This Way Up – Season 1, Episode 2 Review

Following on from the strong opening This Way Up continues in that vein with Aine trying to take too much at once.

In this episode Aine has agreed to tutor a French boy who has recently moved to London. But the commitment to the boy is tested when one of her EFL student, Victor (Todor Jordanov), has seemingly been attacked and needs to be taken to the hospital.

The theme of the previous episode was about Aine masking her pain and insecurities with her constant joking. In the second the story is simply about Aine getting overwhelmed. She made a promise to Etienne (Dorian Grover) that she would be his friend and play Mario Party with him but can’t because of what happened to Victor.

Aisling Bea takes a typical sitcom situation and makes it more relatable. The way this plot usually goes is someone makes a promise to a loved one but ends up making plans to go on a fun activity or do a work project and has to make amends by the end. Bea’s aim was to show that Aine is a good person who is trying to do the right thing. Audiences can relate to this scenario because we all have commitments and obligations and felt the pressure from it.

The show also does this story with a British style of comedy. The American approach to this type of storyline is to ramp the schmaltz. In these episodes the hurt party would say something like ‘you made a promise,’ shun the other person i.e. the husband or father and that they would have to do a grand gesture to win back their trust. The British model aims to be more realistic in both its handling of situations and the visual style. The bulk of this episode was set in classrooms, hospitals, and a normal terrace house. Aine in the episode was making an effort to try and contact Etienne’s family and her apology was more sweet and genuine than in an American counterpart.

The episode also addresses the issues of racism and immigrant. It starts early one when a character called Pat (Oengus MacNamara) complains about immigration and Aine points out Pat’s mum was an immigrant. Victor was believed to be attacked because he’s Bulgarian and Aine believes this was to do with Brexit. Bea was able to subvert expectations with this theme as well. When there were accusations against Aine her defence is she’s Irish, and there were funny interactions with Chien (Pik Sen Lim), an older Chinese woman who has less than enlightened views about Indian people. And the episode has a message about not jumping to conclusions.

One of the draws of This Way Up is addressing mental health. As well as Aine’s struggles the episode points out that Victor is vulnerable because of his lack of English and despite being a big strong guy, he’s shy and quiet. If he was attacked it would be hard for him to open up. The storyline involving Etienne and his father, Richard (Tobias Menzies) also could set up other ways to address mental issues. Etienne had lost his mother and has moved to another country to live with a distance father, whilst Richard was emotionally constipated.

Shona (Sharon Horgan) has a subplot in the episode where she plans to work with Charlotte (Indira Varma) to start networking events for women in finance. It’s always nice to see Horgan and Varma on screen – this subplot is more about setting a wider plotline for the rest of the season.

Although This Way Up is only two episodes into it is already showing a great amount of character work and blends humour and drama with ease.