Getting On: Series 2, Episode 4 (2010)

 

PC makes his third onscreen appearance here, which I actually wasn’t expecting.  I had it in my head that he was in episodes 2 and 6 of this season.  Not sure if this one escaped my notice or if I mistook episode 6 for it, but either way, this is the most screentime ole Peter Healy has had to date (I always feel compelled to say the character’s full name whenever he first comes up in a review; maybe it’s a need to differentiate him from his portrayer/namesake PC.)

 

It seems Peter is a slightly different character every time he appears, although he’s been a tool pretty consistently.  I guess other characters shift a bit as the plot requires, but as a small recurring player without many episodes under his belt, he doesn’t have as solid a foundation to stand on.  Anyway, Peter’s main role here is to go over Pippa’s most recent staff review with her – I’m not sure how that fits with his position as a psychologist, although goodness know Pippa could provide him with plenty of material to study.  Throughout the proceedings, he’s no prince, making offhand, subtly disparaging remarks like an avaricious upstart in a Dickens novel.  Still classy, I see.
 

In other news, our central geriatric ward has been hit by the latest bug:  platitudinal corporate buzzwords!  The new “Icing the Cake” initiative, promising to improve patient care by utterly unspecified means, is sweeping the hospital.  Watching these overworked, unimpressed staff members take part in a company-retreat-style rap session might be the funniest scene of the series so far.  
 

Accent Watch
 

Now that PC’s had a chance to deliver some longer lines, I’m hearing quite a bit of Scottish.  I think he’s still going for RP, but Peter has Scottish OOs left, right, and center.



Getting On: Series 2, Episode 3 (2010)

 

Another pretty great episode, another instance of Kim being out from under everyone’s thumbs and generally doing pretty well with it.  Coincidence?  I hardly think so.

 

We drop in on the ward in the middle of a night shift.  Kim’s fellow on-duty nurse has had to run out on her, and Kim is left to juggle the many demands on her.  There are the usual concerns – pain, medication, sleeplessness.  There’s the new variable – a just-arrived patient who speaks nothing but emphatic Italian.  And surprisingly, Kim’s second-season awesomeness goes one step further; along with all her hospital duties, she manages to tend to most of the regulars’ personal lives.

 

Through reasons that shall remain unspoiled, Den shows up during the shift but is kept uncharacteristically subordinate to Kim.  Den is an absolute mess of personal problems at the moment, and so the person ostensibly there to help Kim just winds up making more work for her, not to mention dragging her issues onto the ward where a bunch of elderly women are trying to sleep.

 

Long story short, all manner of insane stuff happens, the whole cast appears at the hospital for some reason or another, and most of them act childish, petty, and unprofessional for the duration.  Kim comes out looking like a champ, and the only grown-up of the bunch.  She’s definitely becoming my favorite.

 

Lots of director-y goodness in this episode.  The whole night-shift atmosphere is fantastically done, from the lightning to the shadows to the background noises.  PC does a great job capturing the many moods of the night.

 

Also, literally every single entrance is a directorial winner.  Seriously – they’re all memorable and effective.  Slam dunk for PC, I’d say.

Getting On: Series 2, Episode 2 (2010)

 

I think this might be my favorite episode of the series so far.  It’s nicely plotted, with some good funny bits, and I can see the groundwork being laid for future developments.

 

The jumping-off point for our latest adventure is a cantankerous patient.  She’s obstinate, mouthy, and accusatory (though not downright reprehensible like the difficult patient from last season,) and watching the staff’s teeth-gritted dealings with her is pretty funny.  Furthermore, the episode opens on a meeting all about her, an assessment of her current living situation.  This brings all the major players into one room and lets them bounce off one another.

 

Including PC’s Peter Healy.  As part of the assessment, he has to determine her mental state, and to be honest, he hasn’t done too much to convince me of his psychologist prowess.  He isn’t shown to be incompetent or anything; the main senses I get from him are “distracted” and “self-important.”  He spends a fair chunk of the meeting reminding everyone how valuable his time is, and how quickly he has to dash off.  It’s possible that he’s good at what he does, but I could easily buy him missing something important because he’s too busy to take his time.

