Fantastic Performances Can’t Save Apple TV+’s Bloated Lessons in Chemistry Adaptation

Based on the best-selling novel of the same name, Lessons in Chemistry begins with Elizabeth Zott (Brie Larson), a chemist-turned-cooking-show-host, filming what we can assume will be the last episode of her show, Supper at Six. She commands the room, speaking to the audience as if they’re friends of hers with an assurance that proves her stance as a television host. As she presents to the crowd, it becomes clear that the women watching her are not just there for cooking tips, but because she makes them feel like their lives as mothers and housewives have meaning. They hold onto each word she says, as if they’re hymns coming from the mouth of a preacher, even writing these sermons down in books to keep them inspired after the show finished taping.

The show then transports us back in time, now focusing on Elizabeth years earlier as she works as a lab technician at the Hastings Research Institute. While it’s clear to the viewer that she has the knowledge to do more than clean equipment and serve coffee to her male higher ups, the powers that be stand planted in her way. As a woman, Elizabeth’s potential as a chemist is struck down once her gender comes into question. To the men around her, instead of working on what could become groundbreaking work, she must instead focus on smiling more often and attending the annual Hastings’ pageant with her fellow female coworkers. 

Just when it appears that the scrutiny has become too much, fate brings a new factor into Elizabeth’s life. She crosses paths with Calvin Evans (Lewis Pullman), a chemist who is deemed as an outsider by his colleagues due to his quirks, often abandoning collaborative work to hole up in his office only accompanied by jazz music. The two begin working together, and in doing so, find camaraderie as two of the only outcasts at Hastings. Companionship slowly unravels into a tentative love, finding in each other a partner that they didn’t ever think they would have. While Elizabeth is first troubled by what she feels for Calvin, her resolve slowly wanes as he proves himself to be different from the other men she has encountered in her life. 

A cliffhanger at the end of Episode 2 unfortunately throws a wrench into where the show appeared to be going, setting off a cataclysmic bloatedness that mars the rest of the episodes. The middle portion of the series switches gears and quickly becomes a meditation on grief and persistence. In doing so, Larson is given some of the best material she’s been offered this decade, pulling out a performance that many have been clamoring for since her blockbuster turn post-Oscar win. While the show gets messier here, this is ultimately where the actor is able to shine. Elizabeth’s coldness and one-liners are dashed away, giving way instead to frustrated tears and wide-eyed longing for the life she used to have during the height of her and Calvin’s scientific research. 

The third and fourth episode ultimately serve as a warning for the show’s persistent bloatedness, and it becomes clear that there are too many things this show is attempting to juggle. By the fifth episode, we finally see Elizabeth transform into the host of Supper at Six as we were previously introduced to her in the series’ first few minutes. While her life as a chemist is the root of her character and purpose of the story, Lessons in Chemistry could have benefited from showing its viewers more of her life as a television host. Here, Elizabeth is forced to weave her chemistry knowledge with the housewife stereotype, using experiments to craft dishes that elevate and transform the typical family meal. By allowing us to watch as she molds her beloved chemistry background into a position she loathes at times, it gives us a look at just how persistent Elizabeth is in times of struggle. Watching her show come to fruition is a treat, as is watching it stumble before it ultimately takes off. 

What this series really struggles with is making it clear what it’s trying to say. It first unfolds as a romantic drama paired with feminist themes, but these aspects—while not lost—slowly collide with various other themes. With sprawling threads, Lessons in Chemistry also attempts to juggle storylines about the civil rights movement, pregnancy, and grief. While it doesn’t necessarily do these things an injustice, the threads get crossed to the point where some of them become abandoned. The most pressing concern is a storyline focusing on Elizabeth’s neighbor Harriet (Aja Naomi King). 

The show transforms the character from Elizabeth’s white counterpart in the novel into a Black civil rights moniker. King is fantastic, and the actress is finally given enough room to show her prowess and skill after many small roles post-How To Get Away With Murder. She commands the screen when she’s given space to, but lumping her storyline in with everything else the show is attempting to unpack leaves a feeling of coldness. From flashbacks of Elizabeth’s homophobic preaching father, to further displays of police brutality enacted upon her friends, it becomes clear that with only eight episodes (all of which were available to review), Lessons in Chemistry is faltering under its own weight. 

In only having eight episodes, the miniseries feels at war with itself. While the novel was also infused with many of the threads present in the adaptation, the whooping 400 page count allowed these themes room to breathe. In the book, we’re able to get a grasp on each thread, from motherhood to mourning, because we’re in Elizabeth’s head the whole time. With the show jumping between Elizabeth, Calvin, and Harriet’s points of view, their perspectives and separate storylines ultimately become less impactful. While there’s no doubt that Elizabeth is the protagonist, by allowing other characters to become more than supporting roles, her position as Lessons in Chemistry’s main character fades in an effort to squeeze so much into just eight episodes. 

It suffers after it abandons the wit and heart it has in the first few hours, with weighty episode after weighty episode never giving the viewer enough time to sit with the ideas the series is attempting to focus on. Where Lessons in Chemistry really succeeds is with Elizabeth and her story. From lab technician to cooking show host, her arc is interesting enough on its own, and commanded by an actor like Brie Larson, it should have been enough. The failure of the creators to remain tied to that focus and instead bring forth a handful of other ideas causes the show to fizzle out by the end. When it jumps back to focusing on Elizabeth’s life as a woman trying to plant her feet in the soil of a world that seems too small for her, Lessons in Chemistry strives to hold on to its initial greatness, though it doesn’t completely stick the landing. 

Lessons in Chemistry premieres Friday, October 13th on Apple TV+. 

Kaiya Shunyata is a freelance pop culture writer and academic based in Toronto. They have written for Rogerebert.com, Xtra, The Daily Dot, and more. You can follow them on Twitter, where they gab about film, queer subtext, and television.

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