Series Review: Years and Years. Directors: Simon Cellan Jones and Lisa Mulcahy.

Hello, everyone! I hope you all are doing well. Today, I shall be reviewing 'Years and Years', a BBC Miniseries streaming on HBO. 

The genre of sci-fi has a lot of untapped potential. Not only are the audience's minds played with, but all of their imaginative powers are also summoned. 'Years and Years' makes an attempt at establishing a futuristic reality by way of sci-fi. 

As the audience watches the miniseries, it parallelly imagines its own versions of their most beautiful dreams and ugliest nightmares coming true at the same time. In a futuristic seemingly woke world, where diversity is celebrated and technology is shrewdly being used to serve personal purposes and win power, the only place where an individual can expect and receive unconditional love is the family. 

'Years and Years' is a realistic futuristic miniseries that portrays the trials, tribulations and successes of the Lyons family from Manchester, England as they try to make their way in a fast paced, technologically advanced world under the governance of shoddy and selfish politicians. While watching the series, the audience would probably think that this type of a future is not as far as it seems. 

In a fast paced world, the only element of ultimate essence is time. The time taken by the two generations of the Lyons family to adapt to the technological changes compared with the natural inclusion of technology as a part of their lives by the younger generation, rather the dependence of the younger generation on technology, coupled with the incidents that parallelly take place make the miniseries a worth watch. 

This miniseries is special because it does not show flying cars or aliens and mutants. It depicts reality and the journey of each individual in the Lyons family. In its individuality, there is collectivity.  

Each episode marks the beginning of a new year, and with every new year, the advent of new technology and government policies. The struggle between being a good person at heart but being intolerant in general is wonderfully characterized in the show. 

The direction of the miniseries is edgy, fast paced and thought provoking. The abrupt ending of each episode at a squeaker makes the audience want to watch the next episode as soon as possible. The background music used in the show is intriguing and contemporary. 

Emma Thompson, who plays the sly Vivienne Rook, Jessica Hynes, who plays the activist Edith Lyons, and Anne Reid who plays the witty, funny and sarcastic Muriel Deacon have given benchmark performances. They, along with  the other cast exude brilliance and versatility. 

The miniseries has six episodes in total, each episode ranging to about an hour or so, making the show binge-worthy. There are a few factors which may not make the miniseries a family watch, even so, an individual watch is highly recommended for an adult audience. 

Overall, the miniseries emanates conceptual brilliance and foresight. Interestingly, the show is way ahead of its time in much as the same way as the Orwellian classic '1984' which was written in 1948. It would be out of place not to mention another conceptually brilliant Netflix Original show 'Black Mirror' which explored the aftermath of technological dystopia. Years and Years is a novel experiment and definitely a worth watch for an adult audience. 

MY TAKE: 9/10. 

Author: Ms. Radhika Sunil Vaidya

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