 

The best part of the episode, in my opinion, is the showcase for Kim.  The show has often painted her as the “slightly rubbish” nurse who’s a bit slow on the uptake, but when all the more senior staff are at a meeting, she runs the ward on her own quite deftly.  Her somewhat wearied, bemused reactions to the difficult patient’s ramblings strike me as the right tack, she has an easy give-and-take with other patients, and she’s the most likeable she’s been all series.  I have a theory that everyone’s competence level on this show is inversely proportional to the proximity of their immediate supervisor.  Getting On:  scathing indictment of helicopter oversight?  You be the judge.

 

Warnings

 

An elderly woman receives a bath.  You don’t see any of the, shall we say, “bathing suit area,” but fair warning all the same.

Getting On: Series 2, Episode 1 (2010)

 

As I continue to watch Getting On, I’m struck by how dissimilar it really is to the Gervais/Merchant projects I previously compared it to.  Its vein of discomfort rings a bell, but in actual fact, there are large sections that I simply don’t find all that funny.  Often, the uncomfortable moments are tense and affecting, and yet they’re not ridiculous.  If I’m going to use The Office comparison, I’d say it’s heavier on “David accuses Dawn of stealing” moments than “Gareth interrogates Donna in the meeting room” moments.  While the show definitely has some comedy, I don’t feel it’s the driving force, and for the most part, it’s not real laugh-out-loud comedy.

 

What’s interesting is that this doesn’t really bother me.  It’s a half-hour program, which nigh-invariably spells “sitcom,” and it has some comedy framework, but it’s a different sort of program.  That’s all right, in my opinion.  I’m appreciating it for what it is.

 

In this, the season 2 premiere, matters pick up where they left off.  Power struggles are greatly featured; Pippa’s orders regarding the ward are inevitably at odds with the decrees of Hilary, the (male) matron of the hospital, and Den and Kim are forever stuck in the middle.  Additionally, Den butts heads with a self-important but clueless med student, and three guesses as to which one Pippa sides with?  I can imagine how aggravating it must be to have your skills/judgment questioned by someone who is obviously far less knowledgeable about the matter than you, especially when they’re significantly younger as well.

 

Not much to say about PC’s direction in this episode.  He has to tackle one of the more difficult states to capture on film or television:  a tremendously foul odor.  A homeless Jane Doe brought to the ward is, apparently, simply “honking,” and it’s up to PC and the writers/performers to convey that.  By and large, I’d say they’re successful, although it veers pretty strongly back to uncomfortable.

 

Warnings

 

Discussion of the above-mentioned odor is pretty gross.

Getting On: Series 1, Episode 3 (2009)

 

The first season of Getting On does the early-Thick-of-It thing, meaning we’ve already reached the season 1 finale.  I noticed this a bit yesterday, but this show really has a lot of continuity for a sitcom.  A number of plotlines from the first two episodes come home to roost here.

 

There’s a stray comment that’s been misinterpreted to the point that someone could lose their job.  There’s the threat of an infection working through the ward.  A minor bit of business from episode 2 roils into a major conflict between Den and Pippa, born from the pettiest of reasons.  And those are just the big-ticket items.

 

I think I’m warming up to it.  It’s extremely unflinching, but there’s a very human element to it that feels genuine, albeit in a bleak way.  Season 2 has twice as many episodes, and I’m ready to dig into it a bit further.

 

PC remains once again off-camera.  I noticed a bit more mockumentary-style shaky-cam this time around – maybe he needed a few episodes to settle into the format.  The best directing moment probably comes at the end:  a triumphantly-filmed montage of an aggravatingly mundane task, all set to soaring music.

Getting On: Series 1, Episode 2 (2009)

 

With another episode under my belt, I feel like I’m getting to know the main characters, and I’m getting a better feel for the tone.  As Den and Kim slog through the myriad problems that crop up in a geriatric ward, you get the sense that they (especially Den) probably really cared at one time.  They still do care – Den has some sweet interactions with a patient in this episode – but after years of watching their patients suffer the indignities of failing bodies, of watching them die, I imagine it’s easier for them to harden themselves to it.

 

A lot of their more callous attitudes likely stem from hospital bureaucracy as well.  Here, we see the two nurses struggle to deal with an erratic, belligerent patient.  Despite repeated calls for a doctor, no help is forthcoming.  The patient obstinately refuses all assistance, verbally abuses everyone she encounters, and repeatedly tries to sneak out for cigarette breaks.  Unfortunately for Kim and Den, they have their work cut out for them in trying to reign her in.  A new hospital policy means that just tapping a patient’s shoulder could be construed as assault, so they can’t do much in the way of restraining her.

