Years and Years, or how bad everything can go from Coronavirus to WWIII (NO SPOILERS)
Even though this limited series was released in mid-2019, it could be said that due to the recent events, it has become even more important today that it was just a year ago. This British show that evolves around the lives of a white middle-class English family, deals with tough issues such as racism, wars, politics and the toughest of the all… HUMANITY!
The Guardian has called it “the most terrifying TV show”. But, how can this be if there are no monsters or supernatural elements? The answer is quite clear, because it shows the most terrifying living thing of this planet, humanity. However, the reality portrayed in each episode is not very different from the one we are currently living, there are thousands of refugees waiting -and dying- at the gates of Europe, and many countries are on a lockdown. Yes, a different lockdown, but just as terrifying for many. It is not the same to read this article from your latest apple device than to be fighting the war at the gates of a hospital. I fall into the first group, so don’t think I am attacking you, but my mother is a nurse in Spain, and the fear my family has everyday is like nothing I have experienced before.
Back to the series, the first episode is set in 2019 and we will follow the Lyons for the next 15 years. And what goes down in that relatively short spam of time, is as shocking as it could possibly be. It is almost impossible to believe, what is more, I am quite sure that if this series was released just 10 years ago it could be considered science-fiction. But the world has changed in this last decade and that might be the most scary element of the whole plot, everything COULD happen today. Each episode is so realistic, to the point that the scriptwriters seem at moments to have had some help from the future.
But the most breathtaking part of it all is not the different events that happen -mainly in the background-, but the fact that a white middle-class British family is affected by what happens in the world. It could be said that Years and Years hasn’t done anything extraordinary, they address a dystopian future filled with wars, racism, and corrupt politicians… but by showing how the privileged part of society also has to pay the price, the audience is not able to look away.
If you have seen the fourth episode -definitely my favourite one and the one I hate the most- of this limited series, you know what I mean. It would be an understatement to say that I had never feel so wrong in my own body. I know, maybe my life has not been the most difficult one, but it is not until you see someone like yourself suffer the consequences of our own terrible society, that you realise how wrong everything is. Well, he is a homosexual character, but he is a white British middle-class man, so as far a privilege goes, he is in the top 3.
From that point onwards there is no going back, every episode is filled with even more breathtaking situations until we get to the year 2034. Bombs, politics, revolutions, death, climate change, hunger… everything fades away as mass media and the government controls how everything is perceived. Sounds quite familiar to be honest, since the Coronavirus outbreak we hardly hear anything from the refugee camps in Greece or anywhere in the world. To be honest, we don’t hear anything about anything, Trump comes up every once in a while in our TVs, and the virus has taken over. One may wonder what is going around in the world while all this happens.
There is no way of telling if this situation will ever happen, although many say that it could become a reality as quickly as the Coronavirus took over the whole planet. That is why I strongly recommend everybody to give a chance to this incredible show. It looks like we are going to spend quite a few more weeks looked inside our houses, so lets try to make the best of it and please stop binge-watching The Bachelor.
You can watch Years and Years via BBC iPlayer if you are in the UK and HBO in the rest of the world.
