After discovering A&E’s Gene Simmons Family Jewels not too long ago, I have been hooked to this show and have been anticipating the new season…so I am thrilled that the season 6 premiere is finally here come this Sunday night!
Gene’s life is an open book, but the one thing he keeps close to the vest is his mother’s harsh survival as a Jewish girl in Europe during WWII. His mother and Anne Frank were approximately the same age when they went into concentration camps and seeing how Anne lived strikes an emotional chord with Gene. No one is more important to Gene than his mother, and it’s a raw and telling look at Gene’s family history and childhood that fans have never had access to before now.
In the one hour premiere of Gene Simmons Family Jewels titled, “Past Demons,” Gene and Shannon head to Amsterdam for a KISS concert and their plans for before the concert quickly change when Gene gets fan mail from a young native who wants to interview Gene for his school project. Instead of a day of interviews for local and professional media outlets, Gene is taken on a tour of Amsterdam from one of his youngest fans while being interviewed about his past and how his family’s past affects him. Gene, Shannon, their two bodyguards, and the young fan take a visit to Anne Frank’s house, where Gene gets quite emotional. Afterwords, the fan brings Gene and Shannon to his home where Gene and the fan’s Grandfather talk about their families’ Holocaust experiences. Back in the states, Nick attempts to visit Gene’s mom, his Grandma in New York before his flight to Amsterdam but Grandma isn’t home. It was a sweet attempt. The episode ends with Nick meeting up with his parents at the KISS concert and everyone talking to the cameras on the couch about how important it is to know about your family and what they have been through.
In the closing, Sophie and Nick mention the Flora Army Facebook Fan Page that was created in honor of Gene’s mother who is a Holocaust survivor. I was not at all expecting such a heavy episode to start out the season of the show, but here it is. It is perhaps the most emotional episode to date. There are only ten episodes for the season, so I am wondering if this episode is setting the tone for the entire season. This could have been a heavy season in the Tweed-Simmons’ lives or maybe just a heavy trip. Only time will tell. No matter the case, this was a very well edited episode and full of such important information for the world to see. Not everyone can go to Amsterdam to visit Anne Frank’s house and the coverage of the tour of the house was fantastic. This was yet another great episode of Gene Simmons Family Jewels which shed the light on the real jewels, those slain in the Holocaust and the Holocaust survivors.
Gene Simmons Family Jewels Season Six premieres December 5, 2010 at 9/8c on A&E.