Like a shotgun wedding in Vegas, Wedding Season is a thrilling caper while it lasts – but it’s hard to shake the feeling that maybe you could’ve made better choices.
It’s got a killer hook.
The show kicks off with newlywed Katie (Rosa Salazar) sitting amidst a pile of dead bodies, including her new husband and his family, before she flees the scene and goes on the lam.
She drags along the lovelorn Stefan (Gavin Drea), with whom she started an affair mere months before getting married, and the two traipse across the country trying to clear her name. Or did she actually do it and poor Stefan has got himself in way too deep? The intrigue!
Wedding Season dubs itself a ‘genre-busting’ TV show, which is a fancy way of saying it’s a rom-com with some action scenes – and one of those parts works better than the other.
It’s a genuinely fun romance with both Salazar (who was so brilliant in the criminally underseen Alita: Battle Angel) and Drea, who feels destined to earn the types of roles that Martin Freeman is now too old for, sharing a natural chemistry.
He’s uptight and too eager to settle down. She’s a freewheeling spirit who needs a steady influence. They’re perfect for each other! And over the course of their high-stakes road trip you can’t help but root for them to find a way to be together.
That road trip, however, isn’t as exciting as it could be.
It’s packed full of death-defying jumps, plenty of fists start flying and there’s a speedboat scene on a Scottish loch that borders on a parody.
It’s all good fun, sure, but it feels like it’s here instead of actual character development. Stefan, although loveable, never really develops his motivations beyond ‘wants to be married’.
The central mystery surrounding Katie isn’t quite as interesting as it should be. There’s a police subplot that borders on interminable. And Stefan’s ragtag group of friends feel like they would be the worst characters in a scrapped sitcom.
The central conceit of Katie and Stefan’s relationship being shown by flashbacks to the different they kept bumping into each over at – although massively contrived – is a high point.
Each of the weddings has a unique hook, they all look brilliant, and they give the show a unique identity that helps it overcome some of its more predictable moments.
Wedding Season, ultimately, is a bit like settling down in your thirties. Lower your expectations and you could do worse.
Streaming on Disney+ on 8 September.
