The Five-Star Weekend landed on Peacock smack-dab in the middle of summer, offering a picturesque getaway to Nantucket for a girls’ trip with a packed itinerary that included—but was not limited to— pajama dance parties, the spa, soft cheeses (and soft pants), and even a reservation at the island’s most sought-after restaurants
But it wasn’t without its fair share of drama, as anyone who’s ever been on a girls’ trip before expected.
The series, based on the bestselling novel by Elin Hilderbrand, had all the right ingredients for success. While it delivered the comfort and escapism of a breezy summer drama, it was missing the one key element that could have elevated it from enjoyable to exceptional.
Despite a star-studded, talented cast and plenty of potential in its storytelling, the series never quite reaches the heights it seems capable of achieving. It’s almost like the series knows what it needs to do, but it’s too afraid to push the boundary completely, erring on the side of caution the whole time.
The women who come together to support Hollis Shaw, a famous food influencer who lost her husband six months ago in a tragic and unexpected accident, come from different phases of her life to help her navigate loss and grief.
Unexpectedly, the weekend sprinkles in a dash of betrayal.
While Hollis’ pain remains at the forefront as she’s the central character, the rest of the party members are carrying secrets and struggles of their own. Although they each get moments to shine and work through their life dilemmas, their stories never feel as prioritized as Hollis’ emotional journey.
And honestly, I would’ve loved to dig deeper into their lives.
Whenever anyone starts to make their problems more central, it always loops back to Hollis. There’s always a reminder that, yeah, you may be dealing with your fair share of bullshit, but my husband died, and that’s somehow more important.
THE FIVE STAR WEEKEND — Pictured: Jennifer Garner as Hollis — (Photo by: Adam Rose/Peacock)
And not to minimize her husband’s death, as it’s the arc of the whole weekend, but there’s one moment in the show that’s so justified and should be echoed louder.
Tatum’s daughter, Aubrey, is the only one who ever calls it like it is when she claps back at Caroline, Hollis’ daughter, for almost sleeping with her baby daddy and using her father’s death as an excuse for her shitty decisions and behavior.
Hollis’ pain doesn’t one-up the others, and while the series attempts to provide plenty of moments where the friends also deal with their issues–including a talking circle–everyone else’s gripes always feel more passive.
As much as Hollis needs her friends to work through her grief and find herself again, they also need her.
The strength of the storyline was actually found in the female friendships that are often pushed aside by busy lifestyles, careers, motherhood, and competition, when they should be prioritized as a vital source of support, connection, understanding and a sense of belonging.
And honestly, just to have a moment of fun where you don’t need to pretend or take yourself too seriously.
There was arguably more growth and change happening for all of them than there was for Hollis.
Tatum, her childhood best friend, played by Chloë Sevigny, was dealing with a breast cancer scare, which hit way too close to home as it’s what killed her mother. Hollis was kind of there for her, but never fully, and in the final episode, when she got the call from the doctor that she was waiting for all weekend, learning that while the lump was benign, they found some suspicious cells forming behind it, she didn’t even share it with Hollis.
Knowing that Hollis was dealing with so much loss, she confided in her husband instead.
Meanwhile, Dru-Ann, played by Regina Hall, Hollis’ driven, unapologetic college friend and sports agent was dealing with being “cancelled” by the internet for pushing her client too hard and being dismissive of mental health. I think the series could’ve dug in way deeper here, because it was very surface-level, but at the end of the day, Dru realized that there’s more to life than her job, which consumed her and became her identity. After being “uncancelled,” she realized she didn’t want to play the game anymore, ignoring her business partner and revealing that she was going to quit and start her own agency.
Someone who is that good at what they do deserves to steer their own ship.
D’Arcy Carden’s Brooke may have been my favorite character with the strongest emotional growth, as she was a people pleaser, whose confidence is nonexistent, thanks to her controlling husband, who is being accused of being inappropriate with an intern. She comes into the series supporting Charlie because that’s what a good wife does, but her experiences with the tribe of independent and powerful women help her realize she’s been making herself small so that someone else could feel big.
