The Five-Star Weekend: Here’s Which Book Changes Worked (and Which Didn’t)

Elin Hilderbrand’s The Five-Star Weekend was Peacock’s latest book-to-screen adaptation. It premiered on July 9.

Six months after her husband dies, Hollis Shaw (Jennifer Garner) gathers her closest friends from various stages of her life as a way to help her escape her overwhelming grief.

There is her childhood friend Tatum (Chloë Sevigny), her college roommate Dru-Ann (Regina Hall, her mom friend Brooke (D’Arcy Carden), and her new friend Gigi (Gemma Chan).

The Peacock series, created by Bekah Brunstetter (This Is Us), kept the heart of the series, and Hollis has difficulty keeping it together amid scheduled itineraries and while balancing her relationships.

While the Nantucket beaches were still gorgeous, the wine and emotions flowed differently, and one secret changed their lives drastically.

Let’s discuss whether Peacock‘s changes to Elin Hilderbrand’s book improved the series.

Peacock’s Reason for the Five-Star Weekend Changed

Hollis Shaw’s viral blog, “Hungry with Hollis,” was a bigger deal in the Peacock series, so much so that Hollis appeared on The Today Show and broke down under pressure.

In the book, she read an essay about The Five-Star Weekend and thought that getting away would help her.

It was a personal decision, with only a slight professional slant of wanting Caroline to film the event.

She bribed her daughter to attend and film it for her blog and strived not to say or do anything embarrassing.

However, on the series adaptation, her editor, Chelsea, suggests the idea as a way for Hollis to escape her grief and reconnect with her friends.

She also thought it would help her creativity and be a great thing to include with her followers. It was a small change, but the original is preferable since it was for Hollis’s personal healing.

Caroline Was So Different That the Changes Hurt the Story

Almost every book-to-screen adaptation changes one character drastically, and in The Five-Star Weekend, it was Caroline Shaw.

She was likable from the moment she arrived on Nantucket to check on her mother, and not because Hollis offered her $2,500 to photograph and film the event.

While their relationship was strained, there was love beneath the surface. It then reverted to the book with how hurt Caroline seemed that her mom moved because Hollis lived in a perfect world.

Dru-Ann took a more active role in her god-daughter’s life and knew about her struggles at college.

That was another drastic change, leading her to major in pre-med instead of filmmaking. She also had an affair with her boss.

I could deal with most of this, except when the series made Aubrey Tatum and Kyle’s daughter, instead of Dylan’s baby mama.

Most likely, the series wanted the girls to be friends like their mothers were, and there were some cute moments where they talked about their moms. I started to like their friendship.

However, the series left in that Caroline still had a crush on Dylan, who still had a son with Aubrey. While their chemistry was endearing, love triangles with two friends crushing on the same guy are loathsome.

It needed to focus on girl power and Caroline’s grief, or Caroline and Dylan, like in the book.

I also hated how isolated Caroline was from the women, whereas in the book, she followed them around more, which forced her to deal with her mom.

The Series Added More Emotions and Drama

I loved Elin Hilderbrand’s novel, and I’m a sucker for female friendships.

They’re fierce, messy, and complicated. You can see that through their conversations and confrontations in the book, but the series amped up the drama.

In both versions, Hollis coped with her grief by trying to keep to a perfect weekend itinerary, and she even broke down when her blackberry tart burnt and remade it instead of being with her friends.

In the series, her friends call her out on her tendencies out of love. Dru-Ann’s “You make everything sunny and happy, so you don’t have to deal with anything” was accurate.

That much estrogen and emotions grew to be too much, and Hollis reacted, too, erupting that her friends were “impossible to love.”

These moments added to the series because these friends may be impossible to love at times, but they’re the ones who will stick by you when you learn that your husband cheated on you with the fifth guest.

Hollis’s emotional breakdown as she attacked her kitchen with a broom was one of the best scenes because she finally allowed herself to feel, and she let it out in her safe place with the safety of her friends.

