Years And Years (Episode 6 Review)

Either by sheer coincidence or clever plotting, BBC schedulers made it a dystopian Tuesday evening by putting Our Next Prime Minister and Years And Years next to each other. Imperfect bedfellows to say the least. The awkward political wranglings of the quest for our next leader had many of the hallmarks Russell T Davies has covered in this spectacular series but at least this finale had one thing the previous hour couldn’t offer.. hope.

It’s 2029 and our future Prime Minister Viv Rook has killed the BBC, closed food banks and banned reporters from asking questions. The seeds sown in our  present day real life is reaping magnificent, thought provoking  drama. Over the top? Maybe. Overly sentimental? To some certainly, but the message that we must choose love over hate is the epicentre of Years And Years. It’s the loving heart ticking away in a cynical, twisted body.

Anne Reid, who charms and intimidates in equal measure is the shining light as Muriel who has gradually become the main character. Her “It’s your fault” speech is more stirring than any national anthem and the wake up call her family needed. This is what great dialogue and impeccable acting does – it turns the mundanity of people sat around a table into essential viewing.

Edith gets the gang together and goes out with a bang as part of a revolution. Saving Viktor was simply an added bonus to overthrowing the government. While she is blocked by men with guns, Rosie is trapped behind gates once more. It’s an obvious metaphor but their escape is symbolic of everyone breaking free of their chains. In a show that’s mostly portrayed technology as an evil, the erstwhile refugees use their phones to connect to the world and tell it their truth. They are scenes that felt close to Doctor Who in tone but Years And Years has earned itself a dose of overindulgence.

Redemption is another through-line and the Lyons family stick by Stephen despite everything, even if it means going behind his back to support him. His guilty conscience needed them but he ultimately ends up in prison for possession of a firearm but that seems very harsh considering it was only Woody who took the bullet.

Everyone gets an end to their story but Vivienne is not afforded a full stop. It seems a waste that her, until now, malevolent presence fades into thin air at the crucial moment. Sure, it’s not her story but we got no reaction from her as the revolution was kicking off and there’s no scene once her actions are exposed. We see her twice briefly and one of those was a body double. Perhaps Emma Thompson was filming an Oscar nominated film that week.

An increasingly ill Edith does get her full stop and in a twist no one saw coming (don’t pretend you did) she’s having her memories uploaded to the cloud. Again, this was essentially sci-fi but there’s that heart again, now digitally clicking away in the dying embers of a soul. It’s a long, calm scene that ends a chaotic series. The release could be construed as a bid for freedom. It’s an ending that will jar with many but it’s all down to how you interpret it. When Edith says “You’re wrong. Everything you’ve stored, all those downloads, bits of me that you’ve copied onto water. You’ve got no idea what we really are. I’m not a piece of code. I’m not information, all these memories. They’re not just facts. They’re so much more than that” is it her fighting the cloud or accepting it? Was she there? Are we there? What the heck are we anyway?

It’s probably best to leave the last words to Muriel. Believe her when she says “Beware those men, the jokers and the tricksters and the clowns. They will laugh us into Hell.” Next month we’ll have a new Prime Minister and then what will we have in 2029? Maybe, just maybe it’ll be some love, hope and redemption.. 

Years And Years (Episode 1 Review)

Ambition is perhaps a word that is overused when it comes to describing art, so much so that it’s become unambitious. It’s an oxymoron worthy of Years And Years, the latest creation from the much respected Russell T Davies. This opening episode is a bold statement of intent and there is definitely the sense that he’s going for, not only a grand artistic statement but plenty of artistic licence to boot. One family, fifteen years and six episodes. 

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To begin with we cosy up in the respective living rooms of the Lyons family. Daniel (Russell Tovey) who looks set to be the moral centre of this screwed up universe is shocked by a statement from politician Vivienne Rook (Emma Thompson) on Question Time (thankfully not fronted by Fiona Bruce so this alternate reality can’t be too bad). Things get political from this very first scene and there goes on to be references to Donald Trump, Brexit and the word salad our politicians deal in today. Daniel even works at a refugee camp as part of his role as “boring housing officer”.

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Meanwhile Stephen and Celeste Lyons (Rory Kinnear and T’Nia Miller) are having issues with their daughter who, after a truly funny Snapchat filter aping scene, declares she wants to be “transhuman” which basically involves becoming disembodied and uploaded to a cloud. It’s a Classic Russell T Davies moment in the Doctor Who style element of the idea and in the line “I will go analogue if I have to!” that Celeste barks in anger.

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Rosie Lyons (Ruth Madeley) gives birth and the scene is set. The Lyon family are the backdrop for our journey into the unknown. Suddenly we rush through a few years faster than you can take a sip of your tea. Trump has been elected for a second term and in direct parallels to actual current events, Rook has set up ‘The Four Star Party’. Many viewers will class Years and Years as snowflake left-wing propaganda and perhaps it doesn’t get it’s message out in the most subtle of ways but the script and performances are powerful enough to override such directness. It does perfectly capture the rate at which technology is moving and the growing disconnect in human interaction. There’s a strange sense of unreality in a very real world. As Daniel sagely points out “our brains are devolving”

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Lastly we meet another Lyons in the pack. Edith (Jessica Hynes) who is an activist doing good deeds abroad. As the family connect over technology (of course) war sirens blare as America launches an attack on well, exactly where Edith is. From the mundane beginning to a near apocalyptic end. It’s a world where bodies are no longer physical, communication is impersonal, sex is literally robotic and Russell T Davies’ writing is at its eclectic finest.

 

TIME AND TIME AGAIN:

 

– Could Russell Tovey star in his own spin off series called ‘Ears And Ears?’. Ahem. 

 

– What is the relevance of Daniel’s soon to be doomed marriage and his affair with a Ukrainian refugee? The need for affection and not someone consumed by technology? 

 

– Will things end as bleak as they seem? Will humanity win in the end? 

 

– If everyone had a 3D Snapchat dog filter would the RSPCA be inundated with even more unwanted dogs. Doesn’t bear thinking about.

 

– Flippin’ eck. Who else thought some of the accents sounded more Yorkshire than Mancunian?