Discretion: In this review I briefly mention a scene of sexual assault that takes place in one of the episodes, so please take care while reading.
Yesterday evening I watched a new show on Apple TV called Lessons in Chemistry, which is the TV adaptation of the novel Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus. And honestly, I think the actress Brie Larson was perfect for this role. She just embodied Elizabeth Zott's mannerisms so well.
The show takes place in 1950s California, and at the beginning of the show Elizabeth Zott is seen hosting a cooking show. She doesn't smile, but instead works with a serious expression on the show while women in the audience are furiously taking notes. The catchphrase she often uses to end the show are "Children, set the table. Your mother needs a moment to herself." Elizabeth is intent on shaking up social norms and outmoded ideas about how women should think, act and behave. But we haven't gotten to that part yet. We find out how she got to the cooking show in the first place. Elizabeth Zott is a lab tech working at a prestigious science institution and she has to put up with sexism and also condescending remarks and gossip from the other women on her team, namely a secretary at the university named Miss Frask. Miss Frask constantly pesters Elizabeth to join the beauty pageant, but she is not interested. Still, Miss Frask has her participate in the pageant anyway. While doing her own research, Elizabeth deals with condescending comments from her male colleagues, who always ask her to make them coffee and clean up after them simply because she is a woman and they see her as nothing more than that. Calvin Evans is an introverted and socially awkward scientist at the university who works by himself, and one day Elizabeth goes into his lab to get the chemical ribose for one of her experiments. Miss Frask sees her through the door when everyone is gone, and the next day she rats out Elizabeth for going into Calvin's lab and taking the ribose without his permission. He accuses Elizabeth of being arrogant and full of herself, and she retorts by telling him to check himself. At first, they don't really get that close and remain colleagues.
But one evening during the pageant, that all changes. Miss Frask wants Elizabeth to smile and look pretty for everyone (she names her "Miss Aminos" for the competition) but Elizabeth doesn't care about hanging with the other girls and instead goes over to one of the scientists who is being teased by his colleagues, and she tells him that he shouldn't let them pick on him. He laughs and acts like it is no big deal that the other chemists make fun of him and his research, but she takes it seriously, I think because she herself faces being bullied and ostracized all the time. Calvin sees Elizabeth across the room, and he gradually becomes more interested in her because like him, she doesn't care about being at the pageant. Elizabeth walks out in the middle of the pageant because she is tired of being humiliated by everyone, and Calvin walks out because he has a severe allergic reaction to the perfume that the woman at his table is wearing, and he leaves the pageant. When he bumps into Elizabeth, he accidentally vomits because he is so sick from smelling that perfume, and she takes him home. He apologizes to her for getting upset with her about taking his ribose, but she forgives him and makes him a cup of tea and gets him settled back at home before going home.
One part of this episode I actually really love is seeing Elizabeth cooking herself meals to bring to work during lunchtime. She prepares them with so much care and attention to detail that it looks like a five-star restaurant made the meal, and instead of simply using cups and basic measurements she takes notes on the chemical composition of each ingredient. As I was reading the book and how she describes how she combines her education in chemistry with cooking, I honestly developed a deeper appreciation for cooking and food. And even though I am vegan, I watched how she made the lasagna and it looked delicious. Calvin thinks so, too. When Calvin comes to sit with her (she is sitting by herself), she offers him some lasagna and he declines, saying he has almonds and saltines handy for snacking. But he changes his mind and has a bite of her lasagna, and he is in heaven. Over the course of the next several weeks, she prepares delicious meals and brings them to lunch so Calvin can eat them with her. Meanwhile, Miss Frask gets angry with Elizabeth for walking out of the pageant without telling anyone, and she also digs at Elizabeth for agreeing to work with Calvin in his lab.
