Episode six of You, Me and the Apocalypse; Home Sweet Home, finally brings that long awaited Bruce Willis reference (Armageddon anyone?) and finally Dame Diana Rigg appears; not hidden behind an oxygen mask either. In the intro, one question is answered, the voice over and the twin in the show’s opening could have been Ariel or Jamie, this episode makes it clear that it is Jamie.
The plot thickens as does the amount of familial connections in this “end of the world” scenario. In fact, all the players appear to be related to such an extent that it feels like a “knee bone connected to the shinbone” type scenario. Ignoring the main storyline, for just a moment, lets us look at who is related to who.
Father Jude is Jamie and Ariel’s father, literally, and Sutton (the crazy lady that Jamie refers to in the intro) is Grandma to the twins. The family ties do not stop there, Scotty McNeil is Ariel’s Uncle. (This is revealed in Sutton’s private Slough bunker, just prior to Sutton starting to have Ariel put down, aka kill him, due to his having impure blood.)
This means that Father Jude, Rhonda, Scotty, Ariel, Jamie and Frankie (Jamie’s daughter) are all related, and…It seems that there may be another “love-child” of Jude’s running around. Ariel, in an attempt to keep from getting that deadly injection, reveals that there may well be one more addition to the family, apart from the “pure-bloodbank” great-grandchild.
This oh so English comedy is twisting and turning in all the right places. Apart from all the players being related as a major plot point the series also has the youngest “Sutton” being the “messiah” (maybe). This young girl; Frankie, is the one that Great Grandma wants as her personal blood bank.
Now before going any further some translation may be in order for those who live this side of the big pond:
Muppet: Stupid or incapable person.
Prat: Prick.
Finger: Cadbury finger biscuit (cookie).
Fish fingers: Fish sticks.
These words are used by Jamie’s adoptive mum, played brilliantly by Pauline Quirk, and while these terms and items are well known in the UK, they may confuse the American audience.
Now the Storyline:
This week in You, Me and the Apocalypse: Mary meets Paula and is then crushed to death by a load of bricks. Jude and Celine head to Slough, in time for Mary’s funeral, and Jamie learns that the Father is his father. Ariel meets the madly eccentric, and apparent very rich, Sutton who needs him for his blood.
Rhonda heads home only to be turned into the police by her neighbors and she runs to the high school library. Spike chews out his uncle Scotty for not helping and the boy then meets his mother at the library. The Arkansas FBI agent arrives with the local police and Scotty saves the day.
Jude, Celine, Jamie and Paula, as well as Dave, all have some tea and biscuits while Jude reveals the backstory of Jamie and Ariel’s mother. The bank manager does not react well and storms out of the “getting to know you” party. He heads to the experimental drug trial offices to volunteer.
Scotty takes Rhonda and Spike to a lake house and the general stops by and informs his boyfriend that he has to separate himself from the situation. As Scotty’s fella goes to leave, McNeil cries out, “But I love you.” General Gaines replies, “And I love you, but this is bigger than all that.”
At the drug trial office, Jamie is saved from taking the drug when Paula, Dave, Jude and Celine arrive. As Paula and Dave take on the security guards, Jude and Celine tell Jamie he has a daughter.
While Jamie stands stunned, it takes Paula shouting at him to get him moving. He decides to go find his daughter.
Standout Moments:
The graveyard scene; the casket in a pot, Jude and Celine as they walk toward the grave and Paula’s reaction to the Father.
Mary getting hit by the bricks that Jamie walked under earlier.
Paula telling off Jamie at the end.
Ariel selling out his niece so Sutton won’t kill him.
Diana Rigg full stop.
The Bruce Willis reference at the beginning.
Final Verdict:
While not as hysterically funny as the previous episodes, the segment was more expositional than anything else, Home Sweet Home still amused and entertained. It also left the mystery of who Jude’s other child is as a carrot for the viewer. The implication seemed to be that it was Layla (Hawkwind) but that would be incorrect since it is only an assumption that Frankie is her daughter.
Whoa.
That seems to be a bit of a plot-hole, but as interconnected as all these various plot threads are, this seems unlikely.
You, Me and the Apocalypse airs Thursdays on NBC. Tune in and bliss out at this brilliant British comedy, adjusted just a little for the American audience. If there are any terms that confuse, do drop a query in the comments…
