Spoiler Alert: This summary and review contains spoilers.
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While Years and Years starts on a high note, as you grow indifferent over the future the characters go through, it pushes you to realize how complacent you’ve become of your own.
| Network | |
| HBO, BBC ONE | |
| Creator(s) | Russell T Davies |
| Genre(s) | Drama, Horror |
| Good If You Like |
|
| Isn’t For You If You |
|
| Noted Cast | |
| Rosie | Ruth Madeley |
| Daniel | Russell Tovey |
| Muriel | Ana Reid |
| Vivienne Rook | Emma Thompson |
| Viktor | Maxim Baldry |
| Stephen | Rory Kinnear |
| Celeste | T’Nia Miller |
| Edith | Jessica Hynes |
| Ruby | Jade Alleyne |
| Lee | Callum Woolford |
| Lincoln | Aaron Ansari |
| Bethany | Lydia West |
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Years and Years Season 1 Summary
Beginning in 2019 and ending in 2034, we join the Lyons family as they go through trials and tribulations thanks to the rise of nationalism, environmental catastrophes, immigration crisis, and so much more. All the while, in many of their personal lives, they find themselves humbled, left feeling toss aside, or enduring because suicide is something they aren’t capable of. So, instead, they struggle to find reasons to survive. Often being forced to look towards the family for motivation.
Highlights
Rosie Talking About Being “Fixed” & Her Issues With Her Dad
Unlike most of her family, who can either be downers or, in the case of Daniel, such a fool that he makes you roll your eyes, Rosie usually is on the up and up. One could even say she acts almost as a comic relief at times. However, this isn’t to say she is a clown. In two instances, Rosie gets real with the audience, and in that, we see a different side to her.
The first time is in episode two when there are conversations about medical advancements. One of which could, for Rosie’s condition, Spina bifida, make it so she could possibly walk for long periods if not be able to need a wheelchair no longer. But, in talking about the idea of surgery, or something similar, we’re presented with a touching moment of love for oneself and acceptance of one’s person as a whole. Whether or not someone else thinks something is a flaw or an asset.
Yet, while she says that in episode two, this is followed by a breakdown in episode three in which she believes her dad left due to her being born different from her siblings. Thus not only explaining her issues with her dad but reminding you how long and how hard it must have been for her to accept she is not only different from most people, but her differences might have been a factor in her family’s dissolution.
Muriel’s Speech In Episode 6
By episode 6, while you may still feel a sense of shock and horror from time to time, you may settle into the mindset of “New s***, different day.” Yet, as Muriel notes, complacency is the problem. You buy items at low prices, often without a care for the person whose wage keeps them in poverty, and that is why that item is cheap. As automation takes over, you don’t care about the jobs being lost. You barely spoke to the ticket taker, cashier, or any of those people anyway. And it is because of that general lack of community and compassion that monsters are born, can become gluttonous, and even if they die, something comes along feeding off their carcass and becoming strong enough to continue where they left off.
Low Points
Vivienne Rook Is Such A Small Part Of A Cleary Bigger Thing
Despite Emma Thompson playing the character, Vivienne Rook is such a small part of Years and Years. Then, when we actually see her engage a character, specifically Stephen, you are pushed to wonder if she is just a puppet and not the puppet master? Leading you to wonder who is behind the scenes, especially towards the end when Vivienne is running down a strange hall, and Edith swears by a conspiracy theory.
On The Fence
You May Eventually Get Used To The Worst Case Scenarios Presented
At first, the idea of America going to hell, financial markets collapsing, and environmental events is terrifying as they are likely to happen soon. However, after a certain point, you almost feel like the show is coerced into escalation and if it doesn’t up the ante, the fear dissipates, and you can easily become complacent. Which speaks a lot to how life is for many now. Yes, nationalism has made it so both sides are more aware of what is going on and perhaps politically active, but how long will it last?
Take, for example, here in America, the pursuit of gay rights. Taking note of what is said in the documentary Kiki, once white men and women got their right to marriage, they abandoned the rest of the fights to be had. So when it came to trans rights, AIDS, and issues regards those at the crossroad of dealing with homophobia and racism, they were left to fend for themselves.
Leading to the question left by the show in a way: When the monster who is the face of the oppression is gone, where will the heroes go and what will they do? Assuming if, in the first place, they were heroes or just disturbed by how drastic their life changed and not for the better.
I Won’t Say The Lyons Family Are The Easiest To Connect To
BBC One/ HBO’s Years and Years: Cast, Characters & Descriptions (with Spoilers)
Outside of Rosie, I wouldn’t say anyone in the Lyons family has the development or personality you’d want to latch onto. Muriel, while she has her moments, generally is gruff. Daniel, as he pursues Viktor all over the world to get him back into the UK, becomes such a fool you can’t help but pity him. Especially as you wonder if it is love or lust which makes him go so far? With Stephen, he is so dry that watching him likely exfoliates your face. Then, when it comes to his wife Celeste, her life is so wrapped up in reacting to him or Muriel that you barely feel like you get to know her. I mean, we don’t even see a member of her family once, and outside of one episode, maybe, they aren’t talked about either.
Continuing on, Edith is like Stephen, though her activism makes her a tad more interesting, and as for Muriel’s great grandkids? HA! Ruby and Lee we learn a few facts about, the entire season, and that’s it. Lincoln’s sole claim to fame is, thanks to Edith, they seem to discover they either like being feminine or are trans.
Leaving Bethany. At first, she seems like one of the few kids worth noting since she wants to become digital. However, while she takes steps to become so, the sci-fi element isn’t played up all that much. So while she does become useful for what Edith plans towards the end of the season, up until then it is like she is waiting on the bench, occasionally practicing her swing, just waiting to be called up.
Years and Years Season 1 Overall: Mixed (Stick Around)
I’d submit that maybe the point of the Lyons family being as they were was so they seemed normal and could easily be anyone. Yet, with that comes a disconnect sometimes which, as the world goes to hell, doesn’t make you worry or feel bad for them. If anything, at first, you worry about yourself and the idea this all could happen in a few years. But, as that fear wanes, you continue to watch in hopes the show may provide hope in some way. Which, it kind of does, but in a realistic fashion. That is, with every monster defeated, another waits for its turn.
Leading to why this is being given a mixed label: The good thing about this show is that it doesn’t outstay its welcome. The bad thing is, with an underwhelming set of characters, halfway through an already short season it was starting to feel like it could be a long journey. Yet, with a handful of moments towards the end worth sticking around for, Years and Years proves itself to be something to watch until the end.
Has Another Season Been Confirmed?
This is currently supposed to be a limited series, but anything can happen.
Thoughts On Another Season
This is a limited series so there won’t be another season but, if made into an anthology, I’d love to see what was going on in America with an American family. That alongside families in other major world economies.
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