Aahana Swrup
‘The Five-Star Weekend’ is a compelling drama revolving around a group of women who each bring their own unique narratives to the table. Hollis Shaw is at the center of the series, a grieving widow who is trying to find her way out of a dark time in her life. As a result, she decides to host a weekend on Nantucket with some of her closest friends. These gal pals, picked from different stages of the chef’s life, have never met each other before. Yet, they’re all determined to show up for their beloved friend and help her in any way possible. However, between clashing personalities and personal complications, unexpected and unwanted antics are inevitably in order. Even so, Hollis could never have imagined the impact of one giant secret that has been brewing throughout the entirety of her connection with one of her closest friends. SPOILERS AHEAD.
The Five-Star Weekend Recap
Hollis Shaw loses her husband, Matthew, to a car accident a few days before Christmas. Six months later, she’s still grieving the tragedy while simultaneously attempting to return to her old life. As a food blogger who has postponed her new cookbook’s rollout as much as possible, she has certain professional responsibilities to get back to. Even so, it becomes evident that she isn’t in a position to stage a comeback when a live television appearance ends in unforeseen tears. As a result, her agent suggests she take a relaxing weekend off and invite some of her friends over for a pick-me-up. She even gives her the idea to assemble a group made up of friends from different stages of her life as a way to reconnect with her past and her present. At first, Hollis tries to plan a weekend with only her daughter, Carolina. However, when she declines the invite, the chef resorts to the alternative option.
Thus, four of her friends received an invitation for the weekend at Nantucket. Tatum, her childhood best friend, is looking forward to her biopsy results to confirm the possibility of a breast cancer diagnosis. Dru-Ann, her college best friend, is in the middle of a PR crisis after her tough love as a sports agent gets her canceled on the internet. Brooke, who became a friend after running in the same circles as a mother, has a deposition coming up in the wake of her husband being accused of sexual harassment in the workplace. Despite having to deal with their respective monumental crises, these women accept the invitation, happy that their friend is finally reaching out for love and support. The last invite goes out to Gigi, a new friend Hollis made over the internet after Matthew’s death. In true control freak fashion, the chef has made itineraries, planning out the entirety of the weekend in detail with dress codes.
However, her friends, especially Tatum, aren’t certain that this is the best route to take for catharsis and coming to terms with Matthew’s death. Consequently, their first night together gets off to somewhat of a rocky start. Still, the night ends with Hollis and her childhood best friend bonding, and the latter confides in the former about her cancer scare. The next day, shopping and a spa day are in order. Initially, Hollis hangs out with Dru-Ann, which results in a few reality checks about the chef’s tendency to avoid difficult conversations and glazing over them with a go-lucky attitude. On the other hand, Brooke makes a discovery of a different kind after coming across a photo of Gigi and Matthew on the pilot’s phone. Thus, a confrontation at the sauna is inevitable, wherein Brooke learns that Gigi was actually having an affair with Matthew in the months leading up to his death. In the aftermath, guilt and morbid curiosity compelled her to reach out to Hollis as a fan, which eventually led to her current predicament.
Nonetheless, a newfound tension between Hollis and Brooke prevents the latter from revealing this secret to the host. However, things eventually smooth over between the couple when the group of women helps Brooke stand up to her controlling and generally unpleasant husband, Charlie. In the aftermath, she grows conflicted about Gigi’s secret and ends up spilling it to Dru-Ann and Tatum. Once the duo learns about the massive betrayal, they orchestrate a secret confrontation where Gigi tearfully confirms the story. Soon after, she takes her leave from the beach house, which sets off Hollis’ suspicions. As a result, when things escalate, her remaining trio of friends tells her the truth about Matthew’s affair. The news arrives like a gut-punch to the chef, who feels betrayed by her late husband as well as the woman who forced herself into her life as a friend.
The Five-Star Weekend Ending: Why Did Gigi Befriend Hollis? Does Hollis Forgive Her?
The reveal that Gigi was having an affair with Matthew before his death arrives early on. However, it’s only after the car accident that she reaches out to Hollis and befriends her. This raises the question of why exactly the pilot decided to reach out to the wife of the man with whom she was entangled in an extramarital affair for ten months. While there’s little justification for her actions, there is indeed an explanation. Gigi has always felt a deep sense of isolation as she struggled to form significant connections in her life. For the same reason, the chance meeting with Matthew at an airport bar arrived as an unexpected storm in her life. The husband was already facing issues in his marriage as he and Hollis continued to grow distant without any prominent fallout. Therefore, when he and Gigi instantly clicked, it proved to be a novelty for him as well.
