- Network: Channel 4 , IFC , SundanceTV , Sundance Now
- Series Premiere Date: Sep 6, 2017
Season #: 2, 1
Critic Reviews
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Not-quite sibling rivalry hits new heights of hilarity in this second season of this savagely funny showcase for the British comedy duo of David Mitchell and Robert Webb. [12 - 25 Apr, p.11]
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If you're getting the sense this is a rather bleak comedy, it's important to underline just how breezy the tone of Back is. The ensemble faces their regular miseries with humor and hope, the latter even funnier because it seems so unjustified.
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It will take at least until the end of this six-episode run – and hopefully a few series more – to discover whether either Andrew or Stephen can really change. ... It is a testament to the masterful construction of this comedy-thriller that it remains possible to imagine they might.
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Not every joke hits the bullseye, but there can be no denying Back is a very sharply written show. It’s a witty sitcom first and foremost, but its intriguing overarching story also utilises elements from mystery thrillers and family dramas to great effect.
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Any actors who can extract comic value from the phrase “urinal cakes”(Mitchell and Webb); and any team who can make us laugh as we confront deeply troubling mental health issues (what Stephen just calls being “mad” as “useful shorthand”) deserves recognition and the odd Bafta.
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Mitchell and Webb being reunited is exactly the comfort food that television needs right now. Although Mitchell is ubiquitous on TV and radio, together they have a yin-and-yang alchemy that is as soothing as Sudocrem on a bottom rash, even if it is inevitable that one keeps comparing Back to Peep Show.
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So while there’s plenty of shifting around in “Back” Season 2, the humor comes from the same place: melancholy resignation to the fact that something will always be (fittingly, in the words of the new network’s slogan) slightly off.
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Back is not up to the level of Peep Show or other more recent short, quirky comedies. It’s really more of a collection of ideas than a fully-formed series. But its cozy-caustic style hits just enough to be worth a short binge, if largely to hear Mitchell just create and repeat the phrase “hedge vodka” over and over again.
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Just when you’re settling into this series and thinking, maybe it’s not really anything like Peep Show, Webb says: “Can I apologise for everything…” and Mitchell shoots back: “Everything in the world? The Napoleonic Wars? Smallpox? The cry-laugh emoji? Slavery? Declining literacy rates?”
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