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Spoilers ahead for the 'Jolene' episode of Dolly Parton's Heartstrings.As a whole, leans into the melodrama of Parton's iconic work. The country legend has never been one to mince words, and in the new anthology series, every episode feels like a song turned full-length Hallmark movie, complete with lurid affairs, period costumes, screaming matches, dramatic court cases, and, in the case of 'Jolene,' a few impromptu musical numbers.This particular song, released in 1973, is especially rife for soapy storytelling, following a housewife as she confronts a woman who, with one flick of her auburn hair, could take her greatest love away. 'I'm begging of you, please don't take my man,' she pleads. 'Please don't take him just because you can.' These lyrics serve as a musical map for the episode, and the drama transfers quite effortlessly to screen.
Dolly Parton's Heartstrings will premiere on Netflix on Friday.; The series is an eight-episode anthology based on some of Dolly Parton's most popular songs, including 'Jolene' and 'Two Doors Down.'
When we first meet Jolene, she has just been fired from her job as a bank teller. She shows up to her second job at Baby Blues, a honky-tonk known around town for being rowdy, and it is there that she meets Emily (Kimberly Williams-Paisley), who is enraptured by Jolene's confidence.
Within their first few minutes of meeting, Jolene guesses Emily's drink (a skinny margarita), threatens to fight her, goes up on stage to perform a duet with Babe (Dolly Parton), and physically hurls a man into a wall for hitting on Emily. In the vein of Hallmark, Heartstrings operates with a 'more is more' mentality. Tina Rowden / NetflixAll in all, Jolene's level of effortless cool reflects Parton's source text fairly accurately.
In the song, Jolene is described as utter perfection. Her beauty is 'beyond compare,' her smile is like a 'breath of spring,' no man could ever resist her. Rather than berate Jolene or put her down, Parton vulnerably admits that she is threatened by this tornado of a woman who has everything she doesn't.Similarly, we watch Emily spiral with self-doubt and suspicion over her husband's affection for Jolene until eventually, she confronts Jolene at the town festival. 'I can't compete with you Jolene,' she exclaims. 'My marriage, my happiness, depends on you. I am asking you woman to woman, stay away please.' In the end, Emily gives us the one thing the song does not: a confrontation with her husband.
He admits to toying with the idea of having an affair, but ultimately, they both make the decision to work on their marriage. As for Jolene? She moves to Nashville to become a famous country singer.The acting is shaky at times and the scenes have their fair share of cheesy dialogue (at one point, Babe describes Jolene as someone who would 'flirt with a napkin' if she could), but it almost feels right in this context. What would a Parton project be without some melodrama? If you are both a Dolly stan and in the market for a new guilty pleasure that takes her songs to the nth degree, Heartstrings is it.
Tina Rowden/Netflix
Netflix's new anthology series Heartstrings tells the stories behind eight beloved Dolly Parton songs, from 'Jolene' to 'Down From Dover.' However, considering the country singer's career spans more than 50 years and just as many albums, Heartstrings could easily return for Season 2...and well beyond that. Unfortunately, Netflix hasn't yet announced its long-term plans for the show, but there's reason to believe it will be back.
For one thing, it's not the first time Parton has brought her music to the small screen. She previously released two TV movies based on her 1971 single 'Coat of Many Colors': 2015's Dolly Parton's Coat of Many Colors and 2016's Christmas of Many Colors: Circle of Love. Both movies were incredibly successful, with Coat of Many Colors drawing in more than 13 million viewers and the follow-up attracting more than 16 million. If Heartstrings can manage the same, Netflix could have a fruitful hit on its hands.
Secondly, Parton seems quite excited about the project, which bodes well for her future involvement. 'As a songwriter, I have always enjoyed telling stories through my music. I am thrilled to be bringing some of my favorite songs to life with Netflix,' Parton said in a statement when Heartstrings was announced back in June 2018, per Deadline.
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It's possible that Netflix wants to gauge the success of Heartstrings' first season before committing to a second, as they would with any show. However, it's hard to imagine that a series based on songs by one of music's most prolific and iconic songwriters will fall flat, not to mention that it has a lot of star power to back it up. Ginnifer Goodwin, Kathleen Turner, Julianne Hough, Katie Stevens, and Bellamy Young are just some of the actors who appear in the first season.
If Heartstrings is renewed for Season 2, it may be a while before it comes back. Parton told People in May that she planned to begin shooting the 9 to 5 remake with Lily Tomlin and Jane Fonda within the next few months, and even if they've since started, that could be a time-consuming process. Given that Parton is an executive producer on Heartstrings and the series is about her songs, she'll probably want to be very hands-on for Season 2, so her schedule will likely be a large factor in determining production should more episodes be green-lit.
Until then, though, at least viewers can start campaigning for which Parton songs they want to see brought to life next.
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