. Each of the Wests experiences loss in their own way, and the series does not move smoothly to the next events, but makes us and this family reconsider the topic of mourning, penetrate deeper into their emotions and motives for decisions. At the same time, it is not a dark series – it shows that there is a place in life for love, fun, but also loss – because those who agree to love must also accept loss. And that many things happen beyond our control, but it depends on us how we approach them, what we will ultimately do with what fate has sent us.
These three series are not about life without problems, but about a completely different approach to solving them – they teach you to get off your ego, show how you can overcome them by developing as a human. They encourage reflection before making any decision, to look at things from a broader perspective if possible.
Sometimes I encountered comments that „nothing is happening there!” – well, we are used to fast-paced action, super heroes, extreme emotions – but in fact such threads are far from our lives – do you remember the series „90210”? There, in one episode (often in one day) so much happened that emotionally it would be difficult to bear – while the teenage characters were quickly getting over the agenda; whether death or betrayal, divorce of parents, accident or sudden, huge for a young man, successful – they did not have time to draw conclusions, shape their characters, reflect. They presented a world that pumps out = … destroys us.
The three series proposed by me show the unhurried life, exactly as you live in your homes. In which we must take into account other people’s feelings and learn from them. And that we don’t live only for ourselves. They’re talking about real people. Therefore, it is easier to identify with the characters.
This is a typical family cinema free from bed moments, curses, and coarse jokes. On the other hand, it is full of a cool atmosphere, a world where everything is finally balanced thanks to the power that each man may have over his life.
You could say that these are Sunday series propositions – but isn’t it that if our reactions to problems and conflicts were shifted in this direction as the characters (yes, making an effort), could not every day be Sunday?
So cool