Apple TV shoots for the moon with its new dramedy Hiya Tomorrow! Nevertheless, as an alternative of touchdown on the moon and even among the many stars, the collection tumbles again to Earth with a deeply miserable story at odds with the present’s jumbled tone.
The moonshot, on this case, is sort of literal, as Hiya Tomorrow! follows a gaggle of salesmen promoting lunar timeshares in a retro-futuristic world. They’re led by Jack Billings (Billy Crudup), a regional supervisor for Brightside Lunar Residences whose pitches are infused with near-religious zeal. For him, dwelling on the moon is not only a easy relocation. It is an opportunity at a brand new begin, a dream for folks to carry onto when their lives on Earth take a flip for the depressing. But regardless of all his speak of supplying you with a brighter tomorrow right now, we shortly be taught that Jack and the properties he is hawking are in no way what they appear.
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Jack’s lies make Hiya Tomorrow! a tragic — and complicated — watch.
Billy Crudup, Nicholas Podany, and Haneefah Wooden in “Hiya Tomorrow!”
Credit score: Apple TV+
Hiya Tomorrow! mines its battle from the numerous falsehoods Jack peddles. These lies do not simply cease at what he tells his clients. They lengthen to his Brightside coworkers: savvy accounts supervisor Shirley (Haneefah Wooden), curmudgeonly playing addict Eddie (Hank Azaria), and bold go-getter Herb (Dewshane Williams). These three all consider in Jack and the properties they’re promoting, a lot so that they’re even contemplating shifting as much as the moon themselves. Watching Jack spin plates to maintain his companions in the dead of night winds up a irritating expertise.
However none of that frustration compares to the bone-deep disappointment ensuing from Jack’s resolution to carry his estranged son Joey (Nicholas Podany) on as a salesman with out telling the younger man that he is his father. This large lie — and the rising relationship between Jack and Joey — is the driving plotline of Hiya Tomorrow! However it’s uncomfortable in a approach that I am by no means positive is sort of intentional. As Jack molds an unsuspecting Joey right into a smooth-talking mini-me, there is a sense of each sorrow and irritation. On the one hand, that is an upsetting (and misguided) try by a father to reconnect together with his son. On the opposite, as with all case of the “liar revealed” trope(Opens in a brand new tab), you possibly can’t assist however yell at Jack to only inform Joey the reality. In the end, the way you obtain this story — and Hiya Tomorrow! as a complete — will possible rely on the way you react to its enigmatic central determine of Jack.
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Jack is a strolling contradiction, a snake oil salesman who appears to genuinely consider that his snake oil (or lack thereof) will make folks’s lives higher. And therein lies the confusion. Does Jack really assume deceptive his clients will assist them? Or does he solely placed on his “we’re promoting folks goals” shtick as a way to make a fast buck?
To his credit score, Crudup delivers a terrific efficiency, without delay wily and woeful, slippery and sympathetic. Nonetheless, I can not assist however view Jack as extra of a space-age Charles Ponzi than a tragic salesman like Willy Loman. His actions, whereas (maybe) well-intentioned, exploit his usually determined clients like housewife Myrtle Mayburn (Alison Tablet), stringing them together with a promise of a life they won’t ever have.
When it does not deal with Jack, Hiya, Tomorrow! flounders.
Dewshane Williams, Hank Azaria, and Haneefah Wooden in “Hiya Tomorrow!”
Credit score: Apple TV+
Whereas I’ve conflicted ideas about Jack, a minimum of he makes for an uncomfortably compelling point of interest. I can not say the identical about others’ storylines.
Eddie’s confrontations with shady debt collectors really feel like they belong in a completely completely different present, as do Herb and his spouse Betty’s (Susan Heyward) marital troubles. The previous jumps from slapstick to surprisingly violent territory for an in any other case cold present, whereas the latter is surprisingly quirky and revolves round yet one more weird lie. Fortunately, Shirley proves a dependable through-line for the present, whereas Myrtle and commerce agent Lester Costopoulos’s (Matthew Maher) makes an attempt to find the reality about Brightside make for an endearing subplot.
Hiya Tomorrow!’s retro-futuristic design can also be a excessive level, that includes spectacular hovercars, holograms, and even complete motels operated by robots. There’s a sinister high quality to this ever-present know-how: Early on, a self-driving mail supply truck knocks a lady out whereas attempting to keep away from a canine. Sadly, Hiya Tomorrow! by no means delves deep into this darkness. Nor does it stay as much as the premise of communities on the moon, one thing that’s dangled in entrance of Jack’s clients and viewers alike.
For a present whose protagonist usually talks of the facility of goals and a brighter future, Hiya Tomorrow! positive likes to mood its personal viewers’s expectations.
There may be undoubtedly potential right here, due to enjoyable performances throughout the board and stunningly realized visuals. However after watching your complete first season, the story left me feeling emptier than one among Jack’s guarantees, and my toes remained squarely on Earth.
The primary three episodes of Hiya Tomorrow! hit Apple TV+ Friday Feb. 17, with new episodes weekly.(Opens in a brand new tab)