Image credit: Netflix
Netflix’s Firefly Lane, which drops on February 3, 2021, is a 10-episode look into the tumultuous friendship between Tully Hart and Kate Mularkey. Each episode spans three different decades (1974, 1982 & 2003), and the transitions from one time frame to the next work exceptionally well. Adult Tully is played by Katherine Heigl (Grey’s Anatomy), while younger Tully is portrayed by Ali Skovbye (Once Upon A Time). Sarah Chalke (Roseanne, Scrubs) plays Kate as an adult, and Roan Curtis (The Magicians) as young Kate.
Synopsis
The greatest love story of all can be between friends. When unlikely duo Tully (Katherine Heigl) and Kate (Sarah Chalke) meet at age fourteen, they couldn’t be more different. Tully is the brash and bold girl you can’t ignore, while Kate is the mousy shy girl you never notice. But when a tragedy brings them together, they are bonded for life – forever inseparable best friends. Together they experience thirty years of ups and downs – triumphs and disappointments, heartbreak and joy, and a love triangle that strains their friendship. One goes on to fabulous wealth and fame, the other chooses marriage and motherhood – but through the decades, their bond remains – until it faces the ultimate test. The series is based on the novel of the same name by New York Times bestselling author Kristin Hannah, who serves as co-executive producer. – Netflix
Firefly Lane creator and showrunner Maggie Friedman stresses that it is not a prerequisite to read the novel before watching the series. “Of course, it’s not at all necessary to read the book first. The goal is for the show to stand on its own. People new to the story will enjoy following these two very different women and their journey from wild, free ‘70s kids, to ambitious ‘80s career women, to dealing with the fallout of their life choices in the 2000s.”
Music plays a key role in this series; the score is composed by Emmy-winning composers Wendy Melvoin and Lisa Coleman. Friedman explains how they were able to create sounds to represent each decade. “They’re also able to create music that bridges the different time periods, so the score you’re hearing in the ‘70s sounds very different from the ‘80s and so on. But it all still feels like one show.”
On top of that, each episode is named after a specific song. When asked about the reasoning behind this, Friedman says: “I didn’t name the episodes in advance, but I wanted to pick names that played on the idea of music because it was so important to me in terms of evoking the different eras. One of the things I said when I was pitching the series is that music has to be a character in the show, because hearing iconic songs puts you right there in those time periods!“
While there are different storylines within the series as a whole, each decade that we encounter weaves them all together. This is done so in a way where you as the viewer almost forget you are observing the same characters in different time periods. Although we are left with unanswered questions by the end of it, Firefly Lane is the perfect weekend binge series.
Firefly Lane will be released on Netflix on February 3rd.
Check out our interview with Ali Skovbye where she discusses Firefly Lane and other projects.