The tragic ending to Ryan Murphy’s new hit anthology series, Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette, depicting New York’s famous modern romance, will take over our television screens on Thursday, March 26.
The nine-episode limited series, which is airing on FX and streaming on Hulu, is inspired by Elizabeth Beller’s book “Once Upon a Time: The Captivating Life of Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy.” It stars Paul Anthony Kelly as Kennedy Jr., son of President John F. Kennedy and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, and Sarah Pidgeon as Bessette.
Episode 8, titled “Exit Strategy,” looked into the marriage struggles between Kennedy Jr. and Bessette-Kennedy before the untimely deaths. The episode ended with Kennedy Jr. leaving the Tribeca apartment he shared with Bessette-Kennedy to go to a hotel after a fight, days before their fatal flight, which will be the subject of the show’s finale episode.
Hulu’s synopsis for the finale episode, titled “Search and Recovery,” reads, “John and Carolyn fight to keep their relationship intact. The world watches as tragedy strikes.”
Here’s what to know about the final episode of the New York-based show and how to watch.
What is episode nine about?
The final episode of the ‘Love Story’ anthology will bring viewers back to the show’s first episode, when we saw Kennedy Jr., Bessette-Kennedy and her sister, Lauren Bessette, board the plane that would ultimately lead to their death.
This flight was piloted by Kennedy Jr., when it crashed on July 16, 1999, as the couple headed for Hyannis Port for his cousin Rory Kennedy’s wedding.
FX’s trailer for episode nine starts with the couple sitting in what appears to be a therapist’s office, who says, “I would advise a separation.” In the following clip, the couple is in an elevator when Kennedy Jr. says, “That’s not what I had in mind,” before kissing his wife.
The trailer goes on to show a montage of the couple at a bar and a clip of Kennedy Jr. leaving their shared apartment holding bags- a different, but similar scene to the one we saw after the tumultuous fight in episode eight.
“How do we know we won’t hurt each other,” Bessette-Kennedy asks in the trailer. “We don’t,” Kennedy Jr. responds, a haunting foreshadowing to the couple’s tragic deaths.
The trailer ends with the couple professing their love to each other as they sit at the East Village restaurant where the show filmed their first date scene, known as Panna II Garden Indian Restaurant. The couple reportedly dined at this restaurant privately during off-hours.
What happened on July 16, 1999?
On July 16, 1999, Kennedy Jr. piloted his single-engine plane, intending to drop off his sister-in-law, Lauren in Martha’s Vineyard before continuing to Hyannis Port for the wedding.
The night before, Kennedy Jr. stayed at The Stanhope Hotel on the Upper East Side following a fight with Bessette-Kennedy, Elizabeth Beller writes in “Once Upon a Time: The Captivating Life of Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy,” on which the FX series is based.
Kennedy wanted his wife to accompany him to the wedding, but Bessette “needed a break; she felt she’d done her share of Kennedy events for the time being,” Beller writes. “Carolyn and John’s fight turned into an enormous blowup, with John losing ever more patience, and Carolyn feeling ever more like an afterthought.”
Bessette-Kennedy ultimately agrees to go, but she and Kennedy Jr. would never make it to the nuptials, which would be rescheduled for Aug. 2, 1999, in Greece in the aftermath of the tragedy.
In “Once Upon a Time,” Beller writes that the plan was to take off from the Essex County Airport in Fairfield, New Jersey, by 7:30 p.m., which would give them plenty of time to land before darkness would fall at 8:40 p.m. However, traffic delays caused them to not get to the airport until 8 p.m., Beller wrote.
According to Beller’s book, Kyle Bailey, a fellow pilot at the airport, “said that John then called a pilot information number for a weather briefing, which at 7:53 p.m. reported eight miles of visibility and clear skies. John’s license allowed him to fly at night as long as there were at least five miles of visibility.”
At 8:38 p.m., Kennedy’s six-seat Piper Saratoga departed, according to Beller. About one hour later, the plane crashed. The National Transportation Safety Board report states that “about 2141” the aircraft “was destroyed when it crashed into the Atlantic Ocean approximately 7½ miles southwest of Gay Head, Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts.”
John, 38, Carolyn, 33, and Lauren, 34, were killed when the plane plunged into the Atlantic Ocean. Lauren was a graduate of Hobart and William Smith College in Geneva.
‘Love Story’ notable NY filming locations
‘Love Story’ episode nine trailer
New York plays a major role both in the real-life romance and in the show’s filming locations. Bessette was born in White Plains in 1966. Kennedy Jr. moved to New York City with his mother and sister after his father’s 1963 assassination and later graduated from NYU School of Law in 1989.
Here are some of the notable NYC filming locations:
When does the final episode come out?
The final episode will air on Thursday, March 26 at 9 p.m. ET/PT on FX and will stream at midnight ET (9 p.m. PT) on Hulu. The series premiered Feb. 12 with three episodes.
‘Love Story’ cast
Contributing: USA Today Network
— Madison Scott is a journalist with the Democrat and Chronicle who covers breaking and trending news for the Finger Lakes Region. She has an interest in how the system helps or doesn’t help families with missing loved ones. She can be reached at MDScott@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: ‘Love Story’ finale depicts the tragic end of JFK Jr. and Carolyn Bessette. Where to watch
Reporting by Madison Scott, New York Connect Team / Rockland/Westchester Journal News
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