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Both Chastain and Shannon are incredibly sensitive on-screen forces, however much they have two very different ways of filling a room. They have deep chemistry throughout, whether it’s the initial courtship in which George presents himself as a sweeter, more loving man than her current husband (Pat Healy’s Don Chapel) or when they’re much older, worn down by their story but still sharing some glint in their eyes. And they establish the infatuation that kept them coming back—she was a huge George Jones fan long before meeting him, and he was quickly captivated by not just her voice. When the two are on the stage together, you get why this all happened this way.
Chastain and Shannon have depicted a relationship before, in Jeff Nichols’ “Take Shelter,” and established themselves with other stories of marriage. But now they have soaring songs to complement their dramatic work, as when we see Chastain belt out the highest notes of Wynette’s hit, “Stand By Your Man,” even though George’s behavior has professionally screwed her over again. And the scene when Shannon’s much older Jones records future mega-hit “He Stopped Loving Her Today,” with a weary Tammy watching him just beyond the glass of the recording booth, is heartbreaking and gorgeous.
Outside of their careers, the series gives a somber light on the forces in their lives that, in one way or another, gave George & Tammy comfort but controlled them. After giving birth to their child Georgette, Tammy suffers complications from a hysterectomy that has her reliant on painkillers and injections later provided by songwriter, manager, and later-husband George Richey (Steve Zahn in a good Nice Guy turn), which soon becomes another toxic relationship. But George Richey is not an anomaly in this world, and “George & Tammy” illustrates the fraught placement of women in this universe that features multiple men who write ballads with Tammy as a way to control her. The people she’s closest to want a piece of her, and her status of being a top-selling singer only puts her more in danger.
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