If “The Wedding” portrayed the pinnacle of John and Carolyn’s happiness, “Obsession” showed how short-lived that happiness was.
John F. Kennedy, Jr. had grown up under America’s watchful gaze, but even he couldn’t have imagined the frenzy that followed.
All of Carolyn’s deepest fears were solidified as she lost herself while people clamored for a piece of her.
If you’ve ever seen conspiracy theories about John and Carolyn staging their exit to live a life away from the spotlight, giving it all up for a simple existence, now you see why it wouldn’t be hard to imagine.
We normies may not experience the kind of scrutiny, but we can certainly imagine how overwhelming it would be, and those of us who don’t rush up to every celebrity hoping to find ourselves in their orbit, even for a brief second, can see why an exit strategy might be on the table, no matter how extreme.
Unironically, Love Story Season 1 Episode 8 is titled “Exit Strategy,” but it’s not a conspiracy theorist’s dream.
Carolyn took the brunt of the swift increase in paparazzi. She was hoping for a fresh start, a new marriage, a new job, a new life. She was on the cusp of an entirely new world opening up for her.
Instead, the walls closed in, and instead of her world expanding, she was like a cornered rabbit.
Making matters worse, she wanted to retain her dignity and keep her personal life personal. But her downcast eyes and the dour look on her face didn’t convey a woman frightened of this new phase, but one who was unwilling to interact with them.
She came off as cold and unfeeling, which couldn’t be further from the truth. The media didn’t give her the benefit of the doubt, casting her as the villain in her own love story.
But it wasn’t only the media who wanted pieces of John and Carolyn.
Michael Berman was annoyed that John relied so much on Carolyn’s input for George, but he sure didn’t have a problem suggesting she land on the cover.
Caroline was appalled that John used a Marilyn Lookalike and “Happy birthday, Mr. President” on the cover of George, but she had no problem with her husband, Ed, making plans for John to narrate his JFK documentary for HBO.
The fact is that John was the famous one in the family, not only because America watched the four-year-old salute his father as the hearse rode by, but also because of his more open relationship with the media.
That probably also played into why the same media thought increasing coverage wouldn’t be a personal affront.
John asked them kindly to give his wife some space to grow into their presence, but they didn’t honor his request. But even that request didn’t sit well with Carolyn’s sister, Lauren.
Lauren noticed that John asked the press to give Carolyn privacy, but not for himself. Carolyn scoffed at the difference, but since they were a package deal, it did matter.
One of John’s cousins, Anthony, was diagnosed with cancer, putting more pressure on the couple. John and Anthony were close, and, if Love Story is accurate, Anthony warmly welcomed Carolyn into the family.
At the same time that Carolyn was unable to land a new job due to her newfound fame as the most celebrated woman in America, George wasn’t going well.
John may not have liked Michael’s idea to put her on the cover, but it would have done three things. First, it would have given Carolyn complete control over the narrative, something she couldn’t assume from competing publications.
Second, it would have given the public a piece of Carolyn beyond how the media was portraying her, which wasn’t in the most favorable light.
And third, it might have been the boost George needed to make it out of the danger zone.
At this time, despite John assuring Carolyn he had no interest in entering the political arena, he didn’t wave off the possibility when asked.
And just when things seemed to be going alright, Carolyn misjudged the paparazzi and thrust one of Caroline’s daughters into the public eye for, of all things, helping her get some candy from a kind doorman.
That led to a difficult conversation between Caroline and Carolyn, as John’s sister reminded her sister-in-law that they have nothing in common because Caroline was born into this public life, and Carolyn chose it.
When you imagine conversations like that within the family, it’s easier to understand why some celebrities only engage with other celebrities. Their lives can be so different from the rest of us that a partnership seems doomed to fail.
But Love Story Season 1 Episode 7 suggested it was also Caroline who finally helped John to understand that his relationship with the press directly affected Carolyn’s. What worked for him as a man didn’t work for them as a couple.
What they were experiencing was untenable. John and Carolyn flamed fast and were tragically destroyed before they found what would actually work for them.
Yet even as Carolyn tried to talk with a therapist, she was followed, and that became as much of a circus as a simple celebratory lunch with her sister.
She felt paralyzed and terrified of making the wrong move and drawing more attention, or even worse, the wrong kind of attention, which had become the norm.
Lauren’s conversation with Carolyn at lunch framed it in ways we live every day. You only need to watch dramas on TV to know that happy couples don’t inspire writers.
Be they fictional or real, writers want drama, and they’ll create it out of nowhere if they have to. While I do not believe love lacks inspiration, reality shows thrive on the opposite, which makes me seem like the outlier.
Wouldn’t it be lovely if we got inspiration from the media instead of doom and gloom?
How many lives would be changed if negativity didn’t sell? John and Carolyn’s would certainly have been changed.
The scene between Carolyn and John on the floor, when she finally tries to bring him further into her world, sharing what she’s been experiencing, brought actual tears to my eyes.
That so much pain could come out of a love like theirs, all of it because of outsiders, is the ultimate heartbreak.
They were living in a pressure cooker set to high, and it was threatening every aspect of their lives. Was it the right time for John to mull over political office?
Probably not, and even his friend and biographer suggested that John was cut out more for a role as governor than as a senator.
Carolyn and John were married for less than three years by the time they died, and with two episodes remaining, we will have a lot of material to cover.
By the end of this episode, we’re only months away from Princess Diana’s death after a run-in with paparazzi, which is sure to rattle Carolyn.
The sullen girl we see at the end of the hour loves her husband dearly, but it’s not hard to imagine why love alone wouldn’t have kept this marriage afloat.
I’m curious. Does watching Love Story Season 1 change the way you feel about the media and gossip? Do you think choosing to be with someone in spite of their fame would put them on the same playing field?
Let me know what thoughts you’re having after watching “Obsession” by dropping them in the comments below.
I’d love to hear from you!
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