It\u2019s a known fact that in some of TV\u2019s bleakest explorations of life, comedy is often used as a welcome anecdote.<\/p>\n
New Netflix<\/a> series Boy Swallows Universe takes that fact to new heights as the drama follows young Eli (Felix Cameron) who has, quite plainly, been dealt one of life\u2019s worst imaginable cards.<\/p>\n Despite his surroundings and upbringing, Eli remains as optimistic and as bright eyed as any teenage boy. Eli\u2019s mother Frankie (Phoebe Tonkin) is a recovering drug addict, his step-father Lyle (Travis Fimmel) deals the very heroin his mother is fighting an addiction with, his brother Gus (Lee Tiger Halley) hasn\u2019t uttered a word in years and his father (Simon Baker) is an angry yet absent figure.<\/p>\n Based on the bestselling semi-autobiographical novel by Trent Dalton<\/a>, it may not be the saddest story in the world. But it\u2019s hard not to feel for Eli as soon as the \u201980s-set series starts, and Cameron delivers a stellar performance as the ever-chatty, sweary and funny Eli.<\/p>\n The thoughtful weaving of comedy into the scripts here gives the series a levity when it can often veer on the side of feeling very, very heavy. The series has a bleakness to it that you would think would be hard to shake, but this is a drama that proves every bit of darkness in TV needs some light to counteract it.<\/p>\n There\u2019s no getting around the fact that Eli\u2019s story is a dark one \u2013 he gets caught up in drug-related gang crossfire after all \u2013 but the character isn\u2019t one that is blissfully naive or immature, which makes Boy Swallows Universe, a series told through the eyes of a child, actually a very adult watch.<\/p>\n Eli is a child who has been forced to grow old ahead of his time, with the series placing him in an unlikely older sibling role to account for his brother\u2019s inexplicable mutism and, rather sweetly, always wanting to make sure life is good for his mother.<\/p>\n It\u2019s almost a shame, then, that the story has to age Eli up. That\u2019s life I guess, but the main jarring point of the series comes in the penultimate episode, when Zac Burgess (One Night) takes over the lead role as a different version of the chaotic youngster.<\/p>\n The change in performance is one to wrap your head round at first, especially as Tiger Halley isn\u2019t<\/em> replaced as older brother Gus and Burgess brings a more hard-nosed quality to the role where there wasn\u2019t one before. It\u2019s a brave decision to switch out the characters so late in the series and, ultimately, it\u2019s one that shifts the tone a lot more than you\u2019d expect.<\/p> Despite everything that unfolds in this series, Boy Swallows Universe doesn\u2019t get bogged down in good versus bad. We get to know Slim Halliday (Bryan Brown) as the boy\u2019s babysitter with a persistent racking cough, rather than the infamous killer the rest of Brisbane know him as. We see that Lyle (Travis Fimmel) makes a series of unfortunate decisions but is only doing so from a place of wanting to provide for his family.<\/p>\n The aforementioned are only a couple of familiar faces to not just Australian viewers, but to many. Simon Baker stars as Eli\u2019s complicated alcoholic father, an unrecognisable role for any who best know Baker for his slick role in The Mentalist<\/a>. Similarly, Talk To Me<\/a>\u2018s Sophie Wilde stars as a local journalist who\u2019s investigating Brisbane\u2019s crime world and Anthony LaPaglia stars as Lyle\u2019s employer and prosthetics factory owner Tytus Broz.<\/p>\n Producer Troy Lum describes the series as \u201ca joyful expression of dark times\u201d and even in the saddest moments of the series (grief, ketchup-related bullying and addiction to name a few heart-wrenching scenes), the series does remain relatively bright.<\/p> ![\"Lee](\"https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2024\/01\/BoySwallowsUniverseS1Netflix04316-594c563.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C413\" "\\"BoySwallowsUniverseS1_Netflix_04316\\"\/")
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