«Do you ever feel like your brain is vomiting right into your skull?» “I feel like this all the time.” No, this is not a dialogue between two seriously ill patients, but just a conversation between the parents of two children who are not yet too grown up. From such dialogues, comical and tragic situations, “Parents of the Year” is composed — a funny, slightly nervous and sometimes very poignant British mini-series with Martin Freeman in the title role.
“What happiness can be with two children?! Real happiness is when you are in Portugal drinking wine and eating meaty tomatoes.”
“Yes, what kind of parents are these!” — after this remark, some will exclaim indignantly. “Some somehow bring up five — and nothing!” — others will irritably pick up. At first, it really may seem that Paul and Ellie are overdramatizing — after all, they have only two children who have safely survived the hard-to-be-beared crisis of three years.
But everyone, and this is probably the main idea of »Parents of the Year», has its own margin of safety, especially since children are a surprise. And a big surprise — sleepless nights and endless gatherings in the morning, maddening questions and toys scattered everywhere, serious anxieties and kilometers of exhausted nerves.
Therefore, Paul and Ellie … yes, in fact, live the most ordinary life. Immeasurably love children and every now and then break down on them. They sort things out with their own parents and try to resolve misunderstandings among themselves (“He and Ellie had paper, and I have children with her! Children beat paper in the game“ Children, scissors, paper ”).
They create problems for themselves and get out as best they can. They are incredibly angry with their son and daughter (“This is rage. No one has ever aroused such rage in me as they do”) and are madly worried about them. They are permanently on the verge of a nervous breakdown, but they cope with everything shoulder to shoulder, like a real team.
And all this is very funny and sometimes terribly sad. And a separate reason for sadness is what the grown children of Paul and Ellie will tell their psychotherapists. However, this may well become a plot for a separate dramedy.
3 good reasons to watch Parents of the Year
- Charismatic Martin Freeman — Bilbo Baggins and Watson — in all his glory.
- Excellent jokes, equally good both in the original and in translation (only Paul’s mental dialogue with David Bowie is worth it).
- Timing — in the first season there are only 10 episodes of 20-25 minutes each.