 

PC’s character makes his first appearance in this episode.  He plays Peter Healy, hospital psychologist.  It’s clear that Pippa, the ward administrator, has a thing for him, and it’s equally clear to everyone but her that he’s not interested.  While he plays nice with her in her presence, he’s hitting on another doctor the second she’s out of the room.  Classy stuff.

 

I don’t quite have a handle on him yet.  Based on his behavior with Pippa, he’s at least a little two-faced.  But how much, and how far does it extend?  He demonstrates a good rapport with patients, and he appears to be a fairly decent doctor, but is it just a show for his colleagues?  Hard to say; more information needed. 

 

To be fair, he’s only had a few minutes of screentime so far.  Even more significantly, we don’t yet have a clear picture of what Den and Kim think of them.  They’re obviously the main windows into the show, and I imagine their opinion of him will probably be more accurate than Pippa’s.

 

Accent

 

Sounds like RP to me.

 

Recommend?

 

PC-wise – As far as the performance goes, it’s still too early to say.

 

Warnings

 

The aforementioned uncooperative patient has a real mouth on her, and she has a certain fondness for homophobic slurs. 

 

Getting On: Series 1, Episode 1 (2009)

 

This is a show I hadn’t heard of before Capaldi Fall, though in the time it’s taken me to get around to it, an American version has sprung up on HBO.  Penned in part by Joanna Scanlan (Terri from The Thick of It,) PC directs the first two seasons of this Brit-com and appears in several episodes.

 

Getting On takes place in the geriatric ward of a British hospital.  In episode 1, we meet the main characters and take a look into their bleak workplace.  Nurses Den and Kim chip away at frustrating, absurd, and/or unappetizing hospital issues, keeping the ward going and juggling disparate instructions from competing supervisors.  So far, it seems to fit most easily into the Ricky Gervais mold of comedy.  The unglamorous, somewhat depressing setting is reminiscent of The Office and Extras, and the largely one-liner-free dialogue has more than a bit of cringe humor.  The first episode never gets quite as uncomfortable as either of those shows, but on the whole it has a darker hue.  I suppose that’s unavoidable, given the backdrop of patients on their way out, but tonally, it’s certainly atypical for a sitcom.

 

PC’s direction reinforces the Gervais-esque feeling; the camera work is stark and unsympathetic, but as with the writing, it’s different enough not to be a copy.  While it has a somewhat mockumentary look, it doesn’t regularly employ a shaky cam and doesn’t expressly commit to that format. 

 

As far as directing goes, it certainly has a different feel than PC’s other behind-the-camera works.  However, this is the first project I’ve seen him direct that he hasn’t written, which is obviously a big part of it.  His writing style is playful and offbeat, so the direction in his double-duty projects naturally reflects that.  He matches the tone of the piece well, and some humorous moments are mined from the execution of a well-placed shot at just the right instant.

 

I should mention that, in addition to being one of the writers, Joanna Scanlan also co-stars as Den.  I don’t know the other main actresses/co-creators, although Vicki Pepperdine seemed familiar to me.  A quick survey of IMDb hasn’t turned up any revelations; maybe it’s just that she looks a bit like Emily Watson.

 

First thoughts:

 

Recommend?

 

In General – Not as of yet.  I’m still trying to decide what I think of a comedy this depressing.

 

PC-wise – Jury’s still out.  I’m sure I’ll have more to say on the subject once he appears onscreen.

 

Warnings

 

Swearing, frank discussion of human effluence, and general dark subject matter.

Travelling Man: Series 2, Episode 6 – “Blow-Up” (1985)

 

Nothing too noteworthy about this one.  It’s not bad, like My Family or Rab C. Nesbitt, but it’s pretty darn unremarkable.  Though I watched the whole episode, my attention wandered during most of the PC-less scenes.

 

Max, our intrepid hero, is an Ex-Cop On a Mission.  At some point in the past, he was wrongfully imprisoned, and now that he’s out, he’s on a tear to figure out why things went down the way they did.  It seems to me that the overall series was pretty arc-based, and since “Blow-Up” is the penultimate episode, the wheels are pretty well in motion.  Max thinks he’s onto an important lead, and he pursues it with strong-arm tactics, clandestine meetings, and requisite car chases.

