The Thick of It: Series 3, Episode 2 (2009)

Nicola’s first week, it turns out, goes even more disastrously than her first day.  On the same day she’s scheduled for a quiet meet-and-greet with the press, she discovers that her department has lost a huge amount of immigration data.  The plan is to play it cool if the press doesn’t know and handle it with aplomb if they do.  That’s the plan.  In practice, however, Nicola demonstrates her truly extraordinary media-ineptness, making an already-dreadful situation infinitely worse.  

 

As you might imagine, this episode is an absolute feast of angry Malcolm.  There’s a stunned I-can’t-believe-the-incompetence anger, an out-of-control flying-off-the-handle anger, and an eerily quiet I-can’t-even-deal-with-you-right-now anger.  It’s no wonder PC went completely gray between series 2 and series 3; even faking that sort of stress and rage must put a lot of strain on your body.

 

Nicola’s time on the show seems to be marked with a bit more of that Ricky Gervais-esque cringe-humor, where the joke hinges on your second-hand embarrassment for the characters, than Hugh’s did.  I’m not sure why, since both of them make some seriously unfortunate mistakes.  I suppose it’s just that Hugh’s gloomy, exhausted reaction to everything was so funny that it canceled out the embarrassment.

 

Still, this episode is a positive riot.  Malcolm has a great meltdown in a car, during which he’s so furious he completely loses his ability to operate his seatbelt.  And there’s a fantastic sequence in the first part of the episode where everyone at DoSAC is trying to figure out whether or not Malcolm knows about the data loss; they’re desperate to know, but they’re terrified of accidentally tipping their hand and ending up on the receiving end of his wrath.

 

I’ll mention Robyn today.  She first popped up in series 2, covering for Terri while she took some time off.  Robyn is a timid civil servant who seems perpetually overwhelmed by everything.  She can’t quite comprehend the idea of the government lying to the press, which makes her a dangerous person to have around the office.  When she’s in a room with Malcolm or Jamie, you can’t shake the image of her as a baby rabbit that’s about to be devoured.