“Breeders” is back, with harried, 40-something parents Paul (Martin Freeman) and Ally (Daisy Haggard) still coping with their kids, their parents and their own evolving relationship.
Season 2 of the edgy FX comedy, premiering Monday (March 22) at 10 p.m., jumps forward nearly six years. The Worsleys still live in their middle-class London neighborhood; Paul and Ally’s children, Luke and Ava, are now 13 and 10, respectively (they’re played this season by Alex Eastwood and Eve Prenelle). That poses a new set of challenges, both for them and for their parents, who’ve moved into this new phase of parenting with their humor, cynicism, reluctance, bewilderment, love — and, yes, anger management issues — still intact.
“They go through more this season, as a couple, and have more to overcome,” said Haggard, who spoke to The Post along with Freeman. “Ultimately, I do get the feeling that they’re very good friends and have a good relationship. There are definitely a lot of complications thrown into their path.”
For starters, the anxiety issues that bedeviled 7-year-old Luke last season are still present as he’s turning 13 and traveling further inward. Ava, who was more interested in her stuffed animals in Season 1, now spends a lot of time on her computer and pleads for a cell phone to keep in lock-step with her friends.
“It’s fair to say that Luke still has a bit of anxiety,” Freeman said. “As he’s grown, his anxiety has grown and embedded itself a little more. I recognize Ava as I do my own daughter,” he said, referring to 12-year-old Grace. “She’s a mini-adult who is sometimes frighteningly adept at bringing you up short — and she’s a great observer.”
Freeman said Paul and Ally “will definitely have their ups and downs” as the season progresses. “There are quite a lot of shenanigans as far as their relationship is concerned — highlights and lowlights, but they’re still recognizable as the couple you saw in Season 1. I think people do change, but they don’t change their fundamental character.
“The strength of Paul and Ally is that they’re quite honest with each other and take the mickey out of each other and make each other laugh,” he said. “They’re genuinely fond of each other even when they argue or occasionally fight.”
The couples’ parents, who we met in Season 1, will also factor into the “Breeders” equation. Paul’s mother, Jackie (Joanna Bacon), and his father, Jim (hilarious scene-stealer Alun Armstrong), have aged gracefully but still face the challenges of older age and of new technology — as does Ally’s fiercely independent, straight-shooting mother, Leah (Stella Gonet), who, for the first time, displays some vulnerability.
“Paul and Ally are at their stage in life where they’re parenting their own children and then they have to start to parent their own parents,” Freeman said. “That’s always a very interesting and true area to be in…and a slightly weird one, too. They’re being pulled in two directions sometimes. Your kids and your parents are the people who matter the most to you in the world and are the most elemental to you. Who knows you better — and who can push your buttons more?”