For Grace Gummer, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.
FX’s anthology drama “Love Story” may center around the cultural mythology of John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy and their tragic deaths in July 1999. But by the end of the nine episodes, it’s Grace Gummer’s stoic, revelatory role as John’s sister Caroline Kennedy that breaks viewers’ hearts, giving the miniseries its pulse and attracting the cast’s most enthusiastic Emmy-worthy entries.
If your mother is Meryl Streep, perhaps we shouldn’t expect anything less.
Streep’s career is one of industry legend. He has won three Academy Awards, eight Golden Globe Awards, four Primetime Emmy Awards, and even the Presidential Medal of Freedom. She holds the all-time record for most Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations (21 and 34, respectively) over a career spanning over 64 films and 18 television projects (and more to come). Gummer, 39, may not be carrying on her mother’s name in Hollywood, but she’s making a name for herself. And in “Love Story,” she shows that certain lineages are something entirely otherworldly.
Gunmar plays Caroline, a woman who is always calm in public but shattered in private. She carries the weight of American royalty without ever turning over. It was a performance of discipline and incredible restraint, two qualities that are often undervalued in TV awards conversations.
The most shocking single episode and scene of the finale of “Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette” begins with a conversation between two women in mourning inside an apartment that once housed a family appointment. Ann Freeman, the mother of Constance Zimmer’s character, Carolyn, confronts Gummer’s character and delivers a shocking line. “She said she didn’t know who she had become, and now that person will be immortalized forever. I wish she had lived long enough to be remembered for something else.”
Gunmar didn’t flinch, he just absorbed it and then replied: “The only thing he will be remembered for is what he could have become.” In less than 30 words, she encapsulates Kennedy’s decades of grief, the burden of aborted promises, and the peculiar loneliness that leaves one mourning when everyone else is watching a “legend.”
Surprisingly, the matriarchs of “Love Story” collectively form the emotional fabric of the show, and the series is at its best when it focuses on them.
Zimmer’s appearance in that scene deserves praise in itself. She brings the raw suffering of a mother to a character who exists primarily on the periphery of the series. This is a testament to what skilled character actors can accomplish with limited screen time. Similarly, veteran Jessica Harper brings vivid dignity to Ethel Kennedy, and Naomi Watts, as Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, embodies the famous widow with dignity and heartbreak, commanding every scene. Every woman could see her name featured on the Emmy nomination list.
Series creator Connor Hines and director Anthony Hemingway, who wrote the final episode, resisted the urge to exploit the crash itself (thank God). Their final moments show Kennedy seemingly losing control of the plane and Carolyn reassuring him with a simple line: “John, breathe.” As such, it’s the best and most heartfelt representation of the couple, thanks to the committed performances of stars Sarah Pidgeon and Paul Anthony Kelly.
“Love Story” is the fifth installment in Ryan Murphy’s American Story series. His track record in the Emmy field has been pretty solid, starting with The People vs. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story, which won nine Emmys and recalibrated what scripted true crime could do on television. Depending on how the competition develops, this outing could be accepted as well.
The Emmy conversation for Best Supporting Actress (Limited) will be crowded (as it always is). But Gunmar offers something truly unusual, a showcase so carefully controlled that its impact creeps up on you, and by the time you feel it, it’s already reshaped your perception of the character. It was a gift from her mother, but now it’s also completely her own.
Dear Television Academy, please act accordingly. Because Grace Gummer clearly is.
