Faith Keeps Each Person Going in SWEET MAGNOLIAS Season 2
By Movieguide® Contributor
The Netflix romance SWEET MAGNOLIAS dropped Season 2 in February. The drama series continues to follow the chaos-filled lives of the three lifelong friends, the sweet magnolias, and their families as they balance drama, tragedy, love and more in the everyday life of small town Serenity, South Carolina.
The television series was developed by Sheryl J. Anderson and additionally was based on the book series of Sweet Magnolias written by Sheryl Woods. The series first premiered on Netflix in May 2020, starring JoAnna Garcia Swisher, Brooke Elliott, Heather Headley, and Jamie Lynn Spears.
Season 2 picks right back up with small town drama, career and finance obstacles, accidents and deep pain, heartbreak and new found love.
Each one of the sweet magnolias–Maddie, Helen and Dana Sue–have their own major love life decisions to make. It seems may be the whole town is dealing with love relationships as ex-husbands, new loves and even some of the children have a lot to question.
At the same time, the members of Serenity have countless other major decisions to make regarding school and careers, psychical and mental health, and much more.
The people of Serenity must lean on God to get through all their trials. Faith is what keeps each person going. Can they trust God’s plan and God’s timing enough to get through all that life continues to throw at them? Will they make the right decisions even when hurting and under pressure?
The series contains a predominant Christian worldview where characters are constantly turning to God for help and strength, as well as holding biblical principles such as love, forgiveness, repentance, sacrifice, compassion and numerous others. The show depicts the importance of Sabbath/ church on Sunday, praying constantly, and holding a strong faith.
SWEET MAGNOLIAS contains barely any language with only a few obscenities throughout the season, as well as a few mild profanities. The slight violence depicted is mostly fist fists or shoving one another. A car accident is seen where a car is upside down, and characters with some injuries are seen with scrapes and some blood.
A couple is seen walking out of the bathroom in towels, as well as a man seen with his shirt being taken off. Sex is implied a few times, as well, and characters seen on top of each other being walked in on by daughter one time.
There is underage drinking that is not depicted in a positive light. This drinking turns to drunkenness one time. At the same time, the sweet magnolias have a pure tradition for their deep, heartfelt get-togethers where they “pour it out” and sip margaritas together while updating each other on life.
There is a great deal of miscellaneous immorality through the season including lying, cheating, sneaking around, disrespecting parents, and other common worldly faults. Fortunately, for just about every immorality there is repentance, forgiveness, and change.
The production value of this series was outstanding. The setting and scenery for each shot is absolutely beautiful, full of great landscapes and vibrant colors. The writing also happens to be beautiful, reminding viewers of some of the most simple and pure things in life. No matter how cheesy or predictable it gets at times, the genuine characters and their authentic story is one that easily pulls on the heart strings.
Ultimately, SWEET MAGNOLIAS has a strong Christian worldview with only minor questionable elements. God and faith are major themes tying everything together throughout the series. Church is regularly depicted, as well as praying and talking to God, reciting Bible verses, and characters portraying Christ-like qualities such as love, acceptance, forgiveness, and more. Of course just like all humans, these characters fail sometimes and end up sinning which may include fighting, talking badly to one another, lying, cheating, etc. Although most is redeemed, due to these reasons discernment is required for older children.
