Two Years Later review: Brisbane drama has more character than your average romance

An on-screen romance needs two things to work. First, you need some kind of hook to lure audiences in, because ‘two attractive people meet and fall in love’ on its own isn’t going to cut it. And then you need two actors that can do a lot with a little, because once you get past the hook all you have left is two attractive people falling in love.

Australian series Two Years Later has a hook – two in fact – but by halfway through the first episode it’s already moved beyond one of them. The first is that Ryan Wright (Brenton Thwaites) and Emily ‘no relation’ Wright (Phoebe Tonkin) used to spend their commute being mildly flirtatious on the same Brisbane bus every morning until Covid struck. When they meet up again post-lockdown, Ryan has decided to take things to the next level.

The second is his proposition: they’ll go on eight dates, and at the end they’ll get married. Or not, as he makes very clear – the idea is to see if their friendship can develop into the something-more he thinks it can.

The first date is just going to be coffee; what has she got to lose? It’s not like they don’t already have a connection.

Eight dates, eight episodes

The Covid stuff fades halfway through episode one, and the eight dates provides the basic structure for the rest of the series. They’re half hour episodes (one per date) and the focus is tight on the two leads. A lot of each episode is them just chatting away. Two Years Later is all about the little things that build up to a big relationship.

Some of the seeds for future developments are fairly obvious: their individual living situations are different enough that they suggest basic differences in who they are as people. But everything has meaning here. An early chat where she reveals she always carries an umbrella while he never bothers isn’t just a fun bit of banter.

With this kind of small-scale storytelling, chemistry is vital. If we don’t buy them as a couple, there’s not much else going on to distract us. Fortunately the slightly awkward set-up means that Ryan and Emily don’t have to come across as glued to the hip – there just has to be the possibility that they could work together.

It actually works to the show’s advantage that they don’t quite connect 100%, as it leaves it all a little up in the air. Sure, early on they seem to be meshing well, but it doesn’t take too long before it starts to feel like it’s going to be work to make it work.

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Two Years Later is full of character

Ryan is the one driving things forward, so it makes sense that he’s a bit more carefree, a bit more optimistic. Emily is more guarded, and a bit more battered by life. That’s probably because she’s a writer doing online reviews, though there are other things going on with her that might explain why she’s a bit more cynical.

Both Tonkin and Thwaites give strong performances that deepen as the series goes on. The scales between them aren’t completely balanced: Ryan’s problems seem to largely be in the past, while Emily’s issues are still ongoing. But Thwaites does a lot to suggest depths to a character who initially seems like a too-perfect date and Tonkin (in a slightly meatier role) is constantly providing glimpses beneath the surface, building up a character who is more guarded than she seems.

As the relationship moves forward – it’s not a spoiler to reveal that they don’t give up after date two – we learn more about their past. Ryan is a forensic accountant with a good relationship with his grandparents (Roy Billing and Heather Mitchell). Emily’s work situation is far from stable and it takes a while to meet her family, but they do explain a lot.

The course of true love rarely runs smooth, but Two Years Later isn’t just a string of grim surprises until all hope is gone. With the various storylines around them barely sketched in (despite a strong supporting cast) this is largely a character study of the two leads, and the more we get to know them the more interesting they become.

What starts out as a seemingly straightforward story of a man trying to win over a woman gradually builds up layers, becoming a more nuanced look at two people desperate for connection but with their own issues lurking in the way. Whether they end up together or not, love is the big winner here.

All eight episodes of Two Years Later are available on Paramount+ from 4 June.

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