Kim gives a truely wonderful performance, she is both subtle and overtly emotional in all the right places. She lays bare the heart and soul of her character, making her both tough as nails, then frail and vulnerable. Davina becomes a character that is immensely relateable as she navigates the uncertainties and regrets and hopes of those of us who are sliding between middle age and seniorhood.
There are also a couple of very entertaing supporting turns by Elliot Gould at his low-key , subtle comedic best, and the wonderful Mary Walsh in top form, delivering her lines with her characteristic acerbic wit and aplomb.
There was a problem for me though, with the performance of Don McKellar as Al. It was such an unevenly developed characterization, he seemed at times to be going for a Woody Allen vibe, but lacked the necessary spontenaity, wit, and energy. At other times he tried to be profound and philosophical, but the lines that were supposed to be breezy and off-the-cuff, just came across as a badly written speech and were delivered with all the subtlety of pieces of falling concrete.
But thankfully Kim was almost always onscreen, and she singlehandedly carried the entire weight of the story, with a less skilled actress at the helm, the entire premise of this series could have easily slipped into soapy melodrama. But instead it was a very engaging exploration of the human experience of aging.
