I know I started this trail of recaps/analyses intending to point out everything that would have made the real-life Kennedy clan revile The Kennedys and seek to get it quashed. But Episode 5 really doesn’t offer much of anything in that regard. For the most part, the family comes off principled, highly sympathetic, and dare I say noble. They champion the civil rights cause when it would have been far easier not to, deal with a family tragedy in the massive stroke suffered by Joe Sr., and generally try to become more complete human beings. There’s no hint of Jack’s infidelities, and there are moments of levity between Jack and Bobby that point to the true intimacy of their relationship. More poignantly, the complex relationship between Rose and Joe is given more depth with a series of flashbacks dealing with the often-overlooked Kennedy daughter, Rosemary.
Granted, over an eight-part miniseries, the characters will have their hero and villain phases, and Episode 5 is definitely in the hero column. Anything that could be seen as unflattering — Joe’s unilateral decision to subject his daughter to a lobotomy, for example — can be qualified by the conditions of the time, and are presented as dramatically relevant as opposed to nakedly sensational. So, here’s a list of highlights, good and bad:
(Note: Major spoilers ahead for Episode 5 of The Kennedys.)
— As Joe sits at home, sulking about being put out to pasture, he mentions to Rose that it’s the first time in his life he’s felt like an old man. Rose, angered by her sons’ seeming ungratefulness toward their father, calls up Jack at the White House and gives him what for. Not long after, Joe suffers his debilitating stroke, leaving him partially paralyzed and unable to speak.
— The Mississippi civil rights riots of 1962 are the central events of this episode, as Jack and Bobby stand fast in their determination to integrate Ole Miss. They must withstand not only a belligerent, dishonest Gov. Ross Barnett, but a more valid challenge from Georgia Sen. Richard B. Russell, who feels the South is getting unfairly singled out in the civil rights fight. “Are you telling me [black people] are living in Beacon Hill?” he says to Jack. Touche. Jack later confides in Abraham Bolden, whom he appointed the first black member of the Secret Service’s presidential detail, how he grew up in an ivory tower, and didn’t remember ever meeting a “Negro” until he was in college.
— Jack pulls out the big guns in trying to get Gov. Barnett to cooperate with the Supreme Court’s decision to allow James Meredith to attend the University of Mississippi. He threatens to pull the state’s funding and — gasp! — call up the NCAA and have it ban the team from all future bowl games. Bobby says this is a nice touch, and I must agree. Here in the 21st century, though, we know what hollow words these are, as a president’s weight cannot even budge the mighty BCS. Good thing they didn’t, or else the mighty Rebels would have nothing to show for the only undefeated season in school history, and a Sugar Bowl win over Arkansas. BTW, if you want a really great history of the University of Mississippi and the 1962 riots, from the perspective of the football team, check this out.)
— I kept wondering if the actor playing Lyndon B. Johnson is the same guy who voices the rich Texan on The Simpsons. (He’s not.)
— Jackie is buzzing around like a bee after a few visits from Dr. Feelgood. Coincidentally, Katie Holmes’ performance peaks as Jackie is more active and engaged. Maybe down and dreary just isn’t her thing. Jack, however, is shocked and none too pleased to find out Jackie has been seeing him. She pointedly tells him that if he wants her to stay home, then fine, but if she’s going to be an effective first lady, she needs them. So, you know, kindly go stick it where the sun don’t shine, Mr. President.
I will say I’m continually intrigued/disappointed by the series’ decision to have so many dramatic moments occur offscreen. Earlier there was Jack’s PT-109 experience — which I could probably write off to budgetary considerations and storytelling expediency — but in this episode, we don’t see Joe’s stroke or Rosemary’s lobotomy, both of which would have been easy enough to stage. Those scenes might have gone a long way in adding more visceral feeling to the proceedings, which can develop a bit of a “and then this happened” rhythm.
The episode does end on a dramatic high point, however, with a killer scene between Rose and Joe, where the long put-upon wife, who weathered her husband’s blithe infidelities and years of neglect, gets to assert some power. Having dispatched Joe’s caretaker, who had also been his mistress, the old man gets angry and accuses his wife of eliminating a source of his happiness simply out of revenge. She doesn’t offer a denial, but a clarification. “Not mine, Joe. God’s.” Damn, girl!
Check back Friday night for a rundown of Episode 6.
