Featured photo credit: Raven Motion Pictures
There’s a recently released Netflix series that I’m loving. It’s a feel good show so and I’d like to give you reasons to love watching Netflix’s Sweet Magnolias. First and foremost, this series is for anyone who wishes to watch a feel-good show.
What is Netflix’s Sweet Magnolias?
Sweet Magnolias is about three women who are also best friends. The series follows them as they navigate their careers, family, and love in the small town of Serenity. It stars Brooke Elliot as Dana Sue Sullivan (love her from Drop Dead Diva), Heather Headley as Helen Decatur, and as JoAnna Garcia Swisher as Maddie Townsend. Dana Sue’s a chef and restaurant owner. Helen is a lawyer and seems to be a damn good one. Maddie was in marketing before she settled on becoming a full-time housewife and mom.
There are a couple more familiar faces for me in this series aside from Brooke. Chris Klein who plays Bill, a pediatrician/cheating, ex-husband of Maddie and Jamie Lynn Spears, who plays Noreen, the nurse Bill cheats with who also becomes fiancee and soon-to-be-mother of his youngest child.
This is actually adapted from a book series of the same title, authored by Sherryl Woods.
Why Sweet Magnolias is a Netflix Must Watch
There are only 10 episodes for Season 1 and I enjoyed it so much that I finished watching it in just two days! What did I love about Sweet Magnolias? Plenty!
More than anything it’s a story of friendship.
They grew up together in Serenity and have remained friends up until adulthood.
I can relate to that because my best friends are also people I grew up with. I think it’s really nice when the people you call your best friends are those whom you’ve known almost your whole life. Since you’ve grown up together, you have those stories to tell about each other. The bad haircuts; the what-were-you-thinking-wearing-that fashion phase; the wow-you-were-skinny/fat way back then; those butterfly in your stomach kind of romances and the heartbreaks; death of family members, etc. I sometimes look back at those days and then this present time where we’re very much still in each other’s lives and I always think how lucky I am to have them.
The different fashion sense of the Sweet Magnolias
For the fashionistas out there, here’s one of the major reasons reasons to love watching Netflix’s Sweet Magnolias – the women of Serenity are all so stylish! I think I’m drawn to Helen and Maddie’s styles the most.
The soundtrack is really nice
Listen to it.
Margarita nights
Bonding over cocktail drinks, what’s not to love? I wish my friends and I could have that too. We used to have summer travels, my closest friends and I, but we haven’t done that for a couple of years now. Maybe a margarita night or wine night can be our new thing as we catch up on each other’s lives.
I love the small-town vibe of Serenity.
Were you a fan of Gilmore Girls series? Just like Gilmore Girls, this Netflix series is set in a small town. Gilmore Girls small town is set in Connecticut while the fictional Serenity town is in South Carolina. Also like the small town of Stars Hollow, everybody knows everybody in Serenity. They also have their own go-to restaurant, Sullivan’s.
Though I have always considered myself to be a city girl, I could picture myself living in a small town like Serenity living in a nice house with a front porch and a small front garden, and white fences. I think that would be charming.
The men of Serenity are good-looking and hot
Ladies, who doesn’t love eye candy actors? Sweet Magnolias has its slew of good-looking and hot men. That should be enough to love watching Sweet Magnolias.
He’s the hottest of all the men in the series, at least for me. He only appears in the last episode of Sweet Magnolias but I hope he gets more screen time in Season 2. I am intrigued to find out how his and Dana Sue’s love story would unfold. While it wasn’t outright said in the series, I think Ronnie not being in the picture was because he cheated on Dana Sue. So I guess cheating men in Serenity is a thing?
Carson Rowland, the guy who plays Maddie’s oldest son, Ty Townsend deserves a shoutout too for being cute.
Life Lessons from Sweet Magnolias
“Sometimes it takes lying on the floor, not going left, not going right, to get over someone.”“Do the storms ever stop? No. But neither do the rainbows.”“If you feel like sitting by yourself crying, this’ll work too. And there’s nothing wrong with that. The end of a marriage is something to mourn.”
The whole story itself is something to watch
The stories of the Sweet Magnolias characters are all interesting and I would love to know how they all unfold.
There’s Maddie and Bill who went through a divorce and tries to co-parent their three kids. Then there’s Carl, the baseball coach who’s also Maddie’s new love interest. At the end of the series, Bill wants to get back together with Maddie. How will she navigate things from here?
Dana Sue says she’s not looking for a relationship and only wants to date and flirt. No commitment. Enter Jeremy, a good-looking farmer she meets through work. But then her ex-husband/husband, Ronnie, comes back to town! Still wants to work things out with her.
As for Helen, well she did rekindle her romance with Ryan, someone from her past. But Ryan still doesn’t want kids while she does. How can they make it work? Erik, the sous chef from Dana Sue’s restaurant though, seems to have a thing for her. He’s not bad to look at either! But she doesn’t see him that way.
Equally interesting to follow would be the lives of the Serenity teens – Ty and Kyle, Maddie’s kids. Ty is a jock and one of the cool kids. But he’s got issues with his Dad for leaving them.
Annie, Dana Sue’s daughter, secretly harbors feelings for Ty who doesn’t seem to notice her that way. She’s got her own family issues as well.
And Kyle, well he’s the one who has feelings for Annie. But like Annie’s, his is an unrequited love. He’s also got Daddy issues. He wishes his Dad showed him as much care and attention as he does Ty even though his interest is theater not sports.
These are just really some of those stories worth following in Sweet Magnolias. There’s a lot happening in just one episode that you would want to keep hitting next.
Final Words
Overall, Netflix’s Sweet Magnolias is an enjoyable drama series. I found in it the same charm as Gilmore Girls.! Hoping Netflix renews this series! I really want to know what happens next especially because this show ended on a cliffhanger!
Given that we’re in a pandemic right now, I, not only have to wait for Netflix to announce whether the show will be renewed or not, I’ll also have to wait longer for this to start shooting again.
I’ve definitely identified more than a few reasons to love watching Sweet Magnolias. To wrap it up, I just want to say Sweet Magnolias will definitely warm your heart. It’s like cozying up to your favorite pillow, under a blanket on your bed, on a cold day or like drinking delicious hot chocolate.