“The Last Days of the Space Age” is a mess of a missed opportunity | TV/Streaming

Going into The Last Days of the Space Age, I have to admit I didn’t know much about 1970s Australia. But honestly, great television doesn’t require a deep understanding of the setting, historical or otherwise, to work. When I started Shōgun I knew a lot less about feudal Japan, and I was completely captivated by it. In fact, one of the reasons television (and narrative fiction as a whole) is so powerful is that it can serve as a window into different places, times, and cultures, helping us recognize our shared humanities And our differences. Great television even shapes our understanding of history and ourselves.

But unfortunately, The Last Days of the Space Age isn’t great television. It’s not even good. Now I’ve only seen the four (of eight episodes) that were made available to critics. So it’s possible that the back half is completely transformative.

However, based on the first half, I’m sad to say that there’s nothing to look forward to here. “The Last Days of the Space Age” introduces many characters – and I mean many – but puts the least compelling characters front and center. Meet the Bissetts: Father Tony (Jesse Spencer) is a factory worker and union leader who has been on strike for six months; Ms. Judy (Radha Mitchell, doing her best) works in management at the same factory, and yes, she breaks the picket line to go to work every day. But we are supposed to be on her side, even though she regularly tells her husband to be a man and take care of us. It’s confusing. There are other jobs! Get them! Even strict gender norms are not a feminist act.

They have two teenage daughters, one pretty and free, the other smart and simple. The supposedly inconspicuous Tilly (Mackenzie Mazur) wants to become an astronaut (hence the title) and organizes her entire life accordingly. Still, her career counselor discourages her and her best friend Jono (Aidan Du Chiem) tells her in the first episode that she is alone. She persists – until a woman tells her that’s not possible and then Tilly throws away all her space things. Why? What makes this setback different? Unknown.

Meanwhile, free spirit Mia (Emily Grant) loves surfing, kisses her sister’s best friend and fights off the boys/young men who would take her waves. Don’t worry – she will be punished for it. Roll your eyes quietly.

These frustrating four are the focus of the series, and their trite and frankly offensive storylines at least splinter into potentially interesting supporting characters.

Take the Vietnamese family who runs a food truck in the Western Australian city of Perth. We see them struggle with the small (and large) aggression of the European descendants surrounding them. Older son Jono is the Bissett daughters’ best friend/romantic partner. It seems like his younger brother has died, but then we learn that he may still be alive. But what circumstance prompted them to immigrate? Was the experience of being separated from (or losing) children common for people who embarked on the journey? What is actually happening here? “The Last Days of the Space Age” gives no context, so you’ll have to google it. And because so little time is devoted to them, their potentially emotional story is given no weight at all. Instead, The Last Days of the Space Age is about finding Judy’s struggles to endure and persevere in an office job more compelling.

I suspect that Australia also hosted Miss Universe in 1979, which is portrayed as a big deal in the series, but still extremely accessible to everyone in Perth, with Mia and her friends crashing the beauty queens’ party, for example. Inexplicably, The Last Days of the Space Age makes Miss USSR (Ines English) a central character (or as central as anyone in this show). We see her doused with a red liquid, navigating the competition’s internal politics between contestants, and exerting her power as she connects with Tony’s gay brother Mick (George Mason, who at least has fun with it). I don’t know why. Does this woman matter? What makes you better or worse than the other participants? Maybe it will help Mick achieve economic success, but why and who cares?

Are you lost yet? Because there is a completely different plot and a completely different character! Meet Eileen (Deborah Mailman). She lives next door to the Bissetts and is having a secret affair with Judy’s father (Iain Glen). Since neither of them is married, it is unclear why they kept the affair secret. It could be because he is white and she is Aboriginal. But maybe race isn’t the reason – maybe they’re just worried about small town gossip (is Perth a small town?). There are so many answered questions. Eileen’s activist daughter has a teenage son (the same age as the Bissett girls) and Eileen insists that he live with her and go to school rather than traveling around the country in protest. The boy (Thomas Weatherall) is racially profiled on his first day of school (by the police officer who also lives next door to the Bissetts) and eventually a conscript says that the police officer’s daughter belongs to his worldview. Therefore, he and Eileen would have worked better as the focal point of this show, as they transcend racial and class barriers and have a better understanding of the systems that operate around them.

But unfortunately we’re left with the confusing white family who are more dude than human. It’s as if the series chose diversity for diversity’s sake with its country acknowledgment in the end credits. But the non-white characters are never the focus, even though their perspectives and experiences seem far more compelling.

And this is where The Last Days of the Space Age really fails, because it tries to have its cake and eat it too. This is a show where all but one of our teenagers live next door to each other, in a kind of TV magic that expands plausibility. The whole thing is an over-the-top manufactured mess. Yes, the characters are all part of the same social environment, but how (or if) their struggles are connected is entirely unclear. “The Last Days of the Space Age” strives for a slice-of-life atmosphere, but fails to transport the audience into that slice. This is a show that has nothing to say about it, I hope the wide cast of characters (and the fancy period costumes) somehow distract you from noticing.

Four episodes were screened for review. It premieres October 2nd on Hulu.