Will All the Emmy Noms Get an Underrated Apple TV+ Series the Attention It Deserves?

Brie Larson, the show itself, and Lewis Pullman all nabbed Emmy nominations for their series Lessons in Chemistry this year. Maybe now people will watch the show and talk about how good both Larson and Pullman are in it!

The Apple TV+ series was one of those shows that came out during the SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes and didn’t have a normal press circuit as a result, meaning some people missed the series when it was streaming. I am glad that it is now getting the attention and praise it deserves, and hopefully more people will go to watch it.

Lessons in Chemistry is based on the book by Bonnie Garmus that follows Elizabeth Zott (Larson) as she navigates life as a scientist in the 1950s. Split between her time working in a lab and her successful cooking show later in life, the series ended up being one of the most beautiful love stories I have ever seen. It is also heartbreaking to watch.

Pullman plays Calvin Evans, an award-winning scientist who is under pressure to live up to his reputation. He starts to work with Elizabeth so that they can try to win a grant and fall in love. What’s better than that?

The show itself is sad (I’ll get into spoilers in a minute), but it also lets Elizabeth grow as a character and realize that her ideas on what being a woman means can change and adapt as she gets older. I love how the show lets her grow and who she becomes by the end of the series, but what I love the most is that it uses one of my favorite tropes (spoilers head!).

It has one of my favorite tropes!

I watched the show originally because I love Larson and Pullman as performers but the show ended up giving me one of my favorite weird tropes: A grieving woman and a baby. Hear me out! I love when something kills off the man in a woman’s life and she is left with a child to remember him by. I don’t know why and I refuse to unpack it but I think it is just such an interesting way to explore grief and what that character meant to them.

I also think the reverse works. Single dads for the win, but that’s not as solitary as going through a pregnancy on your own. What I loved about Lessons in Chemistry is that Elizabeth never wanted this life and actively pushed against the mothering stereotypes people tried to throw on her, but when confronted with losing Calvin and still needing to find her own path forward, she did what was best for her and her daughter.

I love this show a lot, and knowing that it is getting recognized for its brilliance by the Emmys gives me hope that more people will give it a chance. Do it for Brie Larson and Lewis Pullman; they deserve all the praise they are getting and more!