Major spoilers ahead for the first two episodes of Lessons in Chemistry.

Literature is filled with great heroines, but one of our contemporary favourites has to be Elizabeth Zott in Lessons In Chemistry.

Less than a year after the debut of Bonnie Garmus’s bestselling novel, a TV adaptation has landed on Apple TV+ with Captain Marvel star Brie Larson at the helm of this feminist STEM drama. The first two episodes (released on Friday) dive straight into Elizabeth’s past in the 1950s, when she worked as a lab technician and dreamt of completing her PhD to pursue a career as a chemist.

However, the sexist industry and her misogynistic co-workers make this aspiration a daily struggle. That is until she meets the rude loner and poster kid for the department, Dr Calvin Evans (Lewis Pullman).

Fans of this bestselling novel will be well aware of the major themes explored within the series (such as sexual violence and death) though, it does not necessarily prepare them for the visual dramatisation of them on screen.

As a means to cope with the relentless misogyny at work, where male colleagues tell her “a smile once in a while wouldn’t kill you” and “some sex appeal wouldn’t hurt”, Elizabeth tries to control every variable of her life.

Lessons In Chemistry is a heartbreaking reminder that we can’t control everything in life