User Reviews

This episode reveals the pasts of Frank and Margot, exes and parents of Nelly, who longs to be her own woman but suffocates under the blanket of her parents' self-serving, though loving, machinations.

One of the best things about this series is its use of music to amplify the emotions of a scene. That is what art does---it "explains" emotions better than definitions or simple discourse.

"Soundtrack" has used mash-ups to great effect in the previous three episodes. And this episode (Track 4) uses a medley to create a moving and penetratingly evocative story of intergenerational insight.

First we hear Judy Collins' version of "Both Sides, Now", Joni Mitchell's classic take on the duality of life and the human tendency to remember the best memories. Then we hear Neil Diamond's version of the song as the voice of the father, adding another layer of meaning and poignancy. Finally, there is Joni's version of the song. But it is not the original recording, full of innocence and purity; it is Joni's recording of "Both Sides" that was made in the maturity of her years, full of the perspective and, yes, surrender of an older woman. This version is "voiced" by the mother.

And in an artistic decision of genius, the director seats all five younger versions of the daughter at the family table simultaneously as the mother recalls their common past. These younger Nellies leave the room, one by one, until only the oldest (current) Nelly remains. And then, without words, we see the mother embrace the future son of her daughter, and the resolution is implied and understood.

This is one of my favorite scenes of from television, ever.