“It could be our wedding night,” suggests Bernard, before both ultimately rejecting the idea as silly. “What if we can be different here?” Lenina ponders as she straddles Bernard on the bedroom floor. All the talk of monogamy and saving oneself gets them both a little hot under their beige collars. In many ways, Bernard and Lenina are living out a sort of fantasy roleplay of a married human couple. “I don’t know,” replies Lenina after a perfectly timed comedic pause.

Lenina enthusiastically regales Bernard with descriptions of how “primitive brides” give their virginity to their partners on their wedding night. There is also growing romantic (or perhaps just sexual) tension between the pair. Lloyd really hams up Bernard’s stuck-up stuffiness, while Findlay brilliantly portrays Lenina’s excited naïveté. Lloyd and Findlay are a joy to watch here with a comfortable chemistry. “They let you touch the skin of an ancient one,” she gushes. Bernard complains about the hotel room view (it overlooks a pool of nude tourists), while Lenina eagerly flicks through a guide book, reading up on the strange “primitive” customs of the savages. They’re like two honeymooners on vacation for the first time in a foreign land. The majority of the laughs this episode come from Bernard ( Harry Lloyd) and Lenina’s ( Jessica Brown Findlay) tour of the Savage Lands. Embracing the absurdity with a wink and a nudge is definitely the way to go otherwise, you risk taking yourself too seriously, which can become laughable but for all the wrong reasons.įind out why the Peacock original is even more relevant in 2020. Yes, the story of Brave New World is dark and scarily prescient, but it’s also heightened sci-fi ridiculousness, with its orgasm-inducing movie theaters and hormone-infused chewing gum and Escalator Squash.

Wells, who, let’s just say, Huxley wasn’t the biggest fan.

After all, Aldous Huxley’s novel began as parody, a tongue-in-cheek satire of the writings of H. It’s only right that Brave New World has a kooky sense of humor. There were hints of humor in the pilot, but the second episode really leans into the goofiness, and it’s all the better for it. I can get on board with a show that doesn’t take itself too seriously, which can often be the danger with these kinds of dystopian dramas. Brave New World isn’t a perfect show by any sense of the word, but if you give me comedian Rich Hall presenting a Tim and Eric-style spoof commercial, then you’re speaking directly to my soul.

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