 

Brief appearance by PC as John, a potential source Max can press for information.  He’s somewhat shady – he indicates that his intel comes with a price tag firmly attached – but mostly harmless.  Apparently, his mother never told him that successful crooks have to be bright.

 

Not much to say.  Small role without too characterization.  His best scene is probably when he and Max have words in a pub, and he shows off his lack of criminal mastermindedness.

 

It’s interesting to see the types of bit roles famous actors had at the start of their careers.  I wonder if directors speculate as to which of their one-shot day-players are going to “make it.”  Did the director of “Blow-Up” have any inkling that this energetic, gangly kid had an Academy Award, a BAFTA, and a Who regeneration in his future?

 

Accent Watch

 

Okay, so I spent a good chunk of PC’s first scene trying to work out his accent.  Granted, I was thrown off the scent because a couple of Welsh characters appear shortly before his in a similar locale, but it’s still pretty uneven.  Eventually though, it settles into what basically sounds like RP.

 

Recommend?

 

In General – Naw.  Too generic, not especially interesting.

 

PC-wise – Not necessarily.  Not enough screentime or characterization.

 

Warnings

 

Some action violence and drinking.

Glendogie Bogey (2008)

 

In this, the second PC stop-motion spook-story, Jeff and Thurston have worked through some of the kinks in their friendship.  They’re now a bona fide investigating duo, hunting a sasquatch-like creature through the caverns beneath a golf course (if this film and its predecessor are to be believed, everything in Scotland rests on networks of monster-populated underground caverns.)

 

While Thurston remains uncouth and self-absorbed, he’s lost a great deal of his skepticism and takes to the case with relish.  Jeff has changed as well; he’s more confident and forceful than the pushover of the previous outing.  There are occasional regressions, but overall, his backbone is pretty well intact.  I could imagine PC playing this version of Jeff in a live-action project (although not with that hair.)  Also, he’s grown into the investigator role right along with Thurston – he’s ditched the Eleventh Doctor outfit and gone for an all-black look that suggests he fancies himself a spy.  It amuses me.

 

There are chases, moments of derring-do, and several puns on the word “bogey,” which in the U.K. can mean both “monster” and “booger.”  The main thrust of the piece, though, remains the interaction between Jeff and Thurston.  Jeff has acquired a sweet but accident-prone girlfriend, and Thurston is feeling a bit possessive of his ole chum.  He attempts to keep Jeff’s girlfriend from playing the Yoko to his and Jeff’s Beatles, and his machinations distract both men from the bogey-related task at hand.  This allows a big galumphing monster to slip into their midst unbeknownst, which sets the ball rolling for all manner of trouble.

 

I think I like Haunted Hogmanay a little better, but this is fun, and I like that it’s not just a repeat of the first story.  Jeff and Thurston’s dynamic has changed, the presence of Jeff’s girlfriend adds a different twist, and they’re even chasing a new type of paranormal creature.  Good on them.

 

Also, you can apparently use the same equipment for detecting both ghosts and sasquatch-like bogeys.  Who knew?

 

Last thoughts on this pair of stories:

 

Accent Watch

 

Scottish (toss two more projects in the BBC Scotland pile.)

 

Recommend?

 

In General – Sure.  If you like animation that isn’t made for kids (not inappropriate, just seems they’re not the intended audience,) go for it.

 

PC-wise – Maybe.  It’s amusing and pretty short.  I bet PC had fun making this.

 

Warnings

 

Add in a bit of swearing and some cartoon violence.

Haunted Hogmanay (2006)

 

Here’s something fun:  stop-motion PC!  Haunted Hogmanay is an animated television short that’s comically spooky and very, very Scottish.  Definitely an amusing way to spend half an hour.

 

The story finds Jeff, a paranormal investigator, joining a ghost hunt at the behest of his unscrupulous brother-in-law Thurston.  Jeff adores the tales of Morag Lachlan MacLachlan, the ghost of an executed criminal who allegedly haunts Edinburgh every Hogmanay (that’s the Scottish term for New Year’s Eve,) but Thurston is out to turn a profit.  He plans to debunk the myth, film it, and sell it as the pilot for a TV series, making a mint in his get-famous-quick scheme.  You can probably guess which of them is right as to the existence of the ghost.

