Other Doctor Lives / Joel Fry-days: Twenty Twelve: Series 2, Episode 6 – “Inclusivity Day” (2012)

*Spoilers from the end of episode 5*

We’re at the penultimate episode of the series and things are ramping up, albeit in a very bureaucratic British way. Matters are coming to a head on several fronts.

So in the last episode, during a security review involving the doctored starter pistols, Ian accidentally got shot in the foot (literally.) Now it’s 24 days until the Olympics, he’s stuck in the hospital, and his boss just poached his PA. Back at the office, the rest of the commission plans for the rapidly-approaching Inclusivity Day while Siobhan’s team partners with a professional footballer to address the lack of interest in women’s football.

One of Ian’s character quirks has been to describe a dismal state of affairs and top it off with, “No, so basically it’s all good,” and we get a lot of that from him here at the hospital. As he struggles to get things done, everyone from the commission who stops by to visit him is mainly there for their own self-interests. I like where the episode takes this storyline, though.

Part of the problem with Inclusivity Day is that the Olympics is also hosting Diversity Day at the same time, so 1) the commission isn’t clear on what the difference is between the two, and 2) some of their ideas for special guests are already occupied appearing at Diversity Day. On top of that, there are arguments over who’s running the morning meeting when Ian isn’t there and Kay’s clashing with Fi is worse than ever. I laughed out loud at this line, from Nick: “If we get this wrong as well, we’re in danger of running out of feet to shoot ourselves in.”

Here’s what we’ve got for David Tennant’s narration today:

• The wording of this cracked me up – “Back over at Perfect Curve, Siobhan Sharpe and her team are about to get creative with the idea of Carey Taylor.”
• I loved this description, when Kay meets with someone on site to discuss the plan for Inclusivity Day – “...And in the spirit of inclusivity, head of legacy Fi Healey has decided to join her, in case anything happens.”

Our character of the week is Coco Lomax, Siobhan’s trend analyst. Played by Sara Pascoe, she’s the last member of Siobhan’s team. While Barney remains at the top of my shitlist, I’m not thrilled with Coco, either. She’s not openly/relentlessly critical of Karl, but she takes part in the whole office’s pattern of excluding him.

In addressing the problem with women’s football, which is opening the Games but has hardly sold any tickets, Ian isn’t confident in Siobhan’s ability to fix it. “For all I know, they’re trying to rebrand it as men’s basketball,” he gripes. “I wouldn’t put it past them.” And to be sure, Siobhan and her team aren’t exactly on top of it. The more they talk, the clearer it is that footballer Carey Taylor is thoroughly unimpressed with their “brilliant” marketing idea.

Thankfully, Barney doesn’t pick apart Karl’s ideas in this episode, but he’s still not having a good time. The theme of Karl’s presence in this episode is very definitely exclusion, and we see that throughout. There’s a whole thing with everyone in the office loving Brazillos—Siobhan tosses one for Barney to catch in his mouth, and after everyone claps for him, he high-fives just Siobhan and Coco. Then when Karl asks for a Brazillo, he leans back and opens his mouth, ready to catch, but Siobhan just pushes the bowl over to him. Even when everyone is meeting Carey, he tries for a high-five and ends up with a handshake. His input is met with silent stares from everybody.

And listen, I’m not saying that Karl is a fantastic PR person who’s being unfairly maligned by his colleagues. I’m saying he’s awkward, anxious, and doesn’t really thrive in the fast-paced atmosphere of a pitch session, but he still doesn’t deserve the way his colleagues treat him. He regularly miscalculates things, jumping in at the wrong time or saying the wrong thing. The women’s football campaign is called “Who’s That Girl?”, and as Coco is explaining the pitch to Carey, Barney chimes in with a singsong,” Who’s that girl?” to punctuate each beat. But when Karl tries to join in, he winds up singsonging, “What are those lips?” to everyone’s bewilderment. (It makes sense in context but is still ridiculous—I laughed so hard.) And I love this moment where Coco assures Carey, “You’re Wayne Rooney, only it’s like, you’re a woman,” and Karl leans in to clarify, “She doesn’t mean that like literally.” Oh, honey!

Joel Fry is great in this role. Even though he’s only in one or two scenes per episode and Karl is a bit of a one-joke character, he’s still both funny and endearing. Justice for Karl!

Y tu Luna también: Narcos: Mexico: Season 2, Episode 4 – “The Big Dig” (2020)

*Episode 3 spoilers.*

And already, we’re nearing the middle of season 2. I don’t know why, but it feels like this show is going by really fast for me. This is a good episode, and Diego Luna is incredible in it.

