Diksha Sundriyal
In Netflix’s ‘A Family Affair,’ the romance between a woman and a movie star leads to complications when the woman’s daughter discovers the truth about their relationship. The story begins with Zara, a young woman trying to make her way into the film industry. She works as the assistant of a movie star, Chris Cole, whom she finds insufferable. Chris makes every day thoroughly exhausting for her, which is why when Zara discovers that he has started dating her mother, Brooke, she cannot digest the fact. A slew of complications arises as Brooke, Chris, and Zara discover things about each other they’d never revealed to anyone else. In the end, a decision has to be made. Is the relationship worth all the trouble? SPOILERS AHEAD
Zara’s Refusal to Accept the Relationship is to Protect Her Mother
Being Chris’ assistant, Zara knows almost everything about him. It isn’t just his professional life that she has to take care of, she is also involuntarily finds herself heavily involved in his personal life, especially when it comes to his romantic relationships. Zara is aware of Chris’s streak of wooing beautiful women, showing them a good time, and then walking away from them. He refuses to see the pattern he has fallen into. Rather, he thinks he lets down the women easily by gifting them diamond earrings. Zara is well aware of these earrings because she buys them every single time.
Knowing the Casanova that Chris is, Zara refuses to let her mother’s heart be broken the same way. Zara cannot imagine how her smart and beautiful mother has fallen for Chris’ trap, but she knows that eventually, Chris will buy those diamond earrings, leave Brooke in the lurch, and, like every time before, Zara will be left to pick up the pieces. Only this time, it would be much worse because the woman in question is her mother.
Zara’s preconceived notions about Chris prevent her from seeing things from her mother’s perspective, but a conversation with her grandmother leads her to reconsider her opinion. Over Christmas, she gives Chris the benefit of the doubt and starts to understand why Brooke likes him. Just when it looks like Zara has accepted the relationship, she finds the earrings in Chris’ bag and realizes that he has already planned to break up with Brooke. When she confronts him about it, he tries to convince her otherwise, but the evidence is heavily against him, and this leads to a crack in his and Brooke’s relationship.
Zara Helps Bring Chris and Brooke Back Together
When asked why he had bought the break-up diamond earrings for Brooke, Chris reveals that he had panicked. He was so used to being alone, of pushing people away when they got too close, that the thought of his relationship getting serious with Brooke scared him a little bit. He panicked When he was invited to Christmas with Brooke’s family. He had to come up with a gift idea at the last minute, and all he could think of gifting her were the earrings. So he bought them. But then, he thought about another, much better gift and decided not to give Brooke the earrings.
He tries to tell Zara and Brooke this, but the timing is not in his favor, and Brooke tells him to leave. She stops all communication with him, and this makes Chris reconsider his actions. He starts to break down, and this surprises Zara. This is the first time she sees him really thinking about the consequences of his actions; this is the first time she finds him reflecting on his own character. Seeing Chris like this makes Zara wonder if she judged him too quickly and harshly. Perhaps she should have given him the chance to explain himself in private. By revealing the earrings to Brooke, she had robbed him of the opportunity to make things right.
Another thing that makes Zara realize that she has misread the true measure of feelings in Brooke and Chris’ relationship is when she sees Brooke packing things up and moving to Princeton for the spring lectures. The break-up with Chris must have hit her hard because this is the first time that Zara has seen her trying to remove herself from LA and go far away so she doesn’t have to think about the man who broke her heart.
In the end, seeing how tormented both sides are on being separated, Zara decides that she should remove herself from the equation and let Brooke and Chris’ relationship take its course. It’s not on her to decide how long things last, if at all, and it’s not on her to assume what Brooke and Chris really feel. So, to rectify her mistake, she comes up with a plan with her grandma. They bring Brooke and Chris to the same place (a grocery store, for that matter, because Chris never gets the chance to go to one), where they can hash out their feelings and decide for themselves what they really want. It’s clear that they’re both interested in seeing where things go from here and decide to give their relationship a chance. They kiss, confirming that they are back together.
Read More: A Family Affair: Is Chris Cole Based on a Real Actor?
