What To Know
- Youth‘s finale delivered more than one twist for Alex as she navigated her personal and professional life.
- Star and creator Sharon Horgan breaks down that Malcolm reveal and what it could mean moving forward.
Youth‘s finale episode left the door open for Sharon Horgan‘s return as Alex after a cliffhanger conclusion surrounding her love life. The Season 1 finale of the HBO comedy followed the literary agent to a pivotal awards ceremony, which further threw her life into chaos. Warning: Spoilers for Youth Season 1 Episode 8 ahead!
As viewers will recall, Season 1’s penultimate episode saw Alex uncover a pros and cons list crafted by her boyfriend, Patrick (Rupert Friend), which sent her walking out the door when she realized that not being able to have kids together was a “con.” When she arrived at the awards ceremony in the finale, she’d received various texts from Patrick as he sought her attention, but Alex was deflective.
Meanwhile, various ups and downs with clients only put pressure on her working relationship with her boss, Sam (Sharlene Whyte), who was upset by her stressed marriage, which began to crack even further after her husband, Frank (Robbie Gee), announced his plan to move out over text. Alex’s son Ruari (Aran Murphy) was also on site for the event and distraught after what he believed was a failed romantic encounter, and took those emotions out on his mother.
HBO
In the end, Alex awoke the day after the event in former client and apparent nemesis Malcolm’s (Douglas Hodge) apartment following a drunken hookup. As Alex endured the walk of shame home, she got a call from Sam, who informed her about Malcolm signing with their agency, which hinted she’d have to work with him in the future after the awkward tryst.
“He’s a really complex character,” Horgan tells TV Insider. “He starts out as the comic relief, but they’re kind of connected in a way, in terms of where he’s at in his life and what he thought he should have brought to the table, and where he is now is cynically writing romantasy that by luck and timing has become this huge hit,” she adds.
With this added layer to the story, it calls into question what direction Alex could take, and as Horgan puts it, “I also find him like an incredible foil for Alex; he is her nemesis in a way… They weren’t right for each other as client and agent, but there’s a lot more to it.”
Sam even promoted Alex, who was clearly leery of such an endeavour, just as she walked up to her apartment entrance where Patrick waited for her. While they talked, Patrick tried to make it clear that he wanted to carry on their romance, but Alex assured him she was doing him a favor by ending it.
She scrambled away and joined Ruari in the apartment, where the episode concluded with them looking at videos on social media, much like how the season began. The question that looms is: will there be a Season 2 of Youth? And if so, will Alex fix things with Patrick or find herself tangled up in something twisted with Malcolm?
Stay tuned to find out as we await Season 2 renewal news, and let us know what you’d like to see in the comments section below.
Youth, Streaming now, HBO Max