Even though their affair was wrong and a betrayal toward Hollis, Gigi and Matthew continued to go down this road for months. In that time, the pilot began to well and truly fall for the man despite knowing that their relationship was built on an immoral foundation. Eventually, this guilt became too much for Matthew as well. A few days before Christmas, he was set to fly out to Paris for a rendezvous with his mistress. At home, he had explained away the travel to his wife as a work obligation. On the morning of his departure, he and Hollis had an inadvertently honest conversation about how they’ve been drifting apart for some time. While he thought that the fact that they had to try to keep the relationship going was a sign of some sort, his wife was willing to put in the work to fix their marriage. Therefore, on the drive over to the airport, Matthew began to see the error of his ways.
Even though he doesn’t love Hollis to the same extent as before and his feelings for Gigi are real, he feels he has an obligation and a responsibility to honor his commitment to his marriage and try. He told the pilot the same in a voicemail before turning back around to ditch his flight and return home to his wife. Unfortunately, this is when his car crashed, resulting in his death. In the aftermath, Gigi was the only one left to deal with the consequences of their affair. She was lonely in her grief over the only man she had ever loved while also reckoning with the fact that he had ultimately chosen his wife over her. This confounding mix of emotions compelled her to reach out to Hollis, perhaps the only one who had an inkling of the kind of pain Gigi was in. Still, she knows that revealing the truth of her affair with Matthew won’t do Hollis any good, at least at first, when the pilot isn’t planning on becoming best friends with the chef.
However, over time, their friendship grows, and the guilt of her secret begins to eat at the other woman from within. She grows to truly love and care for Hollis in their time together, which is why when she’s finally confronted with the consequences of her actions, she faces them head-on. Once the cat is out of the bag, the chef, understandably, wants nothing to do with Gigi. Still, the latter realizes that Hollis deserves to know the truth about Matthew’s final choice. Thus, on the morning of the last day of the weekend, the two have a conversation about the same. Although it doesn’t change much, it offers Hollis a certain clarity about her husband. Even so, she can’t possibly make space in her life for her husband’s mistress, who roped her into a manipulative and misguided friendship. In the end, although the food blogger forgives Gigi for peace of her own mind, he also lets her know that she wants her out of her life permanently.
Do Hollis and Jack End Up Together? Does She Stay in Nantucket?
Jack enters the story early on when he arrives at Hollis’ house to drop off Tatum. The latter knows all about the drama-filled past between the two and likely accepts the ride as a way to stir the pot and encourage her best friend to get back in the dating game. Jack was Hollis’ first boyfriend. However, the duo broke up after the future-chef decided to leave Nantucket in search of something bigger. Over the years, the end of their relationship has continued to nag at the back of Hollis’ head, compelling her to wonder if she had made a mistake. Upon their reunion, it starts to become obvious that she isn’t alone in her speculation of a what-if between the two of them. Still, the situation is as complex as it could be.
Hollis doesn’t live in Nantucket, and she is still working through the grief of losing her husband. While there’s no denying that the love between her and Matthew had fizzled out in the past few years, it doesn’t untangle the web of convoluted feelings the widow has to deal with in the aftermath of his death. Therefore, while the sparks continue to fly between Hollis and Jack, resulting in near-kisses and even one actual kiss, the food blogger is inclined to continue running away from it. Even so, none of this does anything to deter Jack or turn his feelings for his ex-girlfriend into something else. Eventually, the final push arrives when he looks through his old messages and comes across one sent by Hollis a couple of months before Matthew’s death.
As it turns out, Jack had been on Hollis’ mind for a long time now. Even when Matthew was still alive, she couldn’t help but wonder about her ex-boyfriend and even attempted to reconnect with him, albeit for presumably innocent reasons. Once Jack realizes the same, he concludes that the growing reborn tension between them isn’t a fluke or a fling. Instead, it holds the potential to turn into something real. For the same reason, he shows up at Hollis’ door on the last night of the weekend under the guise of cleaning her roof gutters. When a confrontation and a conversation follow, the two inevitably end up falling into bed together. Initially, they’re both eager to play it safe, given the complicated context of their reunion. However, Hollis soon decides to stay behind in Nantucket, a decision that has many outcomes, one of which includes the benefit of giving her relationship with Jack a real chance.