At the end of the last episode, the DEA got Zuno in custody on American soil, and now he’s ready to name names. As Zuno prepares to testify before a grand jury, Félix knows he’s in jeopardy, along with his government partners and his plan to put pressure on the Colombians. He takes a huge risk to try and protect his operation. Meanwhile, there’s a new tax on the Sinaloans for using Tijuana’s infrastructure, and Isabella has a proposition for Enedina.

I don’t think I’ve ever mentioned Chapo by name, but he’s been a part of the show since early in the first season. For much of the series, his part has benefited from dramatic irony, contrasting what we know about El Chapo with the eager-to-please narco who’s loyal to Félix but frequently the butt of the joke among his friends. But here, we get the start of Chapo making his mark. As I’ve said before, the Sinaloans have had to traffic their share of the cocaine through Tijuana because they’re not on the border, but with the prospect of the new tax cutting into their profits, Chapo brainstorms ways to get around it.

Isabella has been looking to strike out on her own ever since Félix dropped her near the end of season 1. She’s smart enough to know she needs a partner to do that, but so far, everyone is too afraid of retribution from Félix to work with her. It’s interesting to watch her approach Enedina, another woman who’s been tired of being underestimated and dismissed by the men around them. Despite their similar grievances, they’re such different characters, and Enedina isn’t an easy mark. “What’d you expect?” she asks. “Turn my back on our family because we’re both women?” Isabella, equal parts savvy, ambitious, and scorned, replies, “Why not?”

This is an excellent episode for Diego Luna. I feel like Félix is always the most fascinating when his feet are really held to the fire, and with Zuno’s testimony hanging over his head, he’s determined to find a way out. We see him visiting Don Neto in prison, but he’s less than forthcoming with the advice. He tells Félix, “You’ve got all these people around you, but the truth is, you’ve got no one. ‘Cause you chose a bunch of dirtbag lawyers and politicians over your friends.”

I like watching Félix navigate this situation, reaching out to someone he betrayed last season. It feels like a no-brainer that Neto wouldn’t be in a forgiving mood, but for Félix, it kind of makes sense. He’s still working with the government, even though they threw him under the bus with Kiki’s abduction; he hasn’t forgiven them for that, not by any stretch, but he prioritizes what the business needs and puts that over his own anger. One of Félix’s recurring flaws is that he tends to think others will do the same when they frequently don’t.

So without Neto’s help, he’s left to find a solution on his own. Félix is a smart guy, but the Americans are about to have him dead to rights, and it’s going to take a masterful play to get out of that. He comes up with a plan that involves enormous risk and zero room for error. The scenes where he meets with CIA operative Bill Stechner are far and away the strongest in the episode.

A few weeks ago, I talked about Luna’s performance in the season finale and mentioned an earlier post I’d written that goes into his scene with Calderoni in more detail. This is the other big scene included in that post, another instance where Félix backed against the corner with only one card left. I just love watching these scenes, seeing him frantically make his move when there’s no guarantee it’ll work and the consequences of a miscalculation are dire. If anything, he's even more desperate here than he was in the season one finale, in part because Stechner enjoys using his lack of English against him; Stechner provides an interpreter for their conversation but withholds translation at critical moments just to watch Félix squirm. Luna plays this so well, Félix’s fear and panic warring with his determination to make his play.

Joel Fry-days / Other Doctor Lives: Twenty Twelve: Series 2, Episode 5 – “Catastrophisation” (2012)

Look, I’m not ashamed to admit that my interest in Twenty Twelve shoots up dramatically when Joel Fry is in the episode. No disrespect to David Tennant, whose narration is always enjoyable, but I’m 100% in this for Fry/Karl from here until the end of the series.

We’ve done a time jump—it’s now four weeks out from the Games, assorted characters have different hairstyles, and last-minute concerns are being addressed. Ian and Graham attend planning meetings on security and “catastrophisation,” headed up by high-ranking members of the Metropolitan police and recently joined by an American delegation there to iron out security arrangements for Michelle Obama. After previous bids fell apart, Kay is now scrambling to find a permanent use for the Olympic Stadium after the Games, and Siobhan and her team are tasked with rebranding an information packet to assist with public transit during the Olympics.

Shoutout to Ian as he tries to lead a distracted commission through a busy breakfast meeting. He tells them, “I just wanted to get ahead of the game a bit, or should I say ahead of the Games?”, after which he pauses and glances around the table, then awkwardly continues with his agenda when nobody acknowledges the joke. He