This article contains spoilers for Youth Season 1 Episode 5.
The only thing worse than joining a couple’s holiday with your teenage son is having your ex-husband and his new partner there, alongside the man you love but lack the courage to confess your feelings to and his much younger partner. For Alex (Sharon Horgan), finding herself in humiliating situations is another day ending in Y, but the trip to Ibiza for Sam (Sharlene Whyte) and Frank’s (Robbie Gee) tenth anniversary makes Episode 5 of Youth the series’ strongest yet. Jack Rooke (Big Boys) delivers a script that packs comedic punch after punch before ending on a twist that will leave even the most casual viewer reeling, making the wait for Episode 6 all the more agonising.
Although HBO greenlit Youth for an international audience, Horgan’s comedy naturally resonates with British and Irish viewers who may appreciate its cultural references more so than audiences in the United States. The show continues to demonstrate its creator’s quick wit, delivering lines that make you both laugh out loud one minute and leave you aghast the next. “Ryanair’s for the English, Ruari. It’s how we get our revenge on them for war, and famine, and Russell Brand” is a particular highlight in the opening minutes, setting the tone for an enjoyable half hour that never misses a beat, including when Ruari (Aran Murphy) wants Alex to do what women her age do in Ibiza and head to Wayne Lineker’s bar. During a game of Heads Up, the pair put the three couples around them to shame with their winning round. When Alex suggests, “A person we think could be a pedo,” the answer “Postman” delivers an equally hilarious punchline.
Horgan’s charisma makes it easy for her to establish chemistry with her scene partners, even when she leans into the neurotic comedy that has become her trademark. Previous episodes have showcased her rapport with Whyte and Rupert Friend, but Episode 5 brings Alex’s relationship with Ruari to the forefront. Horgan and Murphy make a delightful pairing, capturing the tenderness and friction within a mother-son relationship as teenage troubles and angst bring them closer. This week’s episode strengthens their bond further by contrasting Alex’s efforts to understand and accept her son with Lorcan’s (Owen McDonnell) deadbeat approach to fatherhood.
Lorcan has not been seen or heard from since announcing that he and his partner, Theresa (Karla Crome), were heading to Canada. Despite Ruari’s troubles and need for male support, he makes it clear that he wants nothing to do with anything resembling father-son bonding, including joining the boys’ night out. The promise of a girls’ night at the villa soon changes his mind, but it does little to stop Lorcan from turning on Alex, believing she has turned Ruari against him. He thinks she has mollycoddled their son to the point that he has become too sensitive, which is not the case. Yet the social messaging storyline receives little attention this week, continuing the series’ tendency to give it too little weight, especially since Murphy has proven himself a capable actor in his own right.
Unable to steer clear of Alex, Patrick (Friend) steps into the role of confidant. Ruari opens up to him, explaining that his father no longer asks what is going on in his life. Instead, Ruari suspects Lorcan fears hearing something difficult and having to deal with it – an irony in itself. Alex rarely, if ever, has the luxury of avoiding her son’s problems, highlighting the unequal balance between the roles mothers and fathers play in their children’s lives. Ruari doesn’t want to become his father, but Patrick offers some reassurance, suggesting that Lorcan’s dickishness will be cancelled out by having a mother like Alex.
It’s a testament to Youth’s writing that Patrick proves so charming when, on paper, his circumstances might make you run a mile. Despite Cara (Nadia Parkes) interrupting their time together, Patrick and Alex keep gravitating towards each other. At one point, Patrick tells Alex that she makes smoking look good (he isn’t lying) before taking the cigarette from her and brushing ash from her hair. Later, he asks whether she fancies staying awake to watch the sun come up. They end up falling asleep together outside, but when Cara returns home and finds them, Patrick leaves Alex outside, unaware that she is awake and has heard everything.
If that weren’t enough to make you sick with anticipation, Episode 5 lulls you into a false sense of security before delivering its devastating final twist. Sam and Frank provide much of the episode’s lighter entertainment, with a bout of jealousy giving Whyte some particularly hilarious material. During the boys’ night out, Sam bombards Frank with messages, hoping he won’t find a replacement for her. He eventually heads back to the villa with the others because she is in a “mard,” but Frank soon gets in trouble after bringing everyone a round of Craig Davids, a drink Ruari hadn’t tried until Frank’s friend, Georgia, started making them at his bar.
Sam is furious, and the others watch their ensuing argument from outside their room. The tension soon gives way to something sweeter when, the next day, Sam and Frank celebrate their anniversary with a boat rave on their final day in Ibiza. However, the celebrations take a worrying turn when Frank jumps into the water and suffers a heart attack.
There is something embarrassingly ironic about the commitment-phobic man finding a new lust for life after a tragic event, but it is nonetheless romantic to watch. After jumping in to save Frank, Patrick tells Alex that life is short and admits he worries he didn’t try hard enough with them. He doesn’t want any regrets, and he misses her. Alex is smitten, but she points out he has said this before. For Patrick, this time it hurts. If this weren’t fiction, you would be yelling at her to run. But it is, and Rooke makes it difficult not to root for them anyway.
Youth has been consistently funny since its first episode, but Episode 5 confirms the HBO series has found its stride. Horgan has created the natural next step from Pulling and Catastrophe, giving women a definitive series to watch in their fifties.
