***The Four Seasons spoilers ahead***
Hit Netflix comedy The Four Seasons – which follows a decades-long circle of friends as they reunite for quarterly weekend getaways – enters a new phase in season 2 as the group adjusts to life without Nick.
Steve Carell’s character was killed in a car accident at the end of the first instalment, leaving behind his new partner Ginny; close friends Kate and Jack, and Danny and Claude; and his ex-wife Anne, whose already complicated feelings towards her former husband following the breakdown of their marriage were complicated further by news of his sudden and tragic death.
Nick had left Anne for another, much younger woman (double whammy), but they had also built a life together – one that included their daughter, Lila, and years of happy memories that would occasionally soften Anne’s hurt and fury, before those feelings inevitably bubbled back to the surface.
Regardless of the upheaval he had caused, so much of Anne’s identity had been entwined with Nick’s, which is why she finds herself facing something of an identity crisis in the show’s second chapter.
With his estate in the process of being finalised, Anne begins to question who she is and what she wants from her life now that there’s nothing keeping her tethered. So, naturally, she orders a Pilates reformer and flirts with the idea of going back to school, starting a business, or raising donkeys…
To each their own.
Anne’s future is suddenly wide open, which sounds tantalising in theory. But much like being handed a menu with 30 different mains or endlessly scrolling through Netflix’s back catalogue, the feeling is less liberating and more paralysing.
Anne 2.0 is calling, but she’s stuck – that is until Ginny’s baby, Gino, is born and Anne unexpectedly discovers a renewed sense of purpose in helping the woman her husband left her for navigate first-time motherhood.
The Four Seasons is nothing if not unexpected.
Anne and Ginny’s new setup is oddly sweet, but they also know that it is unsustainable. Ginny must learn to stand on her own two feet, while Anne is finally forced to prioritise herself – something she ultimately decides to do in the closing moments of the season.
After travelling to Italy to spend Christmas with the group and Claude’s family, Anne makes the surprise decision to stay behind while everyone else returns to their everyday lives – marking the true beginning of her next chapter.
Earlier in the season, she had fibbed to Mark Brett, her brief Jersey Shore fling, claiming that she had relocated to Europe and fallen madly in love with a charming Italian man named Gianpero.
So, why not make that fantasy a reality?
What Anne doesn’t realise, however, is that her new neighbour is actually a man called Gianpero — who just so happens to be played by one British national treasure and Doctor Who legend David Tennant.
It’s a delightful cameo, played perfectly by the acclaimed actor whose introduction surely hints at a third season for the show? There’s certainly no shortage of stories left to tell or scenarios to explore with these couples, but this is undoubtedly the relationship we’re truly invested in seeing more of.
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