She ends it with Charlie, making sure that he’s aware she will not be vouching for him in the deposition, and focuses on really finding out who she is—she even comes out and ends up in a relationship with a woman named Sunny.
In fact, by the end of the series, it seems that the weekend bonded Tatum, Dru and Brooke more than it bonded them with Hollis; it proved that they’ve been navigating issues alone when they should be relying on each other.
And I haven’t even gotten to the Gigi of it all. Gigi, played by Gemma Chan, is Hollis’ newest friend, part of her Holla Babes fandom, whom she’s never met in real life before inviting her to her vacation home for the weekend. Gigi graciously accepts to be there for Hollis, as they bonded as internet friends following Matthew’s death.
Naturally, no one from Hollis’ inner circle trusts Gigi, and for good reason—she was having an affair with Matthew, seeking out Hollis after the accident and befriending her to stay close to him and get closure.
There’s plenty to dig into here with this dynamic that I think also ends up becoming a missed opportunity.
I think, realistically, it ends in the way that it would, as Hollis finally finds out about the affair, flips out, confronts Gigi, and then forgives her when Gigi reveals that Matthew chose her in the end, turning the car around to come home instead of going to the airport to meet up with her mere moments before the accident takes his life.
The show ensures that we see Gigi as a real person—not a villain—but someone who simply fell in love, despite the circumstances, and who is also grieving and trying to navigate it all without any support system before unexpectedly befriending her lover’s widow.
There’s a huge emphasis on trust and connection, even if that trust is oftentimes misplaced and misguided.
It’s a messy situation, all around, but there’s also not one person to blame. Hollis extends grace to Gigi, despite feeling blindsided by their friendship, especially as she subconsciously knew that Matthew was having an affair and didn’t want to admit it.
The series underscores the idea that people aren’t bad; they simply make bad decisions sometimes that carry a lasting impact. I almost wish the series had explored a less common reality—one where these two women remained friends and viewed their shared experience with Matthew as a silver lining, something that brought them together during an incredibly difficult time. I know that may not be the most realistic outcome, but given how close they had become and how deeply Gigi seemed to care about Hollis, it felt like a direction that could have been different than the women turning on each other, which we see too often.
I think there was also a missed opportunity in how Hollis found out about the affair.
Finding out from your friends softens the blow slightly, but in the novel, Hollis and Brooke’s estranged friend Electra Undergrove reveals that she saw Matthew and Gigi together. Throwing in that revelation would’ve made Electra’s character serve more of a purpose than just being a rich mean girl for the sake of it.
Though I do like that the series had Brooke find out by simply seeing a memory pop up on Gigi’s phone, because that’s also very probable and realistic.
Electra kept pointing out that she remembered seeing Gigi somewhere, but the fact that she saw Matthew with another woman in a different city and didn’t leverage that information immediately felt unlikely for someone so bitter and petty. It would’ve made more sense if she remembered seeing her at the funeral instead, since we saw a scene of Gigi attending the memorial. Electra’s revelation helped Caroline realize that her father was having an affair, and that her mom was protecting her through it all, bringing the estranged mother-daughter duo closer together in their shared grief.
THE FIVE STAR WEEKEND — Pictured: (l-r) Timothy Olyphant as Jack, Jennifer Garner as Hollis — (Photo by: Greg Gayne/PEACOCK)
The way things ended between Hollis and Gigi felt almost incomplete—this can’t be the last we hear or see of Gigi. It was too clean and neatly wrapped in a bow.
In the books, the ladies go on a trip to Rome with their significant others before realizing that Gigi is their pilot on the way home, which is, admittedly, a much better ending. The series likely didn’t opt for that conclusion because there’s hope for a second season, which makes sense that they left it the way that they did—with Gigi’s confession allowing Hollis to slowly but surely find her groove back with Jack, her high school boyfriend, whom she’s held a torch for all these years later.
As the girl group went their separate ways after a very illuminating weekend, they promised to make this an annual thing, and depending on the show’s success and reception, Peacok will surely be looking for a second season, which could see Gigi coming back into their orbit and a rekindling of the friendship.
What did you think of The Five-Star Weekend?
Let us know in the comments! What would you change, add, or do differently?