5 television duos that show us how powerful female friendships can be

Grace and Frankie from Netflix’s Grace and Frankie

Grace and Frankie, played by the legendary Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin, are inspirational examples of female friendship. In fact, Netflix’s series could easily be viewed as a love story between friends. The show also represents the lives of older women in a way we haven’t seen before. These women build new lives in their old age, and they help each other get through the rough transition.

Of course, the two weren’t always close. They tolerated each other for years because their husbands worked together at a law firm and became best friends. The two families became one big family. But that is not where their relationship ends. Sol and Robert reveal to the ladies, after long years of marriage, that they had been secretly having an affair with one another and wanted to get married. This breaks the women’s hearts and forces them to start new lives as single women. Both of them end up staying at the beach house, a place their families shared as a getaway destination, and although the setup starts off a bit rocky, they become closer dealing with the embarrassment and fear of their situation together.

Grace and Frankie are very different people, but they make great friends. Grace is classy, put together, a no-nonsense businesswoman who is a high-functioning alcoholic and passionate, kind person underneath it all. Frankie is a hippy, vegetarian, goofball artist who follows the beat of her drum. Frankie brings out the fun side of Grace and reminds her that societal standards or what people think of her don’t matter. Grace brings structure to Frankie’s life and helps her find the no-nonsense business lady inside her.

And both ladies end up having to make hard decisions that could impact the strength of their relationship. At the end of season three, Frankie decides to move to Arizona with her new man. Grace and Frankie commiserate about their fear of being separated from each other during the finale. The following season sees the two dealing with being apart, while season five sees Grace getting married and learning to be a wife to someone she loves, all while balancing her obligation as a friend to Frankie. It’s refreshing to see a show that has characters that put so much attention to their friendships.

At the ending of the second episode of season three, Grace’s roommate says this: “I’ve had a lot of girlfriends in my life, but I’ve never had a Grace or a Frankie.” Don’t we all feel this way?