It's a tale as old as time. Boy meets girl, girl meets boy. They fall in love. It's like a fairy tale. The fairy tale ends. Reality crashes in.
How else can one describe the tantalizing and tragic story of John F. Kennedy, Jr. and Carolyn Bessette Kennedy, the prince and princess of 1990s Americana who captivated a nation with their love and then died in a devastating plane crash when they were only 38 and 33, respectively.
It's a story of love and loss that has stuck with the generations that witnessed it and trickled down to the younger ones who only heard a scant few details and whispered references to a "Kennedy Curse." It is a part of our national consciousness that is so close we've yet to reckon with what it really meant, to the people involved and the greater tabloid audience who felt involved, too.
It is, in essence, the kind of moment in history power producer Ryan Murphy loves to get his hands on and adapt. Which brings us to his latest, "Love Story: John F. Kennedy, Jr. and Carolyn Bessette" (FX, Thursdays, 9 ET/PT and streaming on Hulu, ★★★ out of four). Produced by Murphy but created by Connor Hines ("Space Force"), this real-life Shakespearean tragedy gets the full prestige mini-series treatment, from the painstaking recreation of specific tabloid moments and 1990s outfits, to not-so-subtle examination of what the Kennedy myth means to the American story (it is based on Elizabeth Beller’s book, "Once Upon a Time: The Captivating Life of Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy"). Just as Murphy and partners dissected the similar 1990s-era defining event of O.J. Simpson's murder trial in the first season of "American Crime Story" 10 years ago, no stone of JFK, Jr. and Bessette Kennedy's tribulation is left unturned in the name of metaphor and meaning. There will never be another Camelot, you know?