 

Jeff is a fun role for PC.  He’s bright but timid, easily flustered.  While he relishes the thought of seeing a real ghost, he’s long-sufferingly irritated at being dragged into one of Thurston’s capers, and he’s not exactly lion-hearted in the face of danger. 

 

As for the animation, it’s a different experience to hear PC act without seeing him.  His appearance often lends an intensity to his work (his sharp eyes, his toothy grin, his mind-of-their-own eyebrows,) and it’s interesting to see what kind of character he creates with just his voice.  I can’t quite picture him playing someone as nebbish and put-upon as Jeff in live action, certainly not in 2006.

 

In addition to the pre-Eleventh-Doctor get-up and the requisite cockamamie hair, as you can see from the picture, Jeff believes in monsters and constructs his own gadgets – his unfortunately-acronymed Spectral Anomaly Detector is a prototype made from an old toaster.  Clearly, someone is a Doctor in training.

 

One more Jeff-and-Thurston romp, coming tomorrow.  In the meantime, here are my first thoughts:

 

Accent Watch

 

Scottish ghost-hunter!

 

Recommend?

 

In General – Sure.  It’s a fun stop-motion adventure that’s not overly kiddish, and I like the animation a lot.

 

PC-wise – Quite possibly.  Jeff is an amusing doormat, and I think it’s interesting to see actors you’re used to in live-action take on animated roles – different skillset for sure.

 

Warnings

 

Light spookiness and criminal activity.  A little drinking and a bit of bathroom humor.

Aftersun (2006)

 

Aftersun is another short TV movie, like Micky Love.  I think it makes for a very worthwhile hour – nice little film driven by thoughtfully-drawn characters and excellent performances.

 

Jim and Sue, high school sweethearts going on 20 years of marriage, have just become empty nesters.  For their anniversary, their children give them a two-week holiday in Spain (way to go – making the rest of us look bad!), but their relaxing time away quickly devolves into tense squabbling and hurt feelings.  Their next-door neighbors, a tirelessly passionate young couple, make them feel old and unloving, and as the days stretch on and the temperature rises, you start to wonder if their marriage will survive this getaway.

 

PC plays Jim.  Right from the get-go, he sours the idea of a vacation, constantly taking work calls and complaining about the inconvenience of being sent on holiday.  He exclusively wears “special” socks and hasn't had a new swimsuit since his honeymoon, he loves reading about World War II atrocities, and he has a “foreign voice” that he only uses when he's abroad, adopting a Yoda-like syntax in the hopes of being understood by non-English-speakers.  He's a little curmudgeonly, a little pedantic, and more than a little exasperating as a fellow traveler.

 

I really like this performance.  Aftersun is the type of story that lives and dies by its characters, and PC holds up his end quite capably.  Jim is a well-fleshed-out example of familiar husband/father archetypes, and PC is wholly believable in the role.  As he and Sue get more and more on each other's nerves, I just want to smack him for being so obtuse, but he also has a number of really honest moments where it's clear how much he loves Sue and how badly he wants his marriage to hold together.

 

Sarah Parish from Who’s “The Runaway Bride” also stars in this film.  She plays Sue and looks significantly less like a spider than she did on Who.

 

Accent Watch

 

Scottish.  

 

Recommend?

 

In General – I would; I liked this a lot.  The central characters are so round, and I think this little film is pretty well-made.

 

PC-wise – Very much so.  PC is excellent here, and he's one of the leads.

 

Warnings

 

A bit of swearing, light drug use, and some sexual discussion.  There's also a scene of naked swimming (you don't see anything) and a few banana-hammock appearances.

Sea of Souls: Series 1, Episode 2 – “Seeing Double: Part 2” (2004)

 

I have to tell you – having a previously-unknown identical twin with whom you may or may not share a psychic link just isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.  Poor Carol is put through the ringer, in terms of her family, her emotional state, and her own personal well-being.  In a way, I suppose it’s understandable that the two sisters have problems.  When you’re brought face-to-face with someone who has the same DNA as you, it’s probably easy to starting asking why she has things that you don’t have.  It’s clear that Helen covets Carol’s life, how put-together she is and how idyllic her family seems. 

