The final episode of Ryan Murphy's drama series Love Story has depicted the fatal plane crash that killed John F. Kennedy Jr., his wife Carolyn Bessette, and her sister Lauren in 1999. The show, which aired its finale on Thursday, portrays the events leading up to the tragedy, including Kennedy's weather briefing before departing from New Jersey to Martha's Vineyard.
In the dramatised sequence, Bessette climbs into the cockpit mid-flight and speaks with Kennedy before he begins to struggle with the controls. The screen cuts to black as ocean sounds play. The series opens with a note that it is inspired by actual events, with certain elements dramatised or fictionalised for storytelling purposes.
The production has drawn criticism from surviving family members, including Kennedy's nephew Jack Schlossberg, who previously accused Murphy of profiting from the tragedy in a grotesque way. Murphy later told Variety he would donate proceeds from the show to the John F. Kennedy Library, as Schlossberg had suggested.
The National Transportation Safety Board's official report cited darkness, light haze, and spatial disorientation as contributing factors. Kennedy, who had logged about 300 hours of flying time, had only 55 hours at night and nine hours in the Saratoga plane he piloted that evening.
Investigators noted that other pilots on similar routes reported no visible horizon over water due to haze. If Kennedy had flown straight and level, he would have reached Martha's Vineyard within a few minutes, according to NTSB investigator Jeff Guzzetti.
