We watch TV to laugh, we watch TV to be scared, we watch TV to get excited, we watch TV for the adrenaline of the action, we watch TV to get bored and turn off the brain. But we rarely watch TV to cry. Crying in front of the screen usually catches you by surprise, like in the third episode of “The Last Of Us” or when you accidentally stumble upon an episode of “Sabry Marnan” and don’t scream fast enough, but there aren’t many series like “Dear Edward” before that aim at your tear gland and inhale squeeze her all the way.
Well, get ready to whine: the series that appeared on Apple’s ultra-high-quality streaming service this weekend is based on Anne Napolitano’s huge bestseller of the same name (“Dear Edward”), which is itself based on a true story, and centers on a boy who is the sole survivor of a plane crash A passenger in which his entire family was killed. Napolitano likes to tell how she heard the news and became obsessed with telling her own story, one that creates circumstances in which the child will eventually be fine. In “Dear Edward” a human web of stories and characters whose lives have changed as a result of the disaster is woven around the surviving child. He is adopted by his aunt, and everyone tries to deal with the tragedy, the loss and the pain together.
The series was created by Jason Katims, the man behind the excellent “Friday Night Lights” and the warm “Parenthood”, a television creator who knows something about human drama and ensembles of actors who manage to create a bittersweet emotion together. The first episodes reflect the quality we’ve become accustomed to receiving from Apple TV+, but the great test of the series will be whether you manage to rise from the realms of sorrow and heartbreak to some human beauty that softens and heals, or whether you’ll be content to make us bitter and cry every week (the first three episodes are already on the air, but from now on it’s an episode of the week ). Not that there is anything wrong with that.
>> “Dear Edward”, now on Apple TV+
