Break out your biggest bottle of wine because Firefly Lane has marked its return to Netflix! The long-awaited second season hits the streamer on December 2 and will contain a whopping 16 episodes. But there’s one kicker, and it’s a big one: This will be its final season.
This probably doesn’t come as a surprise to those familiar with the source material — Kristin Hannah’s book series — since it only consists of two books: Firefly Lane and its sequel, Fly Away. But, since the first season of the Netflix series only covered the first half of the first book, I was left under the impression that we’d be getting at least two more installments.
Fans of the rom-com genre responded to Firefly Lane so strongly because the show felt as sincere as Gilmore Girls and The Mindy Project, but without the soap opera-ness of Virgin River and Ginny & Georgia. Conversely, the show felt very contained, and not drowned out with too many characters or high-stakes drama. It embraced the storyboard cheesiness of the genre, making every betrayal and argument between its two leads feel like a stab in the heart.
As someone who didn’t read the books ahead of the television adaptation, I was blown away by the pacing and nonlinear storyline of the series, which flawlessly intertwined three decades (the ’70s, ’80s, and ’00s) in a way that contributed to a bigger part of the story. The heart of the series is the relationship between Kate Mularkey (Sarah Chalke) and Tully Hart (Katherine Heigl), who are polar opposites, and seeing them brought together by their teenage outcast status and passion for success drowned out all the “why are they even friends in the first place?” doubts.
The end of Season 1 revealed that the two besties had a huge falling out, but the “why” remains a mystery. A few options have been teased through flashbacks and present-day conflicts, such as Tully’s shared infatuation with Johnny, Kate’s future husband and the father of her daughter; Tully’s close connection with Kate’s daughter – which hurts Kate as she is unable to strike the same chemistry with her; and Tully’s unreliableness as a struggling starlet and alcoholic. Striking an effortless balance and chemistry between Tully, an untrustworthy protagonist with a sob-story background, and Kate, who grounds the show with her predictable personality, the series shows that while stories with conflicting perspectives will always bring out the Team Kates and Team Tullys, this show’s winning team will always be Team Kate-and-Tully.
Along with its endearing storyline, Firefly Lane featured an epic soundtrack with hits from across the decades, like Abba’s “Dancing Queen”, Duran Duran’s “Hungry Like A Wolf,” and Dexy’s Midnight Runners’ “Come on Eileen”, and foresaw the revival of Kate Bush (thank you, Stranger Things) by complementing its bittersweet finale with the singer’s 1988 ballad “This Woman’s Work”.
Despite being gutted by this too-soon ending, it might be a blessing in disguise, since too much of a good thing always ends up being a bad thing. As the first season covered all the groundwork, this season – which will premiere in two parts – is expected to be filled with many answers, such as: What happened to Johnny? The romantic lead was working as a war correspondent in Iraq and was last seen in the throes of a major explosion. And why does Kate hate Tully? As in the show’s final moments, present-day Kate wanted nothing to do with Tully when they bumped into each other at Kate’s dad’s funeral.
Thankfully, we don’t have to start grieving yet as the new episodes are Netflix-bound, and if they’re anything like season one, each episodes will be an hour long. That’s nearly 16 more hours of Firefly Lane, which is a full day’s worth of entertainment (and crying).
