I scrunched my face into a grimace when I first saw the teaser for NBC’s “You, Me and the Apocalypse,” in which an eight-mile-wide comet streaks across the night sky as huddled masses stuck on Earth brace for the end. “Surely we’ve had enough of this,” I thought. Writers have been mining the narrative goldmine that is armageddon for as long as there have been stories, and in recent years, we’ve seen a slew of reiterations of the subgenre that have aimed for laughs over gasps. From movies like “It’s a Disaster” to “Seeking a Friend for The End of the World,” as well as Fox’s sleeper hit “The Last Man on Earth,” creatives have used the ultra-consequential circumstances of the End Times to get people who are dragging their feet through life to act outside their comfort zone. But sometimes — as is the case with zombies, vampires and Spiderman movies — too much of a good thing can make you want to puke.
“You, Me and the Apocalypse” looked like a retread of old ideas, and in a way, it is — a narrative that cheekily reminds us of the importance of humanity in the face of its demise. Through its unending charm and surprisingly light touch, though, it sets itself apart.
The show, which premiered Thursday after airing on UK’s Sky 1 in September, is a rare case in primetime TV — a foreign import green-lit by a major network to go up against stiff competition. It’s easy to see why, outside of the fact that the peacock’s original programming is not what it once was; written by creator Iain Hollands, the pilot episode carries the dry wit of British shows like “The Office” yet has an A-list cast that will be familiar to American audiences. It centers on Jamie Winton (Matthew Baynton of Hulu’s “The Wrong Mans”), a bank manager in Slough whose life has become a monotonous routine, right down to his timed process of boiling an egg each morning. Each day he also sends a video message to his missing wife, Layla, and he’s recorded well over 2,000 over the course of seven years. His happy-go-lucky roommate, Dave Bosley (Joel Fry), urges him to move on and embrace the chaos of life. What he doesn’t know is that a series of events have already been set into place that will force him to do just that.
Early into the pilot, Winton is brought in for questioning at the Slough police station by officers claiming he’s the leader of an anarchist cyber-terrorism group called Deus Ex Machina. They have a snapshot of him and his wife, seemingly proving his story of missing lover is a work of fiction, but we later find out — after Jamie badgers his mother — that he actually was adopted and has an estranged twin brother. It’s no doubt a complicated story with a lot of moving parts, and that’s just the beginning.
We also meet Rhonda McNeil (Jenna Fischer), a librarian imprisoned in New Mexico for covering for her hacker son, and Leanne (Megan Mullally like you’ve never seen her), a white supremacist with a southern cadence whose cell is next to Rhonda’s. The third storyline, taking place at the Vatican in Italy, is perhaps the most clever, involving Sister Celine (Gaia Scodellaro) and Father Jude (Rob Lowe), whose work at the church is that of a literal “devil’s advocate” who makes sure messiahs and priests are fit to serve. When Celine wants to be a researcher at the church, he grills her on the nature of her faith, causing her to question why it is she wants to be here. Although she admits doubt — there’s no faith without doubt, Jude tells her — she doubles down and commits herself to Catholicism. It’s around that time that the president announces a comet is heading to Earth, and the show’s nutty pitch starts to take form.
Maybe I should’ve said this sooner: In the show’s opening minutes, before we shift into our linear story, we see that all of these people will come to end up in the same bunker together: humanity’s only survivors. It will be interesting to see how it all comes together — and if advance reviews are any indication, there may be a few bumps in the road getting there — but I’m excited to see how it will play out. Not only does Hollands’ creation carry itself with a breezy tone, but the actors imbue their performances with that same light-hearted sense of fun. One of the best moments comes when Rhonda, terrified to be behind bars, listens to Leanne for support though she cannot see her face. We can’t see it either, until the camera slowly pans to reveal a woman with yellowing buck-teeth, a swastika tattoo and a mad look in her eye.
The scene is a lot like the show in general, a charmer with just the right amount of depravity. So what if it’s not the most original idea — the experience of watching “You, Me and the Apocalypse” reminds us of good reboots like FX’s “Fargo” or Netflix’s “Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp.” It brings something new to the table.
_Edited by Katherine Rosso — krosso@themaneater.com_