Grace & Frankie E4: "The Funeral"

Put on your finest black Willie Nelson T-shirt, cause we're going to a funeral!

abstew here continuing our coverage of Jane & Lily Grace and Frankie. After being separated from their recently gay (well, to our leading ladies at least) and recently shacked-up husbands, the gals must come face-to-face with their estranged spouses for the first time since the first episode. And because they're of a certain age, the gathering naturally happens at a funeral (it's like clubbing for retirees). And nothing says comedy quite like a funeral setting (unless it stars Hugh Grant and is preceded by 4 weddings) and this episode proves it by carrying some pretty heavy dramatic moments and a breakdown from Martin Sheen that shouldn't have made me laugh as much as it did (since he was actually going for heartfelt drama).

The episode begins with Grace interrupting Frankie's art class with ex-cons so that the two can get to the funeral of their mutual friend Larry before Sol and Robert arrive for their "coming out party".

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Grace and Frankie S1:E3 "The Dinner"

Anne Marie here, taking over recap duties for an episode! In Episode 2, physical possessions were divvied up for the divorce (for now), so Episode 3 is when we focus on feelings and family. Grace and Frankie, suddenly devoid of social obligations and artistic inspiration, decide to combat their own sense of irrelevence by getting jobs. Grace returns to the beauty company she founded, now run by her daughter Brianna, only to discover that Brianna has steered the company in a new direction. 

Elsewhere, Frankie attempts to interview at an old folks home, but is mistaken for a potential client. For most of this epiosde, Grace & Frankie's storylines felt a bit too much like a B plot from Sutton Foster's age-and-cliche-obsessed show Younger on TVLand (is anybody else watching Younger?). But on the other hand, the episode does culminate in Grace having a meltdown in a supermarket and Frankie stealing a pack of cigarettes like a middle-aged Thelma & Louise.

Meanwhile, on our favorite Law & Order/The West Wing crossover fanfiction, Jed Bartlett & Jack McCoy Robert & Sol are enjoying the honeymoon phase of their incipient relationship...

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Grace and Frankie S1:E2 "The Credit Cards"

We'll take the next episode of Grace and Frankie quickly both because it's shorter and it's not as jam-packed with discussables as the premiere. We begin with the women still devastated while "the boys" -- I love that their wives call them that -- are already much more lighthearted, having finally pulled the trigger on coming out. Sol (Sam Waterston), is way more excited about having come out than the more reserved Robert (Martin Sheen). More...

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Grace and Frankie: "The End" (Which is the Beginning)

Another week, another Netflix series debut. It seems like there are loads of them every month, yes? But this one, Grace and Frankie  is right up The Film Experience's alley.

It stars two beloved actresses: double Oscar winner Jane Fonda (Grace) and Oscar nominee Lily Tomlin (Frankie) reuniting 35 years after their comedy blockbuster Nine to Five. What's more Grace and Frankie uses, at least as its launching pad, our favorite genre Women Who Lie To Themselves™ and mixes it with LGBT subject matter and comes from the creator of Friends Marta Kauffman. That's a lot of pluses in its column even before you get to its delightfully sweet opening titles sequence involving a multi-tiered wedding cake.

Don't believe whatever early buzz that had people shrugging. It's a lot of fun and it's damn beautiful to see these two actresses working together again. After the jump a quick recap of the first episode with best lines and MVP moments and such.

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Where My (Legendary) Girls At: Jane, Lily, Diane, and Debbie

Any 24 hour period that has wonderful news about four film legends is a good day, at least in part. We have to grasp at happy straws considering the "real" world outside of the arts. So, let's start with the best best actress news of the day week month...

first still (since pulled it looks like it)

JANE & LILY
That Jane Fonda & Lily Tomlin Netflix series "Grace & Frankie" is really happening and Jane Fonda wrote about it while sharing the first still and behind the scenes photos yesterday: 

I had a brief hard spell the first day, moving away from my Leona Lansing-Newsroom mode and into comedy. Comedy requires different muscles, a subtle shifting of gears, of attitude. It’s harder, in my opinion. This kind of comedy has to be real, the comedy has to come out of reality, out of pain, yet it has to be funny... 

Some actors don’t like to watch dailies (the footage you shot the day before). I, on the contrary, benefit from watching them, and not just the footage that I’m in. I’m one of the producers on this series and I need to see everything. Besides, it helps me calibrate my performance.. 

Jane Fonda would make the best Smackdown guest because she takes acting so seriously, articulates it well and still has curiousity about it; my heart practically burst at a Fonda event a year or two ago when she mentioned her plan to go back to acting class for reasons that there's always more to learn about your craft. This from a two time Oscar winner who, at her best, is pretty untoppable in terms of acting magic. It reminded me of Madonna taking vocal lessons in the 90s and then guitar lessons in the 00s -- Mega-successful people who still stay humble about their talent and seek to improve are a rare breed and deserve enormous respect. One of the great dangers of success is laziness and coasting, you know.

As for Lily, her 75th birthday is next month and we'll be sure to celebrate it somehow.

Debbie Reynolds & Diane Keaton after the jump... 

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