The Four Seasons on Netflix is showing audiences a new side to Tina Fey, who stars in and co-created the series based on the 1981 film of the same name. Whereas Fey’s previous writing credits, like 30 Rock, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, and Great News, were all hard comedies that skewed absurdist in the interest of being as joke-heavy as possible, The Four Seasons is much more grounded. The series, like the movie it’s based on, follows the evolving relationships of three middle-age married couples over the course of their quarterly vacations. It marks a rare tonal shift for Fey, who very deliberately kept the show’s comedy tamer and more naturalistic — and as a result makes it some of her most interesting work to date.

Created by Fey, Lang Fisher, and Tracey Wigfield, the show’s writing team has said that the original film kept coming up as a point of reference for the kind of project they wanted to create. Eventually, instead of trying to make something like The Four Seasons, they decided to just remake The Four Seasons itself — retaining the pleasant sensibility and humor of the Alan Alda film. Keeping that same slice-of-life style served almost as an exercise for the writers to work outside of their usual tone. “All of the comedies we’ve written are just high speed, high joke density, that they inevitably become absurd and explode,” Fey said in an interview with Decider. “I was like, can we restrain ourselves to just actual human behavior and still make it funny?”

The departure paid off — the show, which also stars Steve Carell, Colman Domingo, Kerri Kenney-Silver, Will Forte, Marco Calvani, and Erika Henningsen — quickly took the No. 1 spot on Netflix and was watched by 11.9 million households in the first four days of its release, according to the streamer. Though things do get muddy when trying to compare streaming numbers to broadcast, it arguably marks one of Fey’s most mainstream ratings successes, for a show that many might not have realized she was running.

While the stylistic pivot seems to have unlocked a wider audience, it also marks a new offering for Fey devotees. A hallmark of Fey’s writing style has always been her skill at excavating a story for any and every possible joke there is to make, but with The Four Seasons, she’s using that same knack to instead dig deeper into the show’s characters and their relationship dynamics. It’s certainly still a comedy, but one whose humor and engine stems from a focus on the fears, motivations, and quirks of the characters. The result is a meditation of sorts on marriage, friendship, and aging. Notably, Fey is something she rarely gets to be: earnest.

In total, Fey has written nearly 50 episodes of scripted television, most of which share a common absurdist sensibility. That’s part of the reason this change feels almost like your favorite musician jumping genres (or “going country,” to quote Jenna Maroney). But rather than calling this Tina Fey’s Cowboy Carter, a truer one-to-one might be if Weird Al put out a Norah Jones album. In any case, she’s willing to forgo an extra punch line here and there to scale things down. For example, as the writer of the show’s fifth episode, “Family Weekend,” she delivers a carefully constructed portrayal of her character Kate’s relationship with her husband Jack (Forte) slowly slipping out of sync. It happens (as does their reconciliation) not via big plot swings, but rather small choices that create a conflict where neither party is at fault but both are to blame. The very nature of marital monotony makes it difficult to depict, but she’s able to do just that by focusing on the minutiae of this rut.

Jack’s gestures at attempting to rekindle their spark are subtle enough that they narrowly slip past Kate, but not too subtle that the audience can’t see them. It’s a balance that’s able to convey that a relationship’s problem isn’t always some tangible disagreement or big offense that you can point to. Even as Kate tries to lament her situation to Danny (Domingo), she says, “It’s not that I have a problem with Jack, because he’s the best. I’m just saying, you know … I mean, you know what I’m saying.” And, because of the breathing room she gives for this conflict to play out with nuance, we actually do know what she’s saying without her saying it.

Performance-wise, Fey thrives in these unspoken moments. While it’s not new to see her take on roles that are more grounded or dramatic than Liz Lemon, this is the first time she’s doing so with her own words. As the writer, she’s incredibly proficient in the subtext behind what Kate is saying, which adds an enormous amount of depth to the portrayal. Since so much of this couple’s arc bubbles up under the surface, the intention behind sometimes innocuous lines is key, making Fey’s expertise as the person writing them invaluable.

Another marked change is the show’s warmth. Fey’s writing usually has a reputation of being more on the biting or sardonic side, but The Four Seasons trades out the eye rolls for loving looks (mostly). She’s said that in making the show, they wanted to capture the feeling of building a blanket fort in your living room, and that’s exactly the kind of cozy atmosphere the series offers. Sure, that warmth fits the story itself, but it also seems to be the direct result of the clear reverence and love Fey has for the material they’re adapting. That’s why so many of the film’s details carry over to the remake, despite the fact that much of the audience was likely unfamiliar with the original. The Vivaldi score, the characters’ names, and even a brief shot of Fey angrily brushing her hair were all pulled from the film. Plus, Alda himself gets a cameo, in which Fey’s character tells him, “I love you so much,” a moment that could double as a fourth-wall break. That evident love for the original explains Fey’s determination to largely stay true to it.

There’s an excitement that comes from getting to see a writer work with a brand-new set of tools, because it means we get to see new layers to a voice we’ve come to know so well. And with a departure like this happening at this stage of Fey’s career, it’s exciting to consider how its success might influence the kind of work she does moving forward, whether that be in this show’s newly announced second season or another project altogether. In any case, her making this pivot in the form of The Four Seasons feels especially apt given that it’s a show about characters having midlife assessments of the path they’re on and whether or not they want to stay on it.

 Which is what makes The Four Seasons so exciting.