Breeders isn’t a cynical show, though. It lacks the laughs of The Office, but it also lacks the deep, pervasive gloom. What Breeders is, however, is a show so painfully and crushingly accurate that it can take your breath away. From the beginning, parents who watched it have felt the jolt of familiarity, the gut-churning recognition that very few shows achieve, and that inspires delight and discomfort simultaneously.
Zoe Athena as Ava and Oscar Kennedy as Luke in Breeders.
At this point of Paul and Ally’s journey, anyone who’s been through the break-up of a long-term relationship or seen it happen to people they’re close to will be tensing up at the progress of the split: the awkwardness, the attempts at civil conversation that are always on the edge of tipping over into explosive, recriminatory argument, the horrible loneliness of two people who have shared their lives now eating separate dinners in the same kitchen, backs to each other.
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In this case, the separation is amicable. Indeed, Paul and Ally’s relationship improves hugely after they decide to split, but life continues to carry a brittle tension. In Breeders, there is as much importance in what isn’t being said as in what is, and every scene has a wealth of unspoken dialogue hanging in the air. But as painful as it is, as liable to bring tears to your eyes, Breeders is about hope and love. Spectacular performances – not just from stars Freeman and Haggard, but from supporting players, particularly Alun Armstrong as Paul’s troubled dad Jim – bring relentlessly real scripts to life. Characters who spend so much of their time fighting and expressing their frustrations with each other continually land on the bigger truth: that bonds of love will always cause pain, but it will always be worth it.
