Season Review: YOLO: Silver Destiny

Overview:

Wollongong’s favorite perennial party animals, Sarah and Rachel, find themselves headed towards exciting destinies that will help them grow, but may ultimately put them at odds with each other. Sarah’s quest to cultivate the perfect garden and Rachel’s desire to tyrannically rule over disenfranchised losers both get within arm’s reach, but these two besties are forced to consider the price of happiness and if it’s actually what they want out of life. A season of chaotic comedy pushes these two characters, along with the opportunistic Lucas, towards their greatest adventures yet. 

Our Take:

Michael Cusack has come a long way since the humble origins of YOLO: Crystal Fantasy. He’s gone from having one niche series on the air to now being responsible for three subversive hits and that rejuvenating energy is palpable throughout this second season of YOLO: Silver Destiny. The first season of YOLO set a high benchmark as it juxtaposed grounded melodrama with absurdist creatures and fantasy fiction, all while tying it all together in a succinct package. YOLO: Silver Destiny riffs on the same ideas and character dynamics, but it feels slightly more evolved in its storytelling especially when it comes to a season of television that’s surprisingly serialized. YOLO: Silver Destiny will please fans of the first season, but it’s also likely to satisfy those who felt unfulfilled or that Crystal Fantasy was too wild in some of its swings. Silver Destiny finds the best of both worlds with a comedic season of animated television that feels simultaneously more palatable as well as more alienating. That’s the beauty of YOLO.

YOLO: Silver Destiny is more serialized than Crystal Fantasy, but it still largely tells a season of standalone stories that find ways of intersecting with the grander narrative and these characters’ arcs rather than fully controlling them. Silver Destiny finds comfort in the many ways in which it reflects Rachel’s toxic nature towards Sarah, but this season also effectively flips this dynamic and looks at some of Sarah’s own poisonous personality traits. The first season of YOLO has already perfected the chemistry between Sarah and Rachel that this season is much more willing to split the two up and focus on the series’ supporting characters. This results in substantially more of a focus on Lucas, who steers plenty of episodes and may be the best revision that’s made this season. 

Lucas offers such a different energy than Sarah or Rachel and it’s impressive how the series makes the audience empathize with someone who’s introduced as such a mouth-breathing neckbeard creep. Along these lines, YOLO: Silver Destiny‘s growing confidence results in an exaggerated flashback episode that focuses on Sarah’s parents and the show’s central characters sit the installment out. It’s always exciting when a series continues to find its voice and takes risks of this nature. If a third season of YOLO happens then the series will surely go even further in this regard and the size of the net that it casts across its version of Wollongong. There’s such a rich supporting cast of characters, all of which could sustain their own extended exercises in nonsense.

YOLO: Silver Destiny splits its episodes between standard popularity contests where Sarah and Rachel scramble to throw together perfect parties. There is also no shortage of highly stylized efforts that involve the invasion of dreams or hostage situations that involve giant bees. YOLO: Silver Destiny never struggles to turn standard stories on their ear so it’s impossible to tell a story’s direction even after YOLO develops a certain anarchic formula for itself. YOLO carefully figures out ways to riff on similar themes without ever feeling derivative of itself, or if it does, it’s in order to make a larger commentary on the toxic nature of Sarah and Rachel’s friendship.

At the same time, YOLO: Silver Destiny–even more so than the first season–fearlessly plods ahead through some dark material that’s not conducive to comedy. Sometimes jokes hit harder because they’re juxtaposed against grim thoughts, but YOLO isn’t afraid to let its dramatic moments speak for themselves and not undercut everything with a cheap gag. There’s still such an outrageous celebration of all things Australia and if nothing else audiences will leave this season with a much deeper understanding of bilbies. 

Much like in the case of YOLO: Crystal Fantasy, the highlight of Silver Destiny is this season’s finale, which properly connects together a season’s worth of dots. In the case of YOLO’s first season, there was a two-part finale to celebrate their climax. Silver Destiny pulls together a triple-sized installment that takes advantage of this season’s slightly longer episode order of ten episodes. YOLO: Silver Destiny wraps things up with class in a way that would be beyond satisfying if it needs to function as the show’s end. That being said, there’s still so much silly story left to tell and Michael Cusack has been vocal about how he views YOLO as a trilogy that he’d like to bring to a proper finish.

There’s a sense of closure that’s experienced from YOLO’s main trio of characters, but in some ways there’s more material for them to explore than ever due to the progress that they make and the growth that they experience. It’s exciting to consider a version of YOLO where Sarah and Lucas are a couple and Rachel experiences some of the sting of being a third wheel. Even the standard status quo holds new potential after everyone has fulfilled their destinies.

It may seem silly to get lost in the storytelling and trilogy potential of such a ridiculously surreal show, but there’s a sincerity to YOLO that makes it a series that’s worthy of a flashy finish that goes all out and pushes its boundaries even further. Silver Destiny tops the heights of Crystal Fantasy and there’s no reason to believe that a third season wouldn’t continue this trend. Sarah, Rachel, Lucas–and even Peleeken–have a lot more hell to raise across Wollongong and YOLO deserves one more season of absurdity.