3 out of 5

Created by: Iain Hollands

The intro that kicks off each episode of this series – a disheveled Mathew Baynton saying yep, the apocalypse is happening; the asteroids are hitting and I’m in a bunker in the wonderfully named Slough with – a nod to that episode’s featured character and glimpses of others – this oddball crew – pretty much gives you every indication of whether or not YM&A is for you.  If the eccentricities of the characters interest or make you chuckle; if Baynton’s wide-eyed and dry delivery is endearing, then you’ll want to stick around for the ten episodes that flash back and lead up to this moment.  Even though our end game is established, creator Hollands and his writers are banking on us wanting to understand why and how a nun and a Nazi and a monkey and etcetera wound up gathered together, and they do their best to wind in some little quirks that add dramatic flair, as opposed to just being character featurettes.

The series is at its best when its not running us on this roundabout, though, as we’ve gathered a really awesome series of actors – Rob Lowe, Megan Mullally, Jenna Fischer, Pauline Quirke – who are a joy to watch playing out their different pieces of the eventually interlocking storylines (despite agreed upon complaints of some odd accents).  Baynton is particularly amazing, winkily cast to play both his stereotypical Innocent as well as its opposite, and successfully selling us on each.  It’s also satisfying as things tick on and we accept that the intro (and ending) isn’t a fakeout; this is actually happening.  While the show isn’t above building in some buffer that can take us into a second series, the finality of the approach is fun, and makes the random gaggle of characters easier to appreciate, since we can understand that the point is to bring them together.

But we’ve got a ways to go to get there, and inevitable drag as some plotlines become more interesting than others and the requisite twisty turny mystery stuff is dumped on top.  The show handles it better than most, but it’s still a lot of moving parts and not enough screentime to make them all compelling.

YM&A swings between moods and styles in a way that seems representational of the British/American roots of the series.  The mash-up and 10-episode serialization of the concept churns out some middling moments, but on the whole the show stays afloat and fun considerably more often than not.