The real reckoning comes when Anna announces she is selling Barbary Lane, much to the surprise of its longtime residents. Both characters have other things going on, of course Mary Ann’s potential rekindling with Brian and Shawna’s romance with a filmmaker (Zosia Mamet) who is even more aloof than she is give both characters space to work through their issues. Her fixation on this fact, and refusal to acknowledge Shawna’s abandonment or admit her part in it, provide the season’s central emotional arc, which proves just complicated enough to be compelling.
Most shocking to Mary Ann about this sharp rebuke is that Shawna thinks she is her biological mother, and Brian and her other friends never told her she is adopted. “Like, you gave birth to me, and then you ran off for some like, bullshit career, and now here you are just, like, standing here, as if we’re buds.” “I mean its funny, right?,” she asks through a placid smile. Laura Linney and Olympia Dukakis in “Tales of the City” Later, as the two women share a joint on the roof, Mary Ann is lulled into a false sense of security before Shawna finally lets loose. Now 25, living at Barbary Lane, and effortlessly cool (or at least that’s what she wants Mary Ann to think), Shawna offers Mary Ann a fist bump and a deliberately measured “‘sup?” before walking away. Much as she once left her ho hum life in Ohio for greener pastures in San Francisco, we learn that Mary Ann long ago abandoned Brian and Shawna to pursue her career.
Once there, she is greeted by friends new and old, including best friend Michael “Mouse” Tolliver (Murray Bartlett), ex-husband Brian (Paul Gross), and estranged daughter Shawna (Ellen Page), some more happy to see her than others. She’s been living in Connecticut, her journalism ambitions having given way to hosting informercials for an unfortunately named snuggie ripoff, the “bloodie.” (Mary Ann: “It’s like a blanket and a hoodie.”) The occasion for her return is the 90th birthday of her magical and mysterious former landlady Anna Madrigal (Olympia Dukakis). “Tales of the City” begins with our buoyant heroine Mary Ann Singleton ( Laura Linney) nervously returning to 28 Barbary Lane. 'The Last of Us': Everything You Need to Know About HBO's Adaptation 'The Matrix Resurrections' Review: The Boldest and Most Personal Franchise Sequel Since 'The Last Jedi'
New Movies: Release Calendar for December 22, Plus Where to Watch the Latest Films While exploring the varied experiences of three generations of LGBTQ people (and truly representing the entire spectrum of the alphabet soup), “Tales of the City” finds that our needs remain the same - connection, chosen family, and living one’s truth. Creator Lauren Morelli (“Orange Is the New Black”) and executive producer Alan Poul (“Six Feet Under”) found a way to honor the spirit of the original while celebrating the queer culture of today. Though the mini-series was highly controversial when it first aired on PBS, Netflix’s continuation feels like a warm embrace from an old friend an unconventional marriage between rose-colored nostalgia and progressive identity politics. Television no longer has to cater solely to gay audiences in order to tell nuanced gay stories.Įnter the next chapter of “Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City,” which picks up 20 years after its last installment and doesn’t miss a beat. Like the tragic closing of storied San Francisco gay bars Gangway or The Lex, gone are the days of solely gay shows like “Queer As Folk” or “The L Word” (pending reboots). Acceptance and equality come at a cost - when you’re finally allowed in the club, there’s no more need to make your own.
A few holdouts aside, the gay TV show has mostly gone the way of the gay bar.