Episode 2 opens with a warning that the episode contains a scene of sexual assault. In the book, one of the professors at the university approaches Elizabeth and closes the door of her office and sexually assaults her. Honestly, even though I know what happened because I read the book, it was still incredibly scary and painful to watch. Elizabeth ends up stabbing the professor with her pencil to defend herself. He lives but she gets accused of wrongdoing while he gets off scot-free for what he did, and when she is asked if she regretted stabbing the professor with the pencil, she answers that she only regrets not having more pencils on supply to defend herself. The sexual assault scene is important because before that Calvin closes the door to his office so he and Elizabeth can work in private, and because he is used to keeping the door closed while he is working (his door has several "Do Not Disturb" and "Do Not Enter" signs) and she panics when he closes the door and starts having flashbacks to the professor closing the door and then raping her. She runs out of his office and says that they can't work together anymore and that doing so was a bad idea. When she gets home at one point, she finds a very fluffy and cute dog eating the vegetable scraps from her trash can, and she takes him in. She calls him Six Thirty because that is the time he wakes her up in the morning (I looked up what breed Six Thirty was and it looks like he is a Goldendoodle.) Elizabeth goes over to Calvin, and she finds him practicing his rowing technique in his garage (like Elizabeth, Calvin lives by himself) and she apologizes for running off when he closed the door but doesn't tell him the reason why it triggered her because what happened was deeply traumatic and she doesn't know how he is going to handle knowing what happened to her. But instead of pressuring her to tell him, he doesn't ask why she ran off and instead promises to respect her boundaries. In the male-dominated environment she worked in, it was really rare to hear a male colleague of hers respect her space and privacy, probably because he himself is a private person who values his own space and boundaries. He then offers to teach Elizabeth some rowing lessons, but she declines because she doesn't know how to swim, but he insists on teaching her. She tries to row but she is terrified of the water and not having control over the oars and the boat, and they capsize into the lake. They are sitting with Six Thirty on the dock and Calvin confesses to having romantic feelings for Elizabeth but says he understands if she wants to keep their relationship professional. Elizabeth kisses him and they share a sweet kiss. Honestly, I loved seeing the chemistry between these two. They just found love in the purest, most authentic way, and they respect each other as individuals. I am not sure when I will be ready to be in a relationship with someone, but if I find someone I want to be in a relationship with respectful boundaries and where I and the other person are secure in who we are. It will take time, but I need to work on myself first in order to attract someone like that.
Meanwhile, Harriet, Calvin's neighbor, is at a town hall meeting because the city is going to build a highway through her neighborhood. However, Harriet is Black and she lives at a time when, even with a friendly white neighbor like Calvin, she and the other Black residents of her neighborhood face racial discrimination. She asks him if he can come to support because Calvin is white and she wants him to be there so the court can at least see a white person who is advocating for her and the other residents. However, Calvin doesn't show up at the town hall meeting, and not just that but he also doesn't show up to a board meeting with members on the university board, prompting them to cancel the meeting. Instead, Calvin is hanging out with Elizabeth, and they eventually decide to move in together. During Christmas, everyone at the university is going home to spend time with their families, but neither Calvin nor Elizabeth have family they can spend the holidays with, so they decide to work in the lab over the holiday break together. While on the steps in the lobby, they talk about their family history and why neither of them is going home for the holidays. Most of Calvin's family is dead. Elizabeth's brother is dead, and she doesn't speak with her parents (they explain later in the book why she doesn't speak to her parents much) Calvin has Elizabeth meet him in the cafeteria in a couple hours, and she comes in and finds a table and candles and a delicious turkey that Calvin prepared for her and him. Elizabeth gives Calvin a leash as a present because she knows he loves jogging outside and so he can take Six Thirty on his morning run. Honestly, because I read the book and remembered this part about the leash, I kind of groaned because it was a pretty foreboding moment for the series. When Calvin approaches Harriet, she ignores him and declines to let her help him. She doesn't have to explain why she is angry and disappointed with him, but he knows that he skipped the meeting and so he apologizes, but she doesn't forgive him because she really trusted him to be there to support her. Calvin is one of the few white people at the point in the show who Harriet is able to trust to supervise her kids. He doesn't disrespect her or her family, and listens when she talks with him, so the fact that he missed the meeting really made her lose trust in him because it sent the message that he didn't care about what she was fighting for.
Elizabeth and Calvin are in bed together, and Calvin proposes that they get married one day, but Elizabeth is very firm about not wanting to get married. Calvin is sad but he decides to respect her decision because he wants her to be happy. Elizabeth's life changes forever though one day when Calvin and Six Thirty go on their morning run. Calvin has Six Thirty by the leash and they are going outside, running like normal, but then when Calvin is about to cross the street, Six Thirty whimpers and pulls at the leash because he sees a big truck is coming and he warns Calvin to stop, but when Calvin tugs at the leash, it breaks and the minute Calvin crosses the street, a big truck zooms through and hits him, killing him in an instant while Six Thirty is trying to process the sudden shock and how to tell Elizabeth what happened. I almost teared up, even though I had read the book and knew what happened. Honestly this scene is why I had a hard time getting through the first part of the book. The minute I read about Calvin's sudden death, I cried and thought, I need to stop reading because this is so painful and shocking. But my parents told me to keep reading because the plot gets better even though it was indeed a sad and shocking part. And I really appreciate they did, because once I got through that horrific scene, which I was still reeling from because I wanted Calvin to live, I couldn't put the rest of the book down and devoured it.
I am really looking forward to watching the next episode. It will be emotionally difficult to get through, but I want to know what happens so I am determined to finish the show. Also, Brie Larson is an amazing actress. I saw her in this drama film called Room, which was adapted from a novel by Irish author Emma Donoghue. I don't know if I can see the movie again because it was pretty rough and like the book, it is pretty much engrained in my memory because it was so harrowing to read about and witness the hell that the two characters went through, but Brie Larson played the mom in the film so well and along with actor Jacob Tremblay, who played her son, I was emotionally dehydrated after watching the movie. I was a mess of tears and snot and the film shook me to my core.
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