The Big C is an American television dramedy series which premiered on August 16, 2010, on Showtime.[1] It drew the largest audience for a Showtime original series premiere.[2] Season 2 premiered on June 27, 2011.[3] Season 3 premiered on April 8, 2012.[4] On July 31, 2012, The Big C was renewed for a fourth and final season, named "Hereafter", which premiered on Monday, April 29, 2013,[5] and concluded on May 20, 2013.
Cathy Jamison (Laura Linney), a high school teacher in Minneapolis, is diagnosed with melanoma. She withholds the diagnosis from her immature husband Paul (Oliver Platt), homeless brother Sean (John Benjamin Hickey), and delinquent son Adam (Gabriel Basso). This news, coinciding with the beginning of summer, inspires Cathy to get a pool built in her backyard. Her cranky neighbor Marlene (Phyllis Somerville) opposes the project but ultimately begins to bond with Cathy and becomes the first person to learn about her cancer. Cathy also begins exhibiting increasingly odd behavior in reaction to her cancer, such as emptying out her retirement fund and burning the couch she's always hated. Meanwhile, Paul and Cathy remain separated over an incident that occurred prior to the start of the series. Cathy begins an extramarital affair with a painter at the high school (Idris Elba). Paul witnesses the two of them together and asks for a divorce; Cathy, in turn, ends the tryst and informs Paul that she has cancer. Paul begins to understand what Cathy's been going through, moves back in and pledges to assist her with her disease. Marlene, who has been succumbing to Alzheimer's, commits suicide after inadvertently putting Adam in harm's way. Her death inspires Cathy to begin seeking treatment, something she was initially opposed to.
In the fall, Cathy begins a clinical trial run by the highly renowned Dr. Atticus Sherman (Alan Alda). By this point, Cathy's friends and family are all aware of her diagnosis and provide her with support; financially, however, the Jamisons are struggling to foot the bill for Cathy's treatment. After Paul is fired from his job, he accepts a demeaning position at an electronics store solely for the insurance benefits. Meanwhile, Cathy befriends Lee (Hugh Dancy), a fellow patient in Dr. Sherman's trial. The two become close over their shared experience and Lee becomes a close friends of the Jamisons. Cathy begins experiencing symptoms of the drugs in the clinical trial, a sign that the treatment is working; Lee does not fare as well and announces that he plans on quitting treatment altogether. Lee dies shortly after and Cathy plans on running the Minneapolis New Years Eve marathon in his honor. Meanwhile, the stress of providing for the family leads Paul to become increasingly reliant on cocaine. With insurance bills mounting, Paul crashes the agency's holiday party and has a heart attack. Although he is pronounced dead for several minutes, he ultimately survives.
One month later, Paul is recovering from his heart attack and begins chronicling his near-death experience in a blog. Cathy's tumors have shrunk immensely as a result of the clinical trial and she enters remission. Seeking direction in the wake their new leases on life, Cathy and Paul attend a retreat by a self-help guru named Joy Kleinman (Susan Sarandon). Cathy, although initially resistant to Joy's teachings, comes to the realization that she wants another child. Joy sees potential in Paul's blog and invites him to join her on stage; Paul subsequently becomes a popular speaker. Meanwhile, Cathy and Paul speak to a couple regarding the possibility of the Jamisons adopting their yet-born child. This is ultimately a scam and becomes a point of contention between Cathy, who really wanted the child, and Paul, who is more concerned with his newfound popularity. Suspecting that Joy is having an affair with Paul, Cathy confronts her but Joy is hit by a bus in a freak accident. Paul replaces Joy at a speaking engagement in Puerto Rico over Easter and becomes the successor to her self-help empire. Cathy is informed that her tumors are growing and that she will probably die within a year. While scuba diving in Puerto Rico, Cathy experiences a vivid hallucination caused by the growing tumors and requires brain surgery.
Cathy spends the next several months undergoing chemotherapy but quits when she realizes that it is ultimately pointless. Her relationship with Paul is cordial although she suspects that he's waiting for her to die to move on; Cathy in turn encourages him to begin dating other women so she can approve of who he may remarry. Per the advice of a counselor, Cathy sets a goal that she wants to see Adam graduate high school before she dies, although this appears unlikely considering he's only starting junior year. When Cathy begins experiencing memory loss, she goes to live in hospice. This upsets the whole family and Paul and Adam fall apart in her absence. The following spring, Cathy's four months of insurance coverage expires and she returns home, albeit bedridden. Adam, fulfilling one of Cathy's wishes, reveals that he's secretly taken an entire year's worth of school online and has received his high school diploma. Paul, having gone out to buy Cathy's flowers, returns home to find that she's passed away. In the very last scene, Cathy is seen in a serene swimming pool with Marlene and Thomas, Marlene's dog.
The Big C's pilot episode was received positively by critics, while subsequent episodes received mixed reviews from critics. Season One received an overall score of 66 on Metacritic based on 27 reviews.[7] Alessandra Stanley of The New York Times wrote: "The Big C works because most of the writing is strong and believable, and so is Ms. Linney, who rarely sounds a false note and here has perfect pitch... the series is at its best when sardonic and subdued."[8] Washington Post critic Hank Stuever said: "Buoyed by scalpel-sharp writing and even keener performances, The Big C ...walks a fine line of having it both ways. It's for people who are repelled by the warm-fuzzy, disease-o'-the-week dramas of cable television."[9] EW.com's Ken Tucker quibbled with its major plot point: "My big problem with The Big C concerns a crucial decision the show made for the early episodes: Cathy declines to tell those closest to her that she has cancer. While this is one of the many different reactions people have to such a diagnosis in real life, in a comedy drama like this, it makes everyone around her seem a bit dim."[10]
The second season received similar reviews to the first, receiving a score of 64 on Metacritic based on reviews from 6 critics.[11] Maureen Ryan of AOL TV stated that "Having a character and her family deal with a potentially fatal illness is such a rich arena for both drama and black comedy, but so far, The Big C hasn't been able to mine that topic with consistent freshness and depth."[12] Ken Tucker of Entertainment Weekly was critical towards the show, but commended the acting, stating that "Much of The Big C's unoriginal dramatization of cancer concerns is mitigated by the fresh, dynamic performances of Laura Linney and Oliver Platt."[11][better source needed]
The third season received a score of 65 on Metacritic based on reviews from 4 critics.[13]
The fourth and final season—consisting of four hour-long episodes received a score of 73 on Metacritic based on reviews from 10 critics.[14]