5 Millennial Climate Emotions Captured by Rob Lowe's Unstable
John Owen Lowe accepts an Award at the 2023 EMA Awards
Rob Lowe and his son, John Owen Lowe, have returned to Netflix with the second season of their EMA award-winning show, Unstable. This quirky workplace comedy has a lusciously green plotline and characters of the same shade. The story begins with Dragon's board pressuring CEO Ellis Dragon (Rob Lowe) to produce a marketable solution to the climate crisis. The elusive working idea is concrete that will absorb CO2 emissions for a thousand years (aka a Carbon Capture and storage solution).
However, Ellis, a slightly mad 'narcissist adjacent biotech entrepreneur', is distracted by the grief of losing his wife. For damage control, enter son, Jackson Dragon (John Owen Lowe), a once aspiring wildlife photographer turned flutist turned climate scientist. Unstable explores the close but fraught father-son relationship, inspired by Rob and John Owen's real relationship in a light-hearted series that passes the Climate Reality Check.
With Season 2 now available on Netflix, let's look at 5 goofy and relatable millennial climate-adjacent emotions captured on screen in Season 1.
John P. Fleenor/Netflix
Eco-Anxiety
Eco-anxiety is an increasingly salient emotion among millennials who can't help but feel concerned about the state of the environment.
In Episode 5 of the show, we glimpse the weight of responsibility shouldered by millennials. This pressure is apparent in a scene where Dragon's young HR representative gathers with his bee society at a bar. One member very intensely defends the importance and coolness of their group to an outsider, 'Unless you think studying, appreciating and trying to save, oh, I don't know, the insect linchpin of our planet isn't cool.' At the end of the interaction, he remains distraught, muttering, 'Bees never get a break.'
One way experts suggest managing eco-anxiety is through breathing. In Episode 1, boomer Ellis starts taking deep breaths to manage his stress while his CFO Anna (Sian Clifford) lectures him on meeting the board-imposed benchmark for their carbon project. As he continues to breathe, Anna snaps, 'I'm not breathing with you.' Ellis attempts to convince her by saying, 'It'll calm you,' but she responds curtly, 'Thank you, but I believe I'm at exactly the right level of agitation.' The back and forth continues with Ellis breathing deeply before Anna cuts him off with a 'Stop breathing.'
Another way Ellis attempts to manage his eco stress and climate burnout is by taking on a second job as a landscaper on Tuesdays. The second job makes him feel like he's 'having an immediate effect on something' (Season 1, Episode 1). He explains to his son, 'You arrive in the morning, there's nothing but dirt. By mid-afternoon, there's a vibrant green lawn. It's like giving birth… to a lawn'.
Environmental Love
The show highlights the love of the environment, wildlife, and humanity.
In an amusingly offbeat moment from the first episode, Ellis recalls micro-dosing and dancing with a ficus tree, which Jackson cheekily picks up as his dad 'making love to a tree.' The father looks unsuccessfully to Juan, his landscaping buddy, for backup: 'It was a straight bossa nova, right?'
Then there's a cute climate guilty pleasure outed in the lab by Luna, one of Dragon's talented scientists. She and Jackson discover a shared love of research articles and scientific precision (Season 1, Episode 2). Jackson lets slip that he read an article on the plane, so Luna asks, 'You read research articles for fun?'. He quickly denies this, but Luna's small voice adds, 'I do,' to which Jackson gushes, 'I do too.' Unfortunately, the climate love and cringy flirting halt when Luna squeaks, 'I have a boyfriend!' and Jackson awkwardly fakes a call, picking up to himself.
Environmental love reaches humanity but never forgets the awesomeness of other species.
During a day in the lab (Season 1, Episode 5), Luna and Ruby, another of Dragon's 'bloody good' scientists, start discussing Ruby dating Jackson instead. Luna inquisitively asks, 'Are you excited to hang out with Jackson?' with Ruby answering, 'Yeah, I like him. Our date was a little bumpy, but ever since then, he's been acting like a normal human, and I love humans. Luna happily nods, 'Third best species,' with Ruby countering, 'Fourth, remember whales.' Luna concurs.
Eco-Apathy
Eco-apathy is another emotion that can leave millennials feeling disenfranchised from the climate and its solutions.
When Jackson arrives at Dragon, upon Anna's request to pull his dad back into the lab, he appears numb and disinterested in Anna's climate arguments (Season 1, Episode 1). Her rhetorical questions include, 'You like the world, right?' Jackson responds, 'Some aspects of it.' 'Still worth saving?' she counters. 'Some aspects of it'. Then comes the 'Me too' of their disjointed conversation.
Like so many of us today, Jackson's dad experiences moments of apathy and climate paralysis, whining to his son, 'I need to feel inspired' to tackle his impending climate work (Season 1, Episode 1).
Climate Grief
Climate grief results from climate-related loss and the ensuing process of mourning.
The death of Jackson's mother in Unstable could be interpreted as metaphorically representing the breakdown of mother nature with Dragon’s team working hard to protect and preserve 'her' legacy.
Ellis obsessively picks up on the difficulty his son is having dealing with his mom's death (Season 1, Episode 2) and tries to get Jackson to cry. But Jackson protests, 'Please don't tell me how to grieve.' 'If you were better at it, I wouldn't have to,' retorts the father.
Jackson’s dad himself also suffers crippling grief for the loss of his wife. He experiences this when reentering the lab (Season 1, Episode 4) and later realizes it is due to his fear of disappointing her on the carbon project, which meant so much to her.
Climate Hope
Feeling a sense of optimism and agency to act on climate issues is an excellent remedy for eco-anxiety.
In the first episode, Ellis advises the young daughter of one of his employees to 'Never stay out of the way, ask questions, challenge assumptions, disrupt shit,' thus empowering kids to take action.
When Jackson arrives, Luna and Ruby explain their plan for the carbon project and how, thanks to their discovery of a carbon gas-absorbing biomass, 'Boom, Earth wins!' Celebrating the wins along the way helps maintain hope for the future.
Another way to fuel hope for the future is to ensure you have your one 'snack that gives (you) the energy to save the world' - in Ruby and Luna's case, remarkably expensive pistachios (Season 1, Episode 2).
John P. Fleenor/Netflix
SPOILER ALERT
By the show's end (Season 1, Episode 8), the team successfully fabricated concrete using 'pollution pulled from our skies'. The upbeat and jubilant mood in the company culminates with Luna happily shouting, 'Long live polar bears!'
By rooting Unstable in a range of climate emotions, the show doesn't just entertain; it resonates with a generation adapting to the realities of a changing planet. Millennial audiences will find themselves reflected in the show's humorous exploration of eco-anxiety, environmental love, and even climate grief. With loveable characters on screen fumbling through the ins and outs of climate solutions, setbacks, family dynamics, and love affairs, this series will continue capturing audiences' hearts. Unstable's storytelling exemplifies EMA's mission to get more climate messaging in popular media.
Cassie Jo is an entertainment journalist specializing in sustainability on screen and is currently completing a masters in Environmental Policy at Sciences Po Paris.
This blog post was made possible by the EMA Creator Fund. Support our fund with a donation!