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The Arts Intel Report

A Cultural Compass
For the World Traveler
A Cultural Compass
For the World Traveler

This Way Up

Streaming on Hulu

The one unfortunate thing about Fleabag was its timing. We got to watch the camera pan up close on Phoebe Waller-Bridge when the world was well off, or at least comparably so, not knowing how much that show’s comedic lift would help right about now. Here, then, is the next best thing, another story of a young woman (played by Aisling Bea, who also wrote the six-episode series) and her sister (Sharon Horgan, who co-created the show) living in London. In this case, they’re Irish Catholic, and the episodes follow Aine (Bea) trying to pull her life together after a nervous breakdown. With this simple story line, This Way Up delivers laugh-out-loud humor and serious conversations on mental health in equal measure. (It will take you at least five minutes to realize that the institution the sisters are complaining about in the first episode’s opening scene is a rehab center, not a spa.) Channel 4 (in the U.K.) and Hulu (U.S.) have just confirmed that the show will return for a second season, making this the perfect time to catch up on the first. —J.V.

Aisling Bea, writer and star of “This Way Up.” Photo courtesy of Hulu.