Their kids, meanwhile, also wade through what feel surprisingly like grounded high school drama, not the trauma of Euphoria or craziness of Outer Banks but more mundane mortifications: getting too drunk once at a party, the post-life of a too-vulnerable text, dealing with parents upset with your grades. Maddie wades into life beyond divorce with an attraction to her son’s baseball coach, Cal (Justin Bruening) Helen is a successful careerist coming to terms with her desire to have a family, man or no Dana Sue channels the trust issues scorched by her ex-husband into work, and struggles to ask for help. Their tribulations over the course of the 10-episode season, eight of which were available to critics, are momentous in real life but, in TV terms, tame – there are no tragic accidents or explosive love triangles, but stage-of-life quandaries that will likely feel relatable to many in the target audience. The project allows each woman to demonstrate satisfying competency – Helen as a no-holds-barred lawyer, Dana Sue as a perfectionist chef, Maddie as an event planner balancing caring for her of two teenage sons and a young daughter – with small, absorbing complications. Instead, the series ambles from Maddie’s indignation to recovery in the arms of her friends, who endeavor to somehow renovate a beloved old home into a women-only “spa” (wellness center) in a month or so. In keeping with the town name, Sweet Magnolias eschews melodrama for more down-to-earth, mundane struggles the most explosive scandal – Maddie’s doctor husband, Bill (Chris Klein, literally straining through a southern accent), having an affair and impregnating a nurse, Noreen (Jamie-Lynn Spears, also straining, though that’s beside the point), and breaking up the family – takes place before the first episode, which opens with their divorce proceedings. Naturally, it’s called Serenity, and its focal point is a charming but taste-signifying restaurant owned and operated by chef Dana Sue (Brooke Elliott), who grew up in the town with best friends Helen (Heather Headley) and Maddie (Joanna Garcia Swisher). Sweet Magnolias takes place in a self-contained town where everyone knows each other, all hardships are personal, and all flaws are ultimately redeemed. It can range from pre-bottled to slightly distinct but is still what it is: unpretentious, with all the requisite parts, a balm for some and too “rosé all day” for others. Kicking back with it feels indulgent and mindless, an easy slide into a binge, syrupy with enough tart to keep it moving. It is, in other words, incredibly low-stakes television, a streamlined version of Lifetime or CW (think Hart of Dixie) content, the enjoyment of which depends, like their staple margaritas, on one’s personal pressure release valve and tolerance.
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