Death to 2020
Year: 2020
Created by: Charlie Brooker
Starring: Charlie Brooker, Lawrence Fishburne, Hugh Grant, Samuel L. Jackson, Leslie Jones, Samson Kayo, Joe Keery, Lisa Kudrow, Cristin Milioti, Diane Morgan, Kumail Nanjiani & Tracey Ullman
Runtime: 70 mins
BBFC: 15
Published: 30/12/20
Created by: Charlie Brooker
Starring: Charlie Brooker, Lawrence Fishburne, Hugh Grant, Samuel L. Jackson, Leslie Jones, Samson Kayo, Joe Keery, Lisa Kudrow, Cristin Milioti, Diane Morgan, Kumail Nanjiani & Tracey Ullman
Runtime: 70 mins
BBFC: 15
Published: 30/12/20
Death to 2020. It’s a bold statement to say the least but not one without warrant. I don’t need to tell you that it’s been one of the strangest years in a very long time and one that will certainly go in the history books. Whilst not everything was bad, there certainly was a lot to complain about. Some of the worst wildfire’s humanity has ever seen, a global pandemic, race wars, a Presidential election. Anything that could divide us this year has, and it has proved that you’re either hard left, hard right, or in dire need of picking a side because taking the sane middle route clearly isn’t an option anymore.
It was a year that many proclaimed felt as though they were living through an episode of Charlie Brooker’s Black Mirror, which was all the more unsettling when Brooker announced he was filming something for Netflix again. But alas it is not another episode of the ever-dreary Black Mirror, but instead a comedy special about what a crazy year it has been. So, a toast, Death to 2020!
Death to 2020 is a mockumentary where various well-known actors and comedians play the role of someone who can give a radical view of the year’s events. Samuel L. Jackson plays a journalist, Lisa Kudrow plays a Republican spokesperson, Hugh Grant plays a historian, Joe Keery plays a stereotypical millennial, Kumail Nanjaini plays a billionaire, Leslie Jones plays a behavioural scientist (and my favourite character), Tracey Ullman plays The Queen, Samson Kayo plays a scientist, and Cristin Milioti and Diane Morgan play two ‘normal’ people who are swayed by the media in two very different ways.
Nobody is safe when it comes to Death to 2020, it attacks the left and right wings in equally petty ways, and it even attacks those who sit in the middle just because it can. Where something like Borat showed earlier this year that Cohen simply fails to understand what satire is, Brooker is over here giving it all he’s got and whilst it isn’t exactly great it’s certainly better than the alternative.
It was a year that many proclaimed felt as though they were living through an episode of Charlie Brooker’s Black Mirror, which was all the more unsettling when Brooker announced he was filming something for Netflix again. But alas it is not another episode of the ever-dreary Black Mirror, but instead a comedy special about what a crazy year it has been. So, a toast, Death to 2020!
Death to 2020 is a mockumentary where various well-known actors and comedians play the role of someone who can give a radical view of the year’s events. Samuel L. Jackson plays a journalist, Lisa Kudrow plays a Republican spokesperson, Hugh Grant plays a historian, Joe Keery plays a stereotypical millennial, Kumail Nanjaini plays a billionaire, Leslie Jones plays a behavioural scientist (and my favourite character), Tracey Ullman plays The Queen, Samson Kayo plays a scientist, and Cristin Milioti and Diane Morgan play two ‘normal’ people who are swayed by the media in two very different ways.
Nobody is safe when it comes to Death to 2020, it attacks the left and right wings in equally petty ways, and it even attacks those who sit in the middle just because it can. Where something like Borat showed earlier this year that Cohen simply fails to understand what satire is, Brooker is over here giving it all he’s got and whilst it isn’t exactly great it’s certainly better than the alternative.
The big problem with Death to 2020 is that it tells the same jokes we’ve all been saying all year. It doesn’t have a new spin on anything, and it doesn’t have anything particularly controversial to say. The furthest it goes is with Leslie Jones’ character who takes no prisoners when blaming people for everything bad that happened this year. Whilst everyone else seems to be taking a side, Jones’ character seems like the voice of reason by saying we’re all as bad as each other which is why we ended up in this mess. That’s why I like her character so much, because it feels more genuinely reflective in comparison to everyone else’s comparatively reflexive views.
I did also get a kick out of Cristin Milioti’s ‘Karen’ archetype character. At first, I didn’t even realise what was going on with her character and the more the show progressed the more I came to realise that she’s basically a Nazi. I liked that it started subtle and progressed the more the show went on.
Lisa Kudrow was also fantastic and basically summed up every Republican supporter I’ve personally come into contact with or seen on TV. Blame the media all you guys want but when you act like that in real life there’s nothing to hide behind. Whilst it wasn’t a new or refreshing take, I feel Kudrow brought the right level of crazy to the role to make it genuinely believable.
My least favourites were easily Diane Morgan’s idiotic northerner who just seemed oblivious to everything that was going on, and Tracey Ullman’s portrayal of The Queen. These two just seemed to exist as periphery characters that whilst having plenty of screen-time just didn’t add anything meaningful to the conversation. Joe Keery’s millennial was a character I wish we got more of. Whilst he wasn’t among my favourites, I feel he was introduced quite late and therefore didn’t get to give much of an opinion as the others did.
I feel like I’ve said everything I have to say about Death to 2020. It’s nothing you haven’t seen before, but it is competently made, and I’d argue is worth watching just for Leslie Jones and Lisa Kudrow. When it comes to satirical mockumentaries about 2020 I’d say Death to 2020 is on the better end of the spectrum, but honestly this year has been so crazy it’s pretty hard to be satirical about it when most of us have been laughing our asses off in disbelief most of the year anyway.
I did also get a kick out of Cristin Milioti’s ‘Karen’ archetype character. At first, I didn’t even realise what was going on with her character and the more the show progressed the more I came to realise that she’s basically a Nazi. I liked that it started subtle and progressed the more the show went on.
Lisa Kudrow was also fantastic and basically summed up every Republican supporter I’ve personally come into contact with or seen on TV. Blame the media all you guys want but when you act like that in real life there’s nothing to hide behind. Whilst it wasn’t a new or refreshing take, I feel Kudrow brought the right level of crazy to the role to make it genuinely believable.
My least favourites were easily Diane Morgan’s idiotic northerner who just seemed oblivious to everything that was going on, and Tracey Ullman’s portrayal of The Queen. These two just seemed to exist as periphery characters that whilst having plenty of screen-time just didn’t add anything meaningful to the conversation. Joe Keery’s millennial was a character I wish we got more of. Whilst he wasn’t among my favourites, I feel he was introduced quite late and therefore didn’t get to give much of an opinion as the others did.
I feel like I’ve said everything I have to say about Death to 2020. It’s nothing you haven’t seen before, but it is competently made, and I’d argue is worth watching just for Leslie Jones and Lisa Kudrow. When it comes to satirical mockumentaries about 2020 I’d say Death to 2020 is on the better end of the spectrum, but honestly this year has been so crazy it’s pretty hard to be satirical about it when most of us have been laughing our asses off in disbelief most of the year anyway.