Tiny Beautiful Things

This is one of those shows that make me think there are many fake reviews on here. This show is definitely not 10, or even a 9, or 8. I watched it because of Reese Witherspoon, Cheryl Strayed, and I like the lead actress. However, the main character is just such an unlikeable head case. She is miserable, has a chip on her shoulder, and blames everyone but herself for her problems. I felt sorry for her daughter having such an embarrassing train wreck of a mother. She was a jerk to her best friend and cheated on her husband. It just wasn't believable that her hot husband wouldn't have divorced her much, much sooner.

I really wanted to like this show, but it left me totally cold. First, while the characters go through major life events and *talk* like they're deep, they're actually all thinly written ciphers--after watching all 8 episodes I honestly wouldn't describe any of the characters as having a distinct personality. The main character spends half the series mourning her mother, but their relationship is so underwritten that it's hard to really feel the impact of her death other than that we're told it was devastating. The out of order nature of the flashbacks also makes the story hard to follow and left me ambivalent about what was happening. (How can you care about characters who suddenly appear out of nowhere? Or about a character's mistakes when the show skips right past the consequences? For example, why bother telling us about someone's heroin problem if we don't learn anything more about it?) Hahn is fine here, but I don't think she's doing anything particularly new and she's really not even doing that much--Sarah Pidgeon as the younger version of Hahn's character does most of the heavy lifting and while she's very good, good performances aren't enough to elevate what's actually pretty thinly written material. The last episode also hints at a major backstory that barely gets explained (and a result leaves Hahn's character looking crazy), the brother and sister have a weird incest-y vibe, and, though I adore Merrit Wever, she feels miscast and way too young to be playing the mother.

This series mirrors Cheryl Strayed's real life with a few variations. It has a lot of similarities to one of my all time favorite movies/books, "Wild", by Cheryl Strayed. However, the direction is subpar and the screen writers constant switching from past to present is mind numbing at times. In my mind, Reese Witherspoon perfectly personified Cheryl, so it's hard for me to wrap my head around anyone else playing her. Don't get me wrong, I love Hahn, but I feel her true character gets lost in the shoddy direction and bad screen writing. Also, Laura Dern will always be Cheryl's beautiful, kind, thoughtful mom; The flashback mom in Tiny Beautiful Things tries hard to relay that same beauty, but falls short unfortunately. The series is entertaining and maybe if I haven't seen Wild 10 times and read the book twice, I would find it better (or maybe worse??) but in my mind nothing compares to the portrayal of Cheryl's life like Wild.

Cannot say enough about Kathryn Hahn. She is one of my favorite actresses from back when I first saw her on How To Lose a Guy in 10 Days. Amazing actress.

If you've lost your mom, this series might be tough emotionally. It was for me.

Merritt Wever's character made me want to be a better mother. She needs to be in more films! She was great in Nurse Jackie and fabulous in this.

Thoroughly enjoyed this series. It was thought provoking, heart wrenching, so many different emotions. It left me rethinking my own life and realizing I am not living my best life. Its difficult but if you want more only you can make it happen..

This is a must watch!

This show is based on the book by the same name, a collection of Dear Sugar letters answered (originally anonymously) by Cheryl Strayed. Anyone familiar with Cheryl's work knows her life story and will recognize the real parts of her story in this show. About half the show is a Strayed biography and half is fiction. The overdubbed real letters are original and beautiful. Cheryl is an extremely gifted writer and advice giver, and she based her Dear Sugar advice on her own life experiences. The show creates a fictional narrative of a woman's messy life partially based on a real woman's messy life, incorporating the letters into the narrative. Although clever and well executed, the parts of the show don't completely add up. But the book is amazing, and given the choice between the book or the show I would definitely choose the book.