 

Yet, at the same time, Carol feels threatened by Helen’s easy manner.  It kills her to see Helen joking and having fun with Gordon when it seems that she (Carol) always has to work so hard with him.  She probably wishes that she didn’t always have to play the bad guy and tell her son what he is and isn’t allowed to do.  Carol is quieter, politer, and more tightly wound – she just can’t loosen up the way that Helen can (although, considering some of the mischief Helen gets up to, that’s probably a good thing!)

 

And what of Gordon, you ask?  He’s not quite as featured here as he is in part 1, but there’s still some goodness to be had.  The whole business with Helen is doing his head in, and he doesn’t know what to think.  He alternates clumsily between callousness and caring, scolding Carol for undo accusations in one scene and backing her suspicions in another.  Essentially, all he knows is that, despite everything, he really does love his wife, and he’s trying to accommodate her sister’s presence in their lives, but he’s not ready to face the fact that maybe he can’t do both together.

 

On a side note, it’s interesting to watch the goings-on of the parapsychology folks.  In the main cast, you have one doctor who’s a little obsessed with the idea of ESP and desperate to prove it, another who’s steadfastly skeptical in the face of all evidence, and one who at least endeavors to keep an open mind.  It’s a good dynamic.

 

And now, as we finish Sea of Souls:

 

Accent Watch

 

Scottish.

 

Recommend?

 

In General – Maybe.  Interesting premise, some good acting, and it’s a nice twist on a lot of the more typical procedurals out there.  But warned, though, of some hokey over-dramatics.

 

PC-wise – I might.  PC more than rises to the challenge of playing an ordinary man dealing with some pretty out-of-the-ordinary circumstances.

 

Warnings

 

Add some scary situations and an overall darkness running through the piece.

Sea of Souls: Series 1, Episode 1 – “Seeing Double: Part 1” (2004)

 

Here’s another addition to the growing list of BBC Scotland projects that I’ve seen.  PC is hardly the first Scottish actor whose work I’ve followed, yet I hadn’t seen any BBC Scotland shows prior to Capaldi Fall (what’s up with that, James McAvoy and Ewan McGregor?)  But I digress.  This procedural is a bit out of the ordinary – on Sea of Souls, the case of the week (or rather, weeks, since all the stories appear to be two-parters) delves into the world of parapsychology.

 

In the first part of “Seeing Double,” leading man Douglas and his colleagues have been studying telepathy in identical twins.  Luckily for them, it just so happens that Douglas’s friend Carol has recently had a chance encounter with Helen, the twin sister she didn’t know she had.  Since the two women were adopted by separate families and had no prior knowledge of each other, Douglas is keen to study them.  At first, Carol is thrilled to discover Helen and enjoys exploring their possible abilities, but as time goes on, she starts to suspect that Helen isn’t exactly the sort of sister she’s always dreamed of having.

 

PC plays Gordon Fleming, Carol’s husband.  They’ve been married long enough that they’ve fallen into an unfortunate rut, and they’ve both felt their relationship drifting.  Naturally, Helen’s arrival shakes everything up.  Gordon is intrigued by the vivacious Helen, which the more somber Carol isn’t crazy about.

 

The case-of-the-week players get a lot of focus, so there’s some halfway decent stuff for Gordon.  Though he’s an aspect of Carol’s story more than anything else, the interplay between the two – and between Gordon and Helen – is good.  Right from the start, the terse stalemate of Carol and Gordon’s relationship is established.  You get the idea that they’re two people who really cared about each once but have lost their way.

 

Bill Paterson (Prentice’s dad in The Crow Road, as well as Professor Bracewell from Who’s “Victory of the Daleks” in series 5) stars in Sea of Souls.  Also featured is Archie Panjabi, who I hadn’t actually known was British.  While I’ve seen very little of The Good Wife, I’ve heard excellent things about it, and I understand her Kalinda is a fan favorite.

 

Accent Watch

 

Tremendously Scottish.

 

Recommend?

 

In General – Possibly, depending on how it shakes out.  I find the premise interesting.

 

PC-wise – Could be.  I’ll pass further judgment when I see part 2 tomorrow, but PC is doing some nice work here.

 

Warnings

 

Some thematic elements, a little violence, and one fairly graphic sex scene.

