Streaming: "Grace and Frankie" Walk Off Into The Sunset

Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin say goodbye to "Grace and Frankie" after seven seasons on Netflix.By: Christopher James

Grace and Frankie was designed in a lab to be perfect comfort TV before bed. Living legends Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin have delivered elevated TV-Land-without-censors gold for 94 episodes over seven seasons. Unfortunately, the time has come for our titular odd couple to say goodbye, making Grace and Frankie the longest running Netflix show of all time. 

Even after all this time, our favorite ladies have kept it fresh and fun until the very end. Grace and Frankie never set out to reinvent the wheel. However, they earn points for consistency as they keep things funny and emotional all the way to the bitter (and star studded) end. We’ll miss seeing Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin on our screens regularly. However, the show is charming and lighthearted enough to be the perfect rewatchable comfort food...

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Jack Linker

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Grace and Frankie, Season 3: Return to Form

By Spencer Coile

A good series is not born overnight. Oftentimes, the pilot episode is not indicative of the quality a show might have down the road. Even if it is incredible, the series still runs a risk of running off the rails in subsequent seasons (Desperate Housewives). Still, there is something especially rewarding about a series that, after two lackluster seasons, can come back swinging in its third. And after indulging in half of its third outing, it is safe to say that Grace and Frankie has carved out a very unique space for its viwers. 

Picking up shortly where season two left off, season three to Grace and Frankie finds its two leading characters developing their own sex toy business geared toward older women. Of course, this is all easier said than done. After all, they still are an odd couple. Meanwhile, their ex-husbands Sol and Robert, neogotiate issues of retirement, gay culture, and coming out at such an old age. And of course you cannot forget all of their children, grounding all of the "adult" happenings with a strange twinge of immaturity. 

But what makes the latest offering from Grace and Frankie better than its previous two seasons? 

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Grace & Frankie. Final Thoughts & Emmy Wishes

We recapped the first half of Grace and Frankie and then abruptly quit talking about it, but since it's been renewed, we should tie this up in a neat bow. As with other Netflix shows in the past like OITNB and Daredevil it didn't quite engage people in the blogging model as weekly series coverage does despite the fact that it was clear that most readers were watching. The problem, as documented in ongoing media hand-wringing and cultural conversations about binge-watching, is that nobody's ever on the same page. 

But on the other hand people do seem to have ended up on (mostly) the same page with Grace & Frankie in terms of its overall quality. More...

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Grace and Frankie 5-6: "The Fall" and "The Earthquake"

We're almost halfway through Grace and Frankie, so here's Manuel recapping episodes 5 & 6 of this Odd Couple  actressexual Netflix offering.

The show keeps toying with playing the "Old Lady" card but these two broads are so spry and full of life (so much physical comedy!)

After gently suggesting Grace should dive right into the dating pool by activating an online dating profile, Frankie and Brianna get stoned and urge Grace to drive them for some FroYo where an ill-placed yogurt spill causes Grace to fall, break her hip and need surgery. It’s a thin plot but it’s surprising the amount of pathos the show garners from focusing on Grace’s mortality. Chalk it up to Jane Fonda who even when bed-ridden manages to imbue her character with a winnowing sense of sadness and anxiety. Of no help is Frankie who keeps reminding everyone who’ll hear her how hip surgeries are wont to be awry especially at their age.

Frankie: Dr Paul wants you to suck on this. You have to suck on the inhalation nozzle, and move the balls. Don't worry, I made a sex joke about that and he laughed.

Of course, as with almost all of these early episodes, the storyline is designed to a) showcase Fonda and Tomlin’s talent by b) creating a situation wherein Grace and Frankie realize they’re in the same boat and goshdarnit they might as well make peace with the fact that they’re “stuck with each other.” That said, in a nice callback to episode 4, it turns out that everything we saw was all a split-second Grace hallucination (she actually doesn’t fall as Frankie - surprise! - catches her before she does) most likely fueled by her guilt of having jilted Frankie at the funeral.

lots more after the jump

Best Jane Moment

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