YEARS AND YEARS
HBO, 9:00 p.m. ET
Two things, in particular, fascinate me about this imported miniseries, which says a lot about our global society and concerns today by imagining their counterparts of tomorrow. What happens politically, in the U.K. and the U.S., in this hypothetical future is so oppressive and depressing, it’s less a speculative drama than a horror film. And creator Russell T. Davies, who resuscitated Doctor Who for the modern era, has had so much fun imagining the technology of the near future, Years and Years is almost like a bastard twin of Black Mirror. (Bastard twin? Okay, that’s a stretch, but The Patty Duke Show gave us twin cousins, and few people complained then…) In tonight’s second episode, the political rise of Emma Thompson’s Viv continues – and Lydia West’s Bethany (pictured) continues to astound and frighten her mother by being an early adopter of invasive new technology. Such as, for example, demonstrating how she’s gotten an implant that turns her into a sort of human phone…