Sometimes, we need space to fall apart before we can put ourselves back together. In this beautifully written comedy-drama series, Kathryn Hahn (WandaVision) takes the lead as Carol, whose marriage to Danny (Quentin Plair) is on the rocks. Danny has asked her to leave their home, which she forgets, drunkenly climbing in through the window after a work function one night, to the irritation of Danny and confusion of their 16-year-old daughter, Rae (Tanzyn Crawford, ). As the three of them stand there looking at each other, it dawns on Carol that she’s not meant to be there; the sadness in her eyes fills the room.
As she waits for an Uber, she pens a fan letter to Sugar, the author of the ‘Dear Sugar’ online advice column she’s been turning to. The next day, she’s shocked to learn a bloke she went to college with is the one spouting the wisdom. Now, he’s keen to offload the column onto Carol’s buckling shoulders – it’s quite the unexpected offer. In her darkest hour, which we feel may yet get darker, how can she possibly advise others on their troubles?
Clare (Kathryn Hahn) grapples with whether or not she wants to become Sugar as she reels from trouble at work and with Rae. Credit: Elizabeth Morris / Hulu
Created for television by Liz Tigelaar, who produced Little Fires Everywhere, the series is based on the best-selling book by Cheryl Strayed, a collection of pieces she wrote for the real-life ‘Dear Sugar’ column. Strayed originally wrote for the column anonymously before revealing she was ‘Sugar’. In giving advice, her trademark “deeply felt and frank responses grounded in her own personal experience”.
Carol takes the gig, needing something to cling to – her admin job at the local nursing home looks precarious, as it’s where she’s been sneaking in to sleep. It seems only a matter of time before she’s caught. (Exchanges between Carol and the snarky young receptionist played by Elizabeth Hinkler offer a consistent spray of barbs back and forth. You get the feeling she’d chuck Clare under the bus without blinking.)
After a bout of initial imposter syndrome, Carol realises she might indeed be qualified to take the reins of ‘Dear Sugar’. Her plentiful life experiences will become the well from which she draws, helping her respond to advice-seekers with loving kindness and depth of consideration, and rebuild herself in the process.
Frankie (Merritt Wever) and young Clare (Sarah Pidgeon). Credit: Elizabeth Morris / Hulu
Tiny Beautiful Things weaves in scenes from Carol’s early life when her beloved mother died and she spiralled into drug addiction and a doomed early marriage. In these scenes, we also meet her younger brother Lucas (Owen Painter), who we learn has become somewhat of an albatross around the neck of Carol and Danny’s marriage. The gentle movements back and forth in timelines are handled with expert touch from directors Rachel Lee Goldenberg, Desiree Akhavan and Stacie Passon.
It’s so rare that we see leading women in states of disarray, dishevelment, despondence, despair. And yet, we need to. While pop culture creations are increasingly recognising the relevance of women’s stories – at last – now, it’s time we allow them to be vital (enough with the ‘Girl/Woman Found Dead in Ditch’ storyline, please) and rough around the edges. In short: real.
In our own world, how comfortable are we to witness our personal heroines going through a rough trot? How often do we want to look away, deny that they need our support when the pattern has tended to be the other way around? It’s a reversal of expected roles.
Women are the holders of so very much. To quote author Maira Kalman () women (and men too, “but not quite in the same way”) hold “the home and the family. And the children and the food. The friendships. The work. The work of the world. And the work of being human. The memories. And the troubles and the sorrows and the triumphs. And the love.”
The small yet mighty cast of this beautifully written show make it easier to sit in the discomfort and recognise the possibility of finding the strength to hold up our women for a while. We see this happening in Nancy Harris’s Irish drama series . It’s refreshing to see it again here in Tiny Beautiful Things. Balancing the drama with the light relief of comedy, so often a welcome visitor in our own darkest of hours, makes it all the more true to life.
Rae Pierce-Kincade (Tanzyn Crawford) and father Danny Kincade (Quentin Plair). Credit: Jessica Brooks / Hulu
There is also the pairing of a white woman with a black man in Hahn and Plair, an as-yet all too uncommon depiction of a married relationship, certainly on Australian screens.
Hahn, a seasoned theatre, film and television actress (with 2008 Tony Award-winning play Boeing-Boeing, TV series WandaVision and The Newsroom, and films Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery and Bad Moms among her many credits), was nominated for a 2023 Emmy Award for her performance as Carol. Also nominated for her supporting role was Merritt Wever (Nurse Jackie, The Walking Dead), who won an Emmy Award for her turn in Godless and who here plays Frankie, Carol’s mum, with heart-rending poignancy.
There is much beauty and connection to be found in the stories woven into Tiny Beautiful Things. With Reece Witherspoon and Laura Dern among the executive producers, hopefully we’ll see more of these realistic portrayals of women on our screens.
Season 1 of Tiny Beautiful Things is now streaming at SBS On Demand.
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Tiny Beautiful Things
