Going to “I do” has never been so adventurous. Or full of murder. It’s the clever twist of the producers of Broad city, difficult people, younger, and Search party bring to wedding season, Hulu’s ambitious new rom-com outing. The creators have called the show a “genre-busting” series, and for the most part, it has been. While so many shows these days want to be “genre busting”, that’s perhaps the most innovative way to “break” a premise, just go back to basics.
That said, here we find star-crossed lovers Katie and Stefan (Rosa Salazar and Gavin Drea), enduring a whirl of misadventures that draw on, intentionally or not, shows like The end of the damn world (Netflix) and Afterparty (AppleTV+) and movies like Bonnie and Clyde – and, to some extent, 2022’s The Lost City. The couple falls for each other at a wedding – after all, it’s the season – and immediately have an affair. Unfortunately, Katie has a fiancé, which is a big buzzkill. Flashforward, it’s two months later and Katie is getting married. Nice day, right? Except her new husband and his entire family were murdered. The police think Stefan did it. Stefan thinks Katie did it. So, where’s the truth? Come along for the ride and find out.
Unpacking the Madcap Series
As for new series, wedding season is worth an investment. It’s sharp, smart and maintains a level of intrigue, especially in the early half of the season. The fiercely disturbed feeling is fueled by Salazar and Drea’s antics on screen. They pair, or disconnect, is mostly cat-and-mouse, with Salazar turning into a suspected impostor with Drea always trying to keep up.
It’s very Streisand and O’Neal à la What is it, doctor? sometimes.
Stefan van Drea is a charming young doctor with trust issues. He has a deep, burning need for love, which we’re told – if only too briefly – stems from being in the foster system as a child. He has surrounded himself with a large group of friends, who all seem to go to a couple of weddings together. What a summer it is. Meanwhile, Katie seems to have it all – she’s confident and smart. What could go wrong for her?
As the show flashes back and forth through time to give the audience context about Katie and Stefan’s first band, we naturally want the two to end up together. Things move quickly after Katie’s special day ends with the poisoning of the groom and eight members of his family. Stefan is questioned by the police (Jamie Richie and Jade Harrison) and moments later he is secretly taken away by Katie. My, she is fearless. Suddenly on the run across the UK – and completely out of his comfort zone – Stefan wants to know what the hell is going on. If only Katie knew. Or does she? For now, they must remain on the run from the police.
The show’s writers are quick on their creative toes for the first six episodes or so. The couple’s adventures eventually take them to the US to prove their innocence. The police want to solve the crime and Katie keeps hinting that her fiancé’s family was shady. Can Stefan believe her?
Subplots galore. In Metts and Donahue, Harrison and Richie initially provide wonderful entertainment for their police couple. Their flirtatiousness would sound the alarm to the HR department, but hey – nice to see how it plays out.
There’s also Suji (Ioanna Kimbrook), hungry and waiting to party, but always ending up with empty buffets. And Anil (Bhav Joshi) and Leila (Callie Cooke) are married. Their celebratory wedding is set up as the great work of the summer wedding season, and the highlight of this show for that matter. All the jokes we’ve seen with Katie and Stefan come to a big reveal or twist by the time the credits kick in, right?
That is the hope, for for all his good intentions, wedding season seems heavily preloaded and a bit lacking with consistent sluggishness in the second half. We’ve seen this happen in other series, especially in the last seasons of kill eve, where the writers tend to surprise at the end of the season. My feeling is things bounce back creatively with the last episode. There is a lot to capture.
Acting in the wedding season
Sure, Salazar commands the screen in Wedding season. Drea is huggable as Stefan, but Salazar’s Katie impresses, and when she’s on screen, you’ll want to know what she’s going to say and do. After demonstrating her daring acting style in The undone and Brand New Cherry Flavor, this may not be a big surprise. The actress tends to anchor the mania that any script offers her, even if it comes from her character. Convincing and alluring, her Katie keeps the audience, and Stefan, guessing forever. Is she dangerous? Can she be trusted? Is she working as a covert operation? Or just stupid? Either way, Salazar is a joy to watch.
Drea is effective with the material given to him, but the character was thin on me. There’s only so much overreacting a writer can give an actor, and Drea – bless him – handles it with aplomb, but ironically, viewers lean more towards Katie than Stefan. Genre busting indeed. It’s not Drea’s fault, of course. Handsome, perfect, he’s a solid leading man. It would have been great to learn more about to be character.
The rest of the cast fills the bill pretty well. They tie in with the material the writers give them. Collectively, the ensemble evokes a sense of curiosity and self-reflection about weddings in general, and the lavishness to which people strengthen their bonds. That social commentary could have been elaborated a bit further here, but what is offered to us is usually sufficient. It’s not like we don’t already know how flashy marriages can be.
Meanwhile, there’s enough absurdity to keep viewers interested Wedding season. I ended up scratching my head trying to fully understand what’s really going on in some of the last episodes. The writers, perhaps writing themselves in a corner, scramble to solve the mystery that started these antics. It doesn’t spoil the overall show, but if there’s anything we learned in the 2020s, today’s viewers often treat their shows as relationships they’re going to invest in — or not. Until the end of the series or the cancellation separate them. They also want their perfect union. wedding season promises to deliver one no matter how long it takes.
wedding season debuts on Hulu on September 8.