Conversations With Friends review: Fun in the sun as I finally warm to this show
Alison Oliver as Frances, and Joe Alwyn as Nick, in Conversations With Friends.
Like one of those magic eye puzzles, my brain has successfully adjusted to the CWF landscape. I finally feel invested in these characters. (Not Bobbi, obviously, still allergic to her.)
Maybe it's because my viewing habits tend to veer towards the binge side of things, but waiting a week to catch up and re-immerse myself in their universe is a different experience - and not necessarily a bad one.
I'm getting the dynamics now. As we learn more about the marriage, there's jeopardy involved in Frances' and Nick's relationship. At the start, with Nick implying Melissa had loads of affairs, it made their trists seem inconsequential. Now they're sneaking around in front of everyone in Croatia, the bold boyo Nick swaggering across cobblestones to Frances's room - it's risky.
Of course, the sun always makes things sexier, maybe that's it. We - and seemingly the characters - realise there are consequences to this naughty carry-on. Poor Frances, she's only 21, it's her first relationship with a man, and there's his wife making her breakfast after full-on rations of passion. She can't tell anyone, especially not Judgey McJudgerson Bobbi.
As Frances, Cork actress Alison Oliver conveys a vulnerability that is gut-wrenching. She's making me feel emotions, damn her. I watch through my fingers, wincing, as she tries to get Nick to tell her how special she is.
Nick, with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer, tells his young belle he hasn't stopped loving his wife. I want to lead Frances gently away, give her a movie slap reserved for hysterical people, and instruct her to never let him darken her rustic door again.
Melissa (that woman can rock a red lipstick) is all on edge because her agent Valerie is coming. It seems important it goes well, so naturally, I'm on the edge of my sofa, waiting for fireworks.
Will Frances drunkenly declare her love for Nick’s dong? Maybe Bobbi will suggest a game of spin the bottle and Melissa and herself will sweep everything off the curated tablescape and whip each other with her braids?
Maybe the other two characters on the trip will do something other than loom into view, like meercats, whenever Frances and Nick sidle up to each other.
They do lots of prepping food and tidying up too. Now that I think about it, they are great house guests, with the added bonus of not knobbing Nick. Invite them back Melissa.
At dinner, Valerie reveals that Nick was depressed last year and held back Melissa's work. Frances gives a little scoff and says, in her trademark tremulous way, “You’re talking about someone suffering as if it’s a career impediment.”
Melissa flings Frances a look, like someone who's just smelled a fart but isn't sure if she's got the right suspect. Bobbi's already fecked off after annoying Valerie by implying she got this sweet gaff in the former Yugoslavia thanks to some ethnic cleansing. It didn't stop Bobbi enjoying the infinity pool and free grub for the week though, did it? That one boils my potatoes.
She also walks in on Frances and Nick entwined in the sheets and then makes a big deal out of not knowing about it. Nick, effusive and articulate as ever just groans, “Fuuuuuuuuck”.
Back in Dublin, in between dealing with period pains from hell, an alcoholic father (Tommy Tiernan's understated portrayal is perfection - not to mention his drunken sway), and a mother who I can't figure out yet, Frances has to placate Bobbi. Frances tells her she can't imagine her life without her in the centre of it. Like, the world has to literally revolve around this girl for her to be happy.
The episode ends with Nick calling Frances - through Skype. The age gap has never been so obvious, he might as well have sent a carrier pigeon. I can't wait for next week.
When Frances stands up to the young male doctor in A&E. who's quizzing her about using protection. "He didn't come inside me. Am I not being clear?" I cheered.
When the nurse tells the mother to go home and get some rest. AND SHE DOES. Leaving Frances sobbing into her pillow. What kind of an Irish mother is she?
“Melissa likes the stems to be cut diagonally,” he confides to Frances, in a way that’s supposed to make Melissa seem exacting and controlling. This is a bigger betrayal than riding the 21-year-old backwards. It is very well documented that’s the way they’re supposed to be cut, Nick. Do you WANT wilting blooms, is that what you’re trying to tell me? You arse.
- Conversations With Friends shows on Wednesday nights on RTÉ One
