The hidden climate story in James Corden’s Mammals

I originally typed this in imdb reviews but it was declined, (apparently “that ending though…” is more acceptable per imdb standards) so here we go:

✋ Spoiler Alert

The show on the surface is about man and woman, love and lust, and perhaps attempting the tough case for polyamory. But the reason why I really appreciated it, is the subtle coating with themes of climate change.

In the show’s title and in Jeff’s book presentation it is made obvious that we are mammals of a Planet after all. Mammals do what they do. They surface to breathe. They mate with multiple partners. They are rarely monogamous. They are overall happy if they’re not thirsty, in pain, or danger.

And danger is what’s every-present here.

These characters already grieving the loss of a baby, a future, a partner’s trust and loyalty, a sense of safety and magic. They are also in “massive, colossal, clear and present almost biblical danger.” Climate change, Earth, being of Earth, grieving extinct fellow creatures of Earth, although never expressively spoken is in the back of the mind for each character.

Jeff, a scientist on the brink of suicide, drinks and fucks it off. Lue, second-hand shop owner, gardener, homemaker keeps returning to the woods, soaking herself in the…