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Stream this delightfully intelligent comedy

Creators Matt Hubbard and Alan Yang really don’t want critics to give too much away about the plot of their oneseries, eight-episode, Amazon Prime series Forever. That’s because I suppose they think the quirky hook is central to the enterprise. But frankly, it’s pretty much impossible not to talk about the hook in this sweet exploration of the existential crises of middle-class relationships in the 21st century.

Yang was the co-creator with Aziz Ansari of the comedian’s excellent Master of None and worked on the NBC sitcom The Good Place — in which heaven turns out not to be quite as heavenly as its residents would have hoped. This is worth mentioning as Forever combines some of the smart, dryly comic observations of relationships that characterised Master of None with a significant aspect of the premise of The Good Place and perhaps a touch of Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice thrown in for good measure.

In the first episode we’re introduced through an extended montage to married couple June (Maya Rudolph) and Oscar (Fred Armisen, pictured right) — geeky, quirky outsiders who have slipped from the heady days of mutual discovery to mundane acceptance of routine over the years. June is quietly suffering, while Oscar seems happy to accept the well-worn rhythms of their marriage. When June suggests that they try out something different and go on a skiing holiday, Oscar reluctantly agrees.

Here’s where it’s impossible not to spoil some of the plot — after a fight on the slopes, Oscar hits a tree and dies. The second episode sees June trying to deal with her guilt. Just as she seems to be making some headway, she chokes and dies. It’s in the third episode that Forever gets down to the meat of its premise — June and Oscar are reunited in a godless afterlife where they are residents of a quiet suburban complex called Riverside in which there seems to be not much more to do than be with each other ... forever.

Here’s where Hubbard and Yang really get to explore the big ideas — if relationships were truly eternal, would they be any better?

Without giving much more of the plot away, let’s just say that the answer, in heaven as on earth, is more complicated than you might think. That’s thanks to delightfully inventive writing and strong casting, which allows the two SNL skit veterans to explore their ability to create characters with plenty of human folly and pathos, aided with a splendid turn by the excellent Catherine Keener. An intelligently funny and curious rumination on a universal topic that makes it worth the effort. ●L