As BBC's Years and Years, which has aired in the United States on HBO, came to a close with Episode 6 airing July 29, the writers couldn't help but throw in some more comparisons between evil Prime Minister Vivienne Rook (Emma Thompson) and President Donald Trump.
The limited series follows the Lyons family living in the United Kingdom between 2019 and 2034. As a newscaster explains in 2029 that journalists have been banned from Downing Street, Rook is seen insulting journalists. Not only do the insults sound strikingly familiar, so do the journalists' claims.
Newscaster: A journalist has been banned from Downing Street after challenging the Prime Minister.
Journalist: It's said that Russia have been funding the Four Star Party.
Vivienne Rook: Oh, Fake News! Every time!
Journalist: Reports of sexual harassment within Four Star headquarters.
Vivienne Rook: Pack of lies!
Journalist: It's heavily implied that the voting was rigged.
Vivienne Rook: You are the enemy of the people!
Journalist: Mrs. Rook, there are questions about your Income Tax Returns.
Vivienne Rook: This is why journalism is dying!
But Prime Minister Rook doesn't merely insult and ban journalists, she also runs concentration camps known as the Erstwhile sites for refugees and asylum seekers.
These camps made were first mentioned in July 22's Episode Five, with Rook bringing up the use of concentration camps from the Boer War. She said that back then, the British emptied the camps by "let[ting] nature take it's course" with neglect, disease and filthy, crowded conditions allowing a "natural selection process" to take place. While "some people call this policy genocide," she acknowledged, others call it "efficient." "Everything is much older than we think. And everything old happens again," she said, telegraphing her intentions for the Erstwhile sites. (The episode originally aired on the BBC before Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez made her remarks comparing detention centers for immigrants to concentration camps, then claiming she wasn't referring to the Holocaust, but examples like the Boer War.)
After many in the Lyons family help expose the Erstwhile sites, led by Edith (Jessica Hynes), PM Rook is ultimately taken away in handcuffs on charges of murder and conspiracy to murder, something liberals would be all too happy to see happen to Trump.
Viewers are also treated to a call to action from matriarch Muriel (Anne Reid), the grandmother of the adult Lyons. While gathered for a dinner, talk about cashiers being replaced by machines turns into a rant about how "this is the world we built" and “every single thing that's gone wrong” is all their fault. “You didn't do anything, did you? Twenty years ago, when they first popped up, did you walk out?” she challenges them – and us. Presumably we the viewers are being blamed for the Trump presidency, Brexit and what horrors the show predicts will come next – but we still have time to fix the future!
