EPISODE

1. Pharmacy

In the first of this four-part adaptation of Elizabeth Strout's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel spanning 25 years in a small Maine town, math teacher Olive Kitteridge helps Kevin, a smart but timid student whose mom is suffering from depression, a gesture that annoys her son, Christopher. Meanwhile, Henry goes on a hunting trip that ends in tragedy.

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The story

Spoilers ahead. Coverage follows the scope labeled below.

Plot summary

Maine, 1980. Olive Kitteridge is a no-nonsense high school math teacher who doesn't suffer fools and never hesitates to express an opinion, no matter how much hurt she might cause. She treats her husband Henry with indifference and is strict with her son Christopher, who struggles to please her. Henry is the local pharmacist and after his long-time assistant dies from a stroke, he hires a young woman, Denise Thibodeau, whose husband is also named Henry. The two Henrys go hunting with a third man, and the younger Henry is killed in a freak accident. The older Henry grows close to Denise after her husband's death, teaching her how to drive and gifting her an adopted kitten. Olive harbors an attraction to an English teacher at her school and takes an interest in Kevin Coulson, one of her students. Kevin's mother Rachel suffers from bipolar disorder.

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Adapted from Wikipedia contributors, Olive Kitteridge (miniseries). Series, exact episode number and English title matched. Paragraphs formatted; references and illustrations omitted.

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