“Spinners
and Losers” follows immediately on the heels of “The Rise of the Nutters,”
chronicling a frazzled all-nighter at DoSAC and Number 10 spawned by the
fallout from the previous special. Everyone
is running around like mad: Ollie is anxious to place himself in the most
advantageous spot, Jamie threatens bodily harm to everyone he comes across, and
Malcolm is determined to get things back on track after the mess his actions
made of things in the last episode.
Tensions are high, and it turns out you really don’t want to encounter a bunch of politicians in the midst
of a crisis when they haven’t slept.
Malcolm
strikes a good balance here. He was
flailing in “The Rise of the Nutters,” causing a lot of trouble for himself,
and he works to repair it here. And yet,
he’s not the diabolical mastermind who took on Julius in series 2 either. Not that he wasn’t amazing there – I still
marvel at him in that episode – but what he manages in this long, hectic night
is quite impressive and even more fun.
While Malcolm similarly goes on the offensive in some pretty underhanded
ways, he’s making up his entire plan as he goes along, weaving and
course-correcting every time a new roadblock is thrown up.
Oh, and I kind of love it that Malcolm is a bad but highly successful
liar. I’ve noticed it earlier, but it
gets a lot of screentime in this episode.
It’s funny; when he’s lying, everything he says sounds so obviously fake
(and he seems for swear a lot less when he’s being untruthful – a huge tell for someone like Malcolm,) but
the other characters almost never realize it.
As for
other characters, I’ll mention Terri Coverley today. As the DoSAC director of communications,
she’s in charge of fielding calls from the press and setting up media
appearances for Hugh. She has an
opinion about everything, which infuriates Hugh, Glenn, and Ollie – in one
episode from series 1, they book multiple meeting rooms so she won’t be able to
find them and poke holes in their ideas.
Despite her strong involvement, however, she’s quick to call herself a
mere cog in the machine when anything goes wrong: she’s simply a civil servant doing what she’s
told.
I have
to say, when I watched The Thick of It
the first time around, I was very surprised to discover that Jamie is only in
the first episode of series 2 and this pair of specials. I’d remembered him from In the Loop and had just assumed he was
a major character. I suppose it’s
understandable, since he’s essentially a more extreme version of Malcolm. Still, it’s a shame he doesn’t come back
after this; his colorful threats and unhinged rants are just so entertaining.
The Thick of It made one more
special in 2007, a short showing the events of “Spinners and Losers” from the
side of the opposition. It’s very funny,
but since PC isn’t in it, it won’t be popping up here.
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