Emotional bursts, tragic turns, rigid decisions, endless efforts, sharing pain and giggles with margarita cheers, all packaged in a bundle of ten episodes, ‘Sweet Magnolias’ is one of the most popular series on Netflix. Based on the novel, Sweet Magnolias, by Sherryl Woods, the American series was developed by Sheryl J. Anderson.
The story revolves around three South Carolina women, Maddie Townsend (JoAnna Garcia Swisher) who is separated from her husband Bill (Chris Klein) and is trying to get back into the professional field, Dana Sue Sullivan (Brooke Elliott) who is a chef and owner of a restaurant named Sullivan’s and Helen Decatur (Heather Headley) who is an accomplished attorney. They all are juggling with their life hurdles, figuring out the best possible ways to balance romance, career and family. Together they are called Sweet Magnolias.
Maddie ends her marriage as her husband Bill has cheated on her, with Noreen (Jamie Lynn Spears) who was a nurse at his doctor’s. Maddie has three children named Tyler (Carson Rowland), a pitcher on his high school’s baseball team, Kyle (Logan Allen), a shy little theatre boy and sweet little Katie (Bianca Berry Tarantino) who prays every night to hook up her family together. Maddie continues exploring and refining herself as a strong resourceful woman who has a lot of support from her Magnolia friends Helen and Dana.
Dana too faces hard times building a friendly relationship with her daughter Annie (Anneliese Judge) and Annie also fails to understand her mother as she finds her guilty for not forgiving her father, which leads to their separation. Dana tries to maintain a work-life balance without opening up to anyone.
Helen plays the strongest role, holding up the issues of the people of Serenity, the members of Magnolias and her own. Helen juggles between training the students of Coach Cal Maddox (Justin Bruening), reuniting families, dealing with Dana’s husband and running a Spa where women can unwind, relax and escape the dramas of their lives. The Spa was a life-long dream of the Sweet Magnolias of transforming a historic mansion of Frances Wingate into a corner Spa.
The series revolves around Maddie and her children. At one point, she is so concerned for Tyler that it leads to her fight with Cal Maddox as she believes that he is pressuring her son to skip university and join a baseball team. The mystery of Eric remains unrevealed till the end while Tyler’s ignorance towards Kyle leads to the series cliffhanger.
Viewers are waiting for another season which, according to reports, can be expected in 2022. That will answer Netflix fans, critics, and viewers their questions as to who was the partner beside Kyle in the car crash? Could Issac find his real parents? Is there any motherly relationship between Issac and Dana? Will Eric and Helen tie the knot in future? Most importantly, will the car crash bring a new storm in the friendship of Sweet Magnolias? And will Tyler ever join the baseball team? New questions will arise and old ones will be answered.
‘Sweet Magnolias’ brings a nice refreshing glass of sweet tea; ingredients include three strong-willed best friends, plenty of good-looking men, an inviting small town, and a whole lot of Southern charm. The dialogues blows off the motivational levels of the viewers to another level, one of which is by Helen Decatur that summarizes the concept of Sweet Magnolias and people in real. “I truly, truly believe that there is not a problem in this world that cannot be solved by having a drink and a talk with the two of you.”
Sheryl J. Anderson, in the second season, will definitely have to pull up her socks not just to keep the Netflix audience intact but to stream up a new audience for a successful big hit. 
Leave a Reply