HBO's Forgotten 4-Part Drama Miniseries Is Perfect For A One-Sit Binge

HBO's Olive Kitteridge is a moving, fascinating, beautiful miniseries that you can binge in just four sittings. HBO's list of miniseries to watch includes some of the best TV shows of all time. Miniseries are the perfect length for a prestige story, long enough to tell a wide-ranging tale, but short enough so that they aren't overloaded.

It can be dangerous to just pick a TV show at random without doing your due diligence, but you can generally select any miniseries on HBO and be sure you're in for something good. At the very least, you can be sure it will be over soon. Olive Kitteridge is both: incredible storytelling and a breeze to watch.

What Is Olive Kitteridge About?

Olive Kitteridge is all about the titular character. Olive, played perfectly by Frances McDormand, is a retired middle school teacher in seaside Maine. Abrasive and misanthropic, Olive never has a good thing to say about anyone and is strict with her easy-going husband, Henry (Richard Jenkins), and her frustrated son, Christopher (Devin Druid).

We follow Olive for roughly 20 years, from the 1980s to the 2000s, watching the events of her life and the sorrows she experiences over that time. She also has to reckon with the impact of her rude and brittle attitude, which has formed a hard shell over her son and disappointed her husband time and again.

Olive Kitteridge Is Not Your Typical Drama

Olive Kitteridge is not a series that depicts the arc of Olive from an angry schoolteacher into someone who can see the beauty of the world. It's a series that shows how someone who is inherently disappointed and angry can stand a world that never seems to want to make her happy.

Depression is a key theme in Olive Kitteridge, and unlike many other dramas, it's not presented as a problem to overcome. Olive states early in the show that she's depressed. She's not wallowing, she's matter-of-fact. In the real world, says Olive Kitteridge, sometimes you are depressed, and you need to figure out how you will, or won't, go on.

Why Olive Kitteridge Still Holds Up Today

Olive Kitteridge is a breathtaking and heartbreaking examination of a woman whom McDormand embodies inside and out, and her performance still amazes over a decade later. It's a story more relatable than anything you've ever seen, and will hit close to home, even when you don't want it to.

There is no major climax in Olive Kitteridge, no moment of catharsis. It's a show that depicts the drudgery of everyday life, and the different ways people manage to deal with it. There are themes in Olive Kitteridge that will never grow old; they are so universal, and the show will never get old for it.