"Better a fallen rocket than never a burst of light."
~ Tom Stoppard, The Invention of Love

Wednesday, February 26, 2014

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.

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