The
show follows Mark and Jez, two friends and roommates, through the
usual life-and-love misadventures that always plague sitcom
twenty-somethings. As a hook, the episodes are filmed entirely
through the characters’ POV, and the camera shifts with every head
movement.
“University Challenge” sees the duo traveling back to their alma mater, where Mark poses as a “mature student” to get in good with the coed/shoe salesgirl who’s caught his eye. Along the way, he tries to capture the university experience he’d always wanted.
PC
comes into this as Professor Alistair MacLeish, the ancient history
professor that Mark dreamed of impressing back in the day. As far as
professor archetypes go, MacLeish is the well-bred intellectual who
cherry-picks promising pupils for mentoring and low-key shindigs at
his house, where the wine is expensive and brainy conversation is the
height of excitement.
It’s
a fairly standard role, and PC handles it capably. He’s best when
Jez, a loud-mouthed would-be rocker, crashes the soiree and tries to
single-handedly dismantle the ivory tower. His pretentious
intellectualism clashes nicely with Jez’s alcohol-soaked ranting.
Accent
Watch
Scottish
all the way. I like that – RP is the typical accent of the
well-bred intellectual, and it’s nice to see a Glaswegian getting
his scholar on.
Recommend?
In General – Not sure. I think it’s hard to really gauge a show by one out-of-context episode, standards like Seinfeld notwithstanding. “University Challenge” didn’t leave me clamoring for more Peep Show, but I wouldn’t be against seeing more, given time.
PC-wise
– Maybe. Enjoyable enough, though it’s not a heavy hitter. If
you’re in need of a quick PC fix, it’s short and sweet.
Warnings
Swearing
and drug/sexual references, but not intense. More sitcommy.
No comments:
Post a Comment