Spaced has many assets, and one of its greatest is
the friendship between Tim and Daisy. The
show’s kooky sense of humor and gift for homage make it stand out from a lot of
sitcoms about 20-somethings, but these two are unique as well. Few sitcoms hinge on a mostly-platonic relationship
between a man and a woman, and I can’t think of any that are as delightful.
From
the minute they meet, Daisy and Tim have an easy back-and-forth with one
another, casually companionable. It’s
what allows them to become flatmates almost seen unseen, and it’s what helps
them live together with relatively little drama. They have, separately and together,
relationship drama, career drama, and friendship drama, plus all manner of
off-the-wall crises, but they don’t have many problems living together as
near-strangers. They’re pretty much
instantly in sync, and their flat can be a reprieve from some of the other
craziness in their lives.
This is
no small feat, since their personalities are quite different. At their core, both are equal parts dreamer
and slacker, with personal issues that hold them back from achieving their
goals. This core, however, comes through
to the surface in different ways. Tim is
fairly laidback; he likes to hang around the flat working on his comic book in-progress
or playing videos, and his idea of fun is paintball and pubs. That’s not to say he doesn’t care about
anything – his ex is a hot-button topic, and people who praise The Phantom Menace in his presence do so
at their peril.
On the
other hand, Daisy is a would-be go-getter.
She’s always cooking up ideas and throwing herself into them before
discarding them halfway through. Whether
it’s hosting a party, getting a pet, or planning a big night out, Daisy isn’t
content to sit still for very long. None
of her plans fully hatch, however; due to disinterest or distraction, or
because she realizes it’s not turning out the way she wants, they’re forever
losing steam. (Part of this tendency comes
from her dread of working. A lot of Daisy’s
ideas come about in hail-Mary attempts to avoid her typewriter. Interesting that, while Daisy appears to be the more industrious one,
it’s Tim who we regularly see at work on his comic book.)
Despite
these differences, they make a good pair.
Daisy can get Tim to try new things he wouldn’t ordinarily bother with,
and he can get her to relax when she’s too worked up. When they argue, it’s clear how well they
understand each other – Tim recognizes that Daisy’s fear of failure is what
keeps her from writing, and Daisy sees how Tim’s relationship with his
ex-girlfriend causes him to sabotage new prospects. They know these things about one another, and
what’s more, they’re not afraid to get in each other’s faces in their respective
efforts to look out for their friend.
That,
and they’re just fun. They have movie marathons and fake gun fights
(epic ones, I might add,) and when it comes to concocting schemes, both are
inventive and generally game. I like
that they’re protective and supportive of one another, and I love the way each
sincerely tries to make the other happy.
The final scene of the series makes me “Aww” like a dork, and I’m not
even ashamed of it; Tim and Daisy are that cool.
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