High Stakes: Series 1, Episode 6 – “Dream Team” (2001)

 

Let’s all take a moment and be thankful for the unstoppable force of new Who; if the meteoric rise of mssrs. Tennant and Smith is any indication, PC will never be forced to take roles in cheesy Brit-coms like High Stakes ever again.  Thank goodness.

 

The show is centered around the work at a London bank, with the higher-ups and their satellites getting the main focus.  In “Dream Team,” head honchos Bruce and Nicholas attempt to recover a sizeable loan from a go-getting muckety-muck.  They are, by and large, wildly unsuccessful, seduced by his schmoozing and extravagant living.

 

PC plays Michael Calderwood, loanee and all-around snake.  He’s a slippery fellow, with a forceful conversation style that serves as a sleight-of-hand for everything he’s actually doing.  It’s not long before Bruce and Nicholas are asking how high when he tells them to jump, despite the obviously untrustworthy vibes clouding up his office.  Everything is big ventures and jet-setting and friends in high places, obscuring the evidently rotting foundation of his company underneath.

 

It’s not a good show or a good role, but PC admirably gives it his all.  The toothy grins, energy, and blatant oiliness remind me of Pilfrey from Fortysomething.  I’ll give him credit for not phoning it in.

 

A couple of familiar faces show up amongst the regular cast.  Elizabeth Marmur, in addition to appearing in Steven Moffat’s Coupling, had a supporting role in Neverwhere.  There’s also Richard Wilson, who was Dr. Constantine in the gas-mask zombie two-parter from series 1 of Who.

 

Accent Watch

 

Scottish, a bit light.

 

Recommend?

 

In General – Naw.  It’s the type of show that people who hate sitcoms use to justify their opinion.

 

PC-wise – Not necessarily.  Nothing worth PC’s talents.

 

Warnings

 

Nothing of note.

In Deep: Series 3, Episode 8 – “Character Assassins: Part 2” (2003)

 

Technically, this is yesterday's update.  It was all dressed up and ready to go, but my Internet deserted me, and I wasn't able to put it up until now.  You may find another post cropping up later today.

 

In all, I’d say In Deep is a decent if unremarkable crime drama.  The reveals are a bit too telegraphed, and both the cops spend let their personal lives interfere far too much with their work (if I’d been Jeremy, I’d wouldn’t have wanted my life in their hands,) but the set-up of the story is interesting.  Also, I like that the one-off characters feel fairly lived-in; it doesn’t seem like they’ve only sprung into existence for the sake of the regulars.

 

Jeremy gets a little more focus this time around.  Once again, we see how dedicated he is to his cause, subjecting legalized cannabis to government regulation rather than leaving it to dealers and street thugs.  His devotion to it blinds him to the very real danger he’s in, and it’s also clear that it’s put a strain on his relationship with his partner.  There are a few really well-done scenes between them.  I get the impression that Jeremy loves his partner, but though he’s aware that he’s not as attentive or sharing as he should be, he can’t pull himself away from work long enough to try to improve things.

 

There’s also his final scene in the episode.  I don’t want to get into it too much, since it deals with specific revelations in the story, but it’s a fine showcase for PC.  It’s a chance to see Jeremy perhaps as the politician he wants to be:  not the one who plays the game the right way, not the one who has the press wrapped around his little finger, but the one who has passion for a cause worth fighting for.  It’s a good scene, and PC is great in it.

 

I should mention that Dom, the potentially-blackmailing rent boy, is played by Jody Latham from the original U.K. version of Shameless.  I always enjoyed him as Lip and was delighted to see him return in the final season (goodness gracious, we needed at least one Gallagher kid around!)  Also featured is Ralph Ineson, perhaps best known for playing Finchy on the U.K. version of The Office (he was on Game of Thrones as well, part of Theon’s crowd in season 2.)

 

And as we bring In Deep to a close…

 

Accent Watch

 

I don’t know if PC’s RP is better in the roles I’ve been watching lately, or if I’ve just gotten used to his sometimes-shaky accent work.  Either way, there’s not much to complain about here.

 

Recommend?

 

In General – Not sure – maybe.  If you’re into crime procedurals, it might be up your alley.

 

PC-wise – Again, maybe.  Part 2 is definitely better than part 1 in the PC department, so possibly just check out that one?

 

Warnings

 

Nothing new.