Firefly Lane, A Review

Three decades, two friends, one hell of a story.

Netflix’s Firefly Lane follows the friendship between Kate Mularkey (Sarah Chalke) and Tully Hart (Katherine Heigl, Fear of Rain), starting off when they meet as teens (played by Roan Curtis and Ali Skovbye) in the 70s and stretching all the way to the early 2000s. The pair met when Tully and her hippy Mother ‘Cloud’ (Beau Garrett) moved across the street from Kate on Firefly Lane, and despite a rocky start the pair soon became friends. We then follow their lives as they start their first jobs as TV journalists under boss Johnny Ryan (Ben Lawson, 13 Reasons Why)– who Kate marries and has daughter Marah (Yael Yurman, Once Upon a Time) with- and then see their lives go in different directions as Kate settles down and Tully becomes a star.

Told in a non-linear timeframe, Firefly Lane dips in and out of the three different time periods, exploring the ups and downs of the friendship and the highs and lows of each woman’s life. Exploring Johnny’s relationship with both women, Kate’s later marital struggles, Tully considering starting a family later in life with new boyfriend Max (Jon Ecker) and even the girls’ high school days, Firefly Lane is a show about love, friendship, endurance over the years and so, so much more.

Firefly Lane was a wonderful story of friendship and love, spanning three decades and showcasing, in my opinion, a very realistic view on friendship. Kate and Tully’s friendship demonstrated the dynamic between such opposing personalities and how you can come to rely on your friends, becoming essential parts in each other’s lives. Tully may have been the more sucessful one but she absolutely needed Kate in her life, even if she did sometimes take her for granted. I think everybody has had a friend like Tully in their life- they can be a little bit draining but at the same time they mean so much to you.

I really enjoyed Heigl and Chalke’s performances, seeing them play Kate and Tully across the decades. I think both actresses really nailed the character and the relationship between the two- they really did seem like decade long friends. I think it’s intetesting to see someone play a role spanning for such a long time, they really get to live through the character and demonstrate the changes that come with growing up.

At the same time I do think it was a bit off-putting seeing the same people play Kate and Tully for thirty plus years. I think that the 80s and 2000s scenes were fine, seeing the two in their first jobs and then in ‘the present’, but then when we also see Heigl and Chalke playing Kate and Tully in college, it just got a bit unbelievable. It was just strange seeing two women in their 40s play twenty year olds- there’s only so much makeup can do before it just becomes noticeable. Maybe the two younger actresses (Skovbye and Curtis) should have played Kate and Tully for longer? Just to bridge the gap a bit more instead of seeing the two go from teenagers to forty year olds in the blink of an eye. Don’t get me wrong I loved Heigl and Chalke but when they’re surrounded by twenty year olds who are supposed to be the same age as them? It becomes really noticeable.

Aside from the friendship between Kate and Tully, another relationship I really enjoyed was the friendship between Tully and Sean (Jason Mckinnon). Because Tully was the only one who knew he was gay, the two were able to grow close over the years, with Tully being the only one Sean could ever confide in. The friendship even eclipsed Sean’s relationship with his own family, with Kate shown to be jealous that Sean prefered Tully on multiple occasions. Even after all the years though Tully never told Kate Sean’s secret and from this I think we get to see a different side to her. With Kate, the friendship was always weighed with Tully being the one who needed Kate more but here Sean needed Tully and really treasured her keeping his secret.

I really liked how Firefly Lane used a non-linear timeline, switching between the three time periods across the season. This way we got a constant change in perspective into Kate and Tully’s lives, never getting too repetitive because the storyline kept moving on to another point in the two friend’s lives. Obviously some things were revealed before we actually saw them happening (eg Kate getting together with Johnny, Sean never coming out to Kate, Tully becoming famous), but it never felt like it spoilt the viewing experience of the show. We may have known what was going to happen in some cases but I really loved watching the three intertwining storylines unfold regardless.

Firefly Lane had a somewhat abrupt ending, so much so that I had to double check that I hadn’t missed any episodes. Skipping two years ahead of the current timeline, we now see that Kate and Tully are no longer speaking- but we have no idea why. And then the show just ended. Talk about a cliffhanger… I’ve heard that the book explains the argument more (and I do plan on reading), but I do really hope we get a second season, not just for the argument but because I feel like there’s still some Katy and Tully stories left to tell.

Overall, Firefly Lane was a wonderful series of friendship, love and loss spanning across the years and telling such an incredible story. I loved the often complex and messy friendship between Kate and Tully and thought that Heigl and Chalke did a brilliant job at playing them. On paper, Firefly Lane is not the sort of series I’d normally watch but I have to admit I really enjoyed myself and hope we get to see more in the future- there’s still so many stories left to tell.