Review: YOLO: Silver Destiny “The Parents Episode”

Overview:

YOLO: Silver Destiny regales audiences with the greatest love story of all time–how Sarah’s mom and dad first met and tied the knot. Oddly enough, it’s Lucas who seeks this tale of familial lore from Sarah’s clan, but it becomes the perfect excuse to take a trip back in time to Ye Olde Wollongong. The bittersweet circumstances behind this fairytale romance prove that true love can overcome even the most impossible of odds–like an arranged marriage to a hunky space boulder.

Our Take:

There have been certain constants to YOLO that have bubbled along the edges of the series without ever being properly focused on themselves. Sarah’s larger than life–literally–parents have led to some comedic non-sequiturs that have worked in the past to little consequence. Two seasons in, it feels like the appropriate time for YOLO to take a deeper look at these rogue elements. As the title of “The Parents Episode” suggests, YOLO: Silver Destiny doesn’t just put Sarah’s parents in the spotlight, but it uses them as replacements for Sarah and Rachel as the series goes all-in on this unhinged parable. “The Parents Episode” is one of the most creative episodes of YOLO: Silver Destiny as the wisdom and origins of Sarah’s parents collide with Lucas’ quest for a love potion. The past becomes the key to the future in this powerful episode where YOLO showcases a more fantastical side of itself as it indulges in a detached tale from the Wollongong of yesteryear.

One of the most obvious changes between YOLO: Silver Destiny and its predecessor, YOLO: Crystal Fantasy, is the greater role that Lucas has played in the former. Lucas’ prominence reached its apex in the previous episode, but his actions continue to dictate the series’ plot in major ways. It’s comforting that YOLO is comfortable enough to let its supporting characters steal the show and trust the world that it’s built to the point that stories can succeed without the main characters always being present. “The Parents Episode” is a bold departure for YOLO in the sense that it focuses on Lucas’ destiny and the fractured fairy tale that’s presented from Sarah’s dad looks at the past generation of Wollongong.

YOLO: Silver Destiny has always been a series where supernatural monsters and cryptid-like oddities brush up with reality, but “The Parents Episode” feels the most removed from the real world and the show’s first actual attempt to play around with fantasy storytelling. “The Parents Episode” functions like an apocryphal Australian fairy tale, which means that nothing everything about it has to make sense or outlandish leaps can be taken and justified through the colorful storytelling of Sarah’s father. It’s always fun when a series gets the opportunity to experiment in this type of “bedtime story” narrative space and it’s effective that YOLO uses such a genre-heavy format to tell what’s supposed to be the meet-cute origin story of Sarah’s patents. 

YOLO has never over-analyzed why Sarah’s parents are literal giants, but their omnipresence during this origin story gives it a bit of a Gulliver’s Travels quality as YOLO gets particularly Jonathan Swift-ian in its dry satire. The whole star-crossed lover angle is nothing new for YOLO and it works well here once “The Parents Episode” embraces a further Disney-like quality. The episodes’ respective “Prince Charming” sings sorrowful songs over his unrequited love and the town can’t help but musically celebrate his arrival Furthermore, Sarah’s princess mom is destined to marry Prince Boulder, a comet, which is the perfect type of nonsense that fuels a typical YOLO episode. Of course her fiance is a sentient object, because why not? It makes no difference in the end so it might as well be something that’s truly nonsensical. It’s for this same reason that it’s easy to not flinch when Prince Boulder turns out to just be a “disguise” for a frail boy.  

“The Parents Episode” is a strong episode of YOLO: Silver Destiny, albeit one that feels a little disconnected and somewhat contrived when it comes to Lucas’ grander season-long journey. That being said, it’s hard to complain over YOLO’s desire to mix things up and engage in something that’s slightly out of its comfort zone. Lucas could have just as easily heard this story through Sarah and Rachel and it’s better off for not leaning into this safer decision. “The Parents Episode” does admittedly feel like it’s slightly lacking the typical zest of the series, but it’s worth it for what YOLO is able to accomplish in the grander scheme of things in the process.