Does Tatum Have Cancer? Is it Terminal?
Tatum’s cancer diagnosis looms over her head for the entirety of the series. The narrative introduces the character while she is at the hospital, getting her biopsy done to check for breast cancer. The fact that she lost her mother to the same disease years ago further heightens the stakes, making the entire thing feel more real. Still, Tatum tries to acquire an almost nonchalant perspective on the whole thing. She makes jokes with her husband, Kyle, refuses to give up on smoking, and keeps her condition a secret from Hollis. At that point, the friendship between the two is already strained, given years of estrangement and distance.
Nonetheless, the strength of their connection allows them to come together in the aftermath of such a tragedy. Therefore, Tatum eventually reveals her cancer scare to her best friend. Nonetheless, she isn’t yet prepared to share the same with the rest of the group. By the end of the season, it’s time for her biopsy results to come through. Unfortunately for her, the results aren’t what she was hoping for. The lump in her breast is indeed cancer, which means she has a tough fight ahead of her. Even in the face of this sobering news, Tatum can rely on her partner and her best friend to be there for her in her time of need. The cancer itself is benign, which increases the chances of Tatum emerging victorious on the other side.
Does Caroline Find Out About Her Father’s Affair?
In some way or another, Hollis believes she has always known of her husband’s infidelity, even before his death. There were signs, such as his evasiveness, weird messages on his phone, and inconsistent flight plans. Nevertheless, she chose to overlook these clues because she was unwilling to even entertain the possibility of Matthew having an affair. However, more than dreading a broken heart, Hollis was scared about how this would affect Caroline. The chef has a tendency toward glazing over the sad parts of life in favor of the good parts. This is what causes the majority of friction in her friendships, as well as the taut relationship between her and her daughter. Where Hollis’ grief compels her to shut down or seek escapism, Caroline drowns in her sadness.
For the same reason, the daughter feels like she can’t share the breadth of her feelings with her mother, who would prefer to shove things under the rug. Unsurprisingly, this is exactly what Hollis tries to do with Matthew’s affair, at least in the beginning. Yet, this isn’t exactly in her control. On the last night of the weekend, Caroline finds herself in the same bar as Gigi, and the two end up drinking together. During this time, the younger woman finds out that the pilot knew her father somehow. On the spot, Gigi makes up a lie about how Matthew was her mother’s doctor to shield Caroline from the truth. Nonetheless, the latter is old enough and has enough worldly experience to piece together the truth. The morning after, Hollis surprises her by showcasing a willingness to tell her the truth about her father despite the hurt it may cause. This is what ultimately helps the mother-daughter duo find their way back to each other.
Does Dru-Anne Drop Posey? Does She Return to Work For JB?
Throughout the season, Dru-Ann’s biggest conflict emerges from her professional career. As a sports agent, she has a tendency to show tough love to her clients, who are more often than not, teenage or young adult athletes. Days before the weekend at Nantucket, she finds herself inadvertently stepping into some hot waters. During a post-game interview, one of her athletes, Posey, blindsides her with the news that she will be skipping an upcoming game. When asked to expand, the teen insists it’s a mental health break.
However, Dru-Ann responds that Posey will honor her commitments and get back on the field as needed. Her response makes people believe she is downplaying the impact of mental health. As a result, an online witch hunt is instigated, as people dig up old clips of Dru-Ann’s non-sanitized speech regarding how athletes must tough it out. Unsurprisingly, all the nuances of the agent’s opinions are robbed online, leading to her cancellation. That is, until the internet finds a different victim. As it turns out, Posey was indeed only lying about her mental health, as insinuated by the agent. In reality, she is spending her time at a Knicks game to support her boyfriend.
Thus, overnight, the soccer player falls from grace, and people begin supporting Dru-Anna again. Nonetheless, the agent doesn’t wish to continue the cycle and turn her back on Posey for one simple mistake. Dru-Ann used to be an athlete herself, until an injury pulled her out of the game. This is, in part, why she prioritizes work ethic and “pushing through” in her athlete’s career so much. Nonetheless, over the weekend, she realized the importance of taking a breather and, more importantly, allowing second chances. Therefore, in the end, instead of overlooking JB’s willingness to toss her away at the drop of a hat, Dru-Ann decides to strike out on her own and start her own agency. Furthermore, she refuses to condemn Posey and takes her on as her first client.
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