This Way Up is a new comedy created by Irish comedian Aisling Bea and it has been heavily promoted by Channel 4 as a part of their Summer of Comedy.
Aine (Bea) is a young woman who has spent time at a rehab facility after succumbing to a nervous breakdown. Four months after leaving the facility she’s still struggling and has a lonely Friday night when her sister, Shona (Sharon Horgan) goes to a work party.
In recent years shows like Fleabag, My Mad Fat Diary, and Bojack Horseman have been praised by critics and fans for their blend of comedy and drama and looking at mental health issues. This Way Up wants to follow in their footsteps. This is shown through Aine who is a light-hearted, jokey character when she’s at work, with her sister, calling people to hang out with, or when at work as an EFL teacher. But this jokey personality is a mask over her pain.
In the episode, Aine literally and figuratively calls out for help. She calls her psychiatric who is unavailable, wants to hang out with someone just to avoid being lonely, and calls a man over for a one night stand. A powerful moment in the episode was when Shona has to leave for her party Aine breaks down in tears because she has to be alone. Its early days for the series but it leaves an impression and shows the horrible impact of loneliness.
The heart of the episode was the relationship between Aine and Shona. Bea and Horgan are experienced comedians and they have a strong rapport together. They joke, have banter with each other and share witty dialogue. There were some nice little slice of life moments between the two like when they share clothes and Aine finds a spot on Shona’s back. Many people with siblings could relate on some level. Shona is also incredibly concerned for Aine as would be expected. Shona admits she has a tracking app to monitor Aine’s movements and Aine is revealing when she says he had no one to go to the cinema with. Aine accidently contradicts herself at that moment but Shona doesn’t pick up on it.
The other aspect of the episode was it needed to introduce some of the supporting cast. The biggest members being Shona’s boyfriend, Vish (Aasif Mandvi); Shona’s work friend, Charlotte (Indira Varma); and Tom (Ricky Grover), a fellow patient when Aine was at rehab. Vish and Charlotte have some naturalistic dialogue with Shona, like when Charlotte was worried that she might have mispronounced Shona’s name, and Vish and Shona describe their drinking game. Aine showed her lighter side with her class as she talked about who is who in Keeping up with the Kardashians.
The first episode is a strong start for This Way Up as it shows off its blend of comedy and drama. It will be interesting to see how This Way Up continues and if goes down a dark route like Fleabag, My Mad Fat Diary and Bojack Horseman have.
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