This Way Up is a comedy series from Irish comic Aisling Bea. Bea created and stars in the series as Aine, a woman recovering from a nervous breakdown. She is still in a fragile mental state. She copes with humor. You can watch This Way Up on Hulu.
Sharon Horgan co-stars as Aine’s sister Shona. The two of them are fantastic as sisters. They’re over-anxious, over-dependent, and over-argumentative. Each of them is the other’s rock. They’re living in London, but they cling to their Irish roots.
Aine works part time jobs as an English teacher. One of her gigs is with adults who have immigrated to England. There are some interesting characters in the class. Another of her gigs is tutoring a young French boy (Dorian Grover) who suddenly had to move to England and live with a father he barely knows, Richard (Tobias Menzies).
There’s a little foreshadowing for a second season (if there is one) that Aine and Richard might get romantically involved. In season 1, Aine is more interested in Freddie (Chris Geere), the fellow who rejected her and part of the reason for her depression and breakdown.
Shona is dating Vish (Aasif Mandvi). She meets his family. The whole gang including Shona, Aine, and their mom (Sorcha Cusack) attend this ‘meet the family’ dinner. The episode is both hilarious and revealing. Aine learns something about her mother and mental health that could help her.
Vish proposes to Shona, sort of. Her answer is a little ambiguous.
It hasn’t quite penetrated Shona’s conscious mind yet, but part of her hesitation with Vish is that she’s falling for Charlotte (Indira Varma). Shona thinks she and Charlotte are together all the time because they are working on an organization for the betterment of women in business. Anyone with eyes can see otherwise; even Vish starts to notice.
Shona and Charlotte finally get to the point of a kiss in the season finale. If their relationship develops beyond that it will happen in a potential second season.
There are many jokes and gags, but underneath it all are some serious themes about mental health, family, and love.
With only 6 episodes, this rapid-fire blast of Irish humor goes by quickly. I’m hoping it gets renewed for a 2nd series, because I like the characters. Have you watched it? Did you like it?
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i loved this show so much, i’m already watching it a second time. the English (Irish) seem to be able to create comedys with some depth. all of these characters seemed real to me.
Very much agree