Big congratulations to Toni Collette for receiving a 2019 Film Independent Spirit Award nomination as Best Actress for “Hereditary”. She shares the category with Glenn Close (The Wife), Elsie Fisher (Eighth Grade), Regina Hall (Support the Girls), Helena Howard (Madeline’s Madeline) and Carey Mulligan (Wildfire). “Hereditary” has received a second nomination for Best First Feature, alongside “Sorry to Bother You”, “The Tale”, “We the Animals” and “Wildfire”. The 2019 Spirit Awards will be held February 23, 2019 at its usual spot on the beach in Santa Monica and broadcast live on IFC. The full list of nominees can be found here.

I won’t reveal too much about episode 6 so you can see for yourself who’s getting lucky and who’s getting heartbroken – for some it’s both in the same episode. This being said, it brings a satisfying closure to the stories that were running throughout the previous episodes, such as Joy’s accident and the married couple at her session. To sum up, “Wanderlust” has been an intelligent drama for grown ups, with just enough turns and humor to keep you entertained while keeping the story development realistic. So, should there be a second series? Absolutely! Nick Payne has created a cast of characters whose stories can easily go on. But given the lack of promotion that Netflix has given to the show, I’m not so certain. Maybe the BBC will carry on. Screencaptures from the final episode have been added to the photo gallery.

The fifth episode is probably the most special of the series. By now you might have realised that this is not an action show. Also, since episode 4 the show loses a bit of its pace, maybe intentionally because the fun and the excitement of the first 3 episodes comes to a halt and Joy has to witness the effects of her actions to her environment. But most certainly this is a special episode because it consists solely of a therapy session between her and Angela, her therapist. This might be dragging for some viewers, for the rest it’s a masterclass of acting by Toni Collette and Sophie Okonedo. These two really shine and deliver their brilliant dialogue subtly and powerful. Toni wrote about the episode on her Instagram: “This episode was one of the most incredibly intimidating, thrilling and satisfying work experiences of my life. Sparring with my good friend and one of my favourite actors of all time #sophieokonedo Love you Soph”.

Episode 4 of “Wanderlust” brings our 4 key players together – Joy, Alan, Clare and Marc – only to start crashing it all down. We not only learn about Joy’s former patient, who has commited suicide – the school also learns about Alan’s and Clare’s affair, and Joy’s gut feeling to speak out makes matters only worse. There’s a lot packed into this episode, with not only the aforementioned relationships, but also with Joy’s and Alan’s three kids and their very different paths to love and/or affection. The episode closes with a real bummer for Joy, after she and Alan get a step closer towards realising the core of their marital problems. But on the bright side, we get a very nice rendition of Eurythmics’ “Here Comes The Rain Again” by Toni during the four’s visit to a karaoke bar. Karaoke seems to become a common ground for her recent projects after “Fun Mom Dinner” and “Hearts Beat Loud”.

In episode 3, Joy’s and Alan’s plan collides not only with their children’s shock of their parents seeing other people, but also with a patient of Joy’s who’s seeing her daughter. While things get complicated between Alan and Clare, Joy continues to see the younger man she’s met a bar, while also meeting her “first time” out of the blue in a pharamcy. The previous episode has introduced us to Sophie Okonedo, who plays Joy’s therapist – a smart move to give the series some space to explain certain characters in retrospect, like Joy’s first boyfriend or the background of her patient Jason.

While episode 1 has introduced us to a dozen characters, “Wanderlust” lets loose a bit in its second hour. Alan, who has been reluctant first, finds a companion in his colleague from school (a wonderful performance by Zawe Ashton), while Joy’s fling with a policeman ends faster than it has started. We learn more about their children’s lives – and they ultimately find out more about their parent’s lives, although not in the matter they have planned to let them know. It was refreshing that the series took turns faster than expected. It also keeps a nice balance of light jokes and serious conversations, thanks to the great writing by Nick Payne.