Roush Review: The Boldly Realized ‘Years and Years’ Will Leave You Riveted
Review
Perhaps every generation has its own end-times moment, looking at the news and thinking things couldn’t possibly get stranger or scarier. In the six-part Years and Years, a boldly realized parable of near-future shock and anxiety, a notably diverse but otherwise typical British family endures personal challenges amid global crises that many would consider the end of the world. And yet the world, and life, just keep on going.
This imaginative empathy is the particular storytelling genius of series creator Russell T Davies, whose range extends from the brilliant relaunch of Doctor Who to last year’s wry A Very English Scandal. With mordant wit and masterfully harrowing plotting, he puts the Lyons family through the emotional wringer, rendering the political all too personal.
As the extended Lyons clan gathers at Gran’s (Anne Reid of Last Tango in Halifax) for special events and holidays well into the 2020s, we witness mostly through news reports the rise of an outrageously outspoken anti-establishment politician, Vivienne Rook (Emma Thompson, having a blast).
Some siblings see her as a monster, others as a necessarily disruptive tonic for a broken system. But none are immune from the consequences of the world’s growing instability as banks collapse in the wake of a remote (to us) nuclear strike, allies turn on each other and, in the most direct modern parallel, the refugee crisis escalates.
(Credit: HBO)
This is of special concern to Daniel Lyons (Russell Tovey), whose Ukrainian boyfriend, Viktor (Maxim Baldry), is in danger of deportation. The couple’s search for a sanctuary to call home becomes increasingly perilous in Years‘ most devastating subplot.
On the domestic front, brother Stephen (Rory Kinnear) struggles to survive in a gig economy, while globe-trotting activist sister Edith (Jessica Hynes) revels in the shredding of old-school democracy. But even the most enlightened among them don’t know what to make of Stephen’s daughter, Bethany (Lydia West), who identifies as trans. Not transgender, but trans-human, hoping to become less flesh than digital and download her brain to the cloud.
You won’t always know whether to laugh or cry at this tragicomic blend of sci-fi and speculative social commentary. But as the Years and Years fly by, you will be riveted.
Years and Years, Series Premiere Monday, June 24, 9/8c, HBO
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P
By far the most chilling technical element of the show so far was the incidental music at the end of episode 2 with the slow panic over the bank failure. It was the stuff of nightmares, and the perfect (and perfectly horrifying) accompaniment to the events.
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C
The first two episodes have me hooked; I feel that constant schedule of impending crises being quoted aloud instead of just keeping me up at night. It’s a very realistic turn of events, and perhaps “turn” is too forgiving a word here, because it’s a gentle, unbent trajectory from here to there, followed by a graceful of brick wall as you realize you’ve run out of empty track between the roadside signs and the exit. Tovey’s little monologues seem to sync up with some of the most anxious thoughts I’ve typed out on a hundred random comments threads beneath one terrifying article or another, and the series’ gripping nature comes from the familiarity of it. It’s pointed straight ahead, no taking any great leaps, not introducing any new premises beyond what already exists in our reality, so in line with our current world that it feels prescient and not just varying degrees of possible and probable. The majority exists in the funny and poignant mundanity between tragic, earth-shaking crises, and it is this focused lens on human nature’s ability to carry on in love and hope that makes it a pleasure to watch. It is a reminder that our species and our own lives are saved by and doomed by this dogged resilience, in how big things happen but to individual people, the world keeps on turning. I can’t wait for the rest.
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R
"With mordant wit and masterfully harrowing plotting"...and..."Bethany who identifies as trans. Not transgender, but trans-human"....how could it NOT end up as a Season Pass on the ol' DVR???
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R
Sounds pretty bleah to me.
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C
It’s actually pretty decent if you can get past the BBC feel of it. Not always something I’m willing to bother with, but this one caught my attention for some reason. Probably because of Chernobyl.
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