The Affair Was Exposed Earlier, but so Was Gigi’s Vulnerability

While neither the book nor the series made Gigi an outright villain, the series exposed her affair with Matthew earlier. In the first episode, she replayed a voicemail from him, dropping hints.

Instead of having Electra reveal the affair at the restaurant, hints were dropped sporadically. I liked that Brooke spotted the photo of Matthew and Gigi because it put Brooke in a tight spot.

She’d just started to like Gigi, but felt a loyalty to Hollis. Brooke was the oddball, but longed to do the right thing and fit in. It also hurt since her husband slept with a co-worker.

But it was hard not to feel for Gigi, too, and that was because of Gemma Chan.

She also never felt seen, and she seemed happy with Matthew. She never wanted to hurt anyone, and she genuinely started to care for Hollis as she reached out afterward.

In the book, Gigi attended the weekend more out of curiosity, whereas in the series, she genuinely craved female connection.

She wanted friends, and she wanted to help Hollis. Hollis’s other friends confronted Gigi and then exposed her to Hollis, whereas in the book, everything was a private conversation.

While Hollis forgives Gigi in both versions, she kicks her out and forbids her from ever contacting her again in the series. This showed Hollis’s strength.

The Weekend Taught The Ladies Self-Confidence

Most of the women learned more about themselves and became stronger.

Tatum learned she needed to open up and let people support her as she spent the weekend worrying about a breast cancer diagnosis.

She seemed so hard at times, but the series highlighted why she and Hollis were like sisters, and how the ice thawed between her and Dru-Ann. 

In both the book and the adaptation, the lump was benign, but in the series, the doctor found other cancerous cells.

Dru-Ann ended up in trouble for the same reason, and I loved how she stood her ground about hard work versus needing time off.

She was raised in a different time, but for her to survive, she needed to play the game.

When Dru-Ann re-injured her knee on Nantucket, she realized she had projected her sports dreams onto her client, Posey, and that was unfair.

The series included a much more satisfying ending in which Dru-Ann and Posey discussed establishing a better schedule, and Dru-Ann decided to launch her own agency to better support her clients. I loved that for her.

Brooke’s story looked the most like the book, though in the book she kisses Dru-Ann, and in the series she kisses Gigi, which made it even more awkward when she learned Gigi’s secret.

The series explored Brooke’s growing attraction to women, and her troubled marriage to Charlie may have been the catalyst, but it wasn’t the main reason.

Brooke allowed herself to be free and started dating a tour guide named Sunny. She looked sexy once she got rid of the mom clothes.

Making Electra a Background Nuisance Helped

Electra was a much bigger instigator in the book, so it worked out much better to have her in the background in the series.

She still strived to get under Brooke’s skin by taunting her regarding her friendship with Hollis, and she insisted that Brooke was a “nobody,” but that was her biggest crime.

She was more of a mean girl, trying to turn the women against each other by posting the weekend itinerary and implying that Hollis was too famous to spend time with them.

Instead of revealing the affair to the group, she recognized Gigi at a bar with Caroline, which raised suspicions.

Jack and Hollis Sped Up Their Romance

The Peacock series accelerated Jack and Hollis’s romance compared to the book.

Jack was still Hollis’s high school sweetheart, and Tatum and Kyle still invited him that weekend to cheer her up.

However, in the book, he spent more time with Kyle and stayed in the background, allowing the women to reconnect. He only kissed Hollis once.

In the series, Jack and Hollis’s chemistry is noticeable from the minute they’re alone, trying to fix the fuse box.

He keeps coming to her rescue, and he’s one of the few people who know what she’s really like. She could let her guard down with him, and that frightened Hollis, since she’s used to a neat life.

Jack and Hollis were seeing each other long-distance in the one-year time jump in the book, whereas the series left with Jack finding Hollis and Caroline on the beach and joining them for dinner.

It implied there was a romantic future, and Jack understood that Hollis needed to take things slowly. The best part of that ending was it implying the series may return with updates.

Over to you, TV Fanatics.

Did you like the changes in The Five-Star Weekend? What were your favorite parts? Do you want another season?

Let us know in the comments.

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