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Pharmacy

“She had a darkness that seemed to stand beside her like an acquaintance that would not go away.”

The relationship between Olive and Henry is painful, but particularly painful in the screen adaptation. Because we didn’t have any reading for Thursday, I decided to watch the “Pharmacy,” episode of the miniseries “Olive Kitteridge.” Olive is bitter and angry and her only laughter, her only happiness comes in spite of Henry. The episode takes away the element of surprise that I had loved so much in the writing. In the first ten minutes, Olive is seen at the school with Jim O’Casey. Their flirtation is glaringly obvious and she laughs, not at him but with him — real joy in her eyes. She goes to visit the mother of one of her students and we see an element of compassion that doesn’t even seem to be present in the story; the friend is suicidal and Olive attempts to coax her out of her dark thoughts.

Denise is presented as a particularly awkward character. She is sweet and friendly, but seems more talkative than I had pictured when reading the story. It’s clear from the moment they meet that Henry is very fond of her. I enjoyed the miniseries episode, but as usual I preferred her writing. I also couldn’t understand why Jerry wasn’t fat. His size and chubby fingers are a vital part of “Pharmacy,” and something that was not incorporated in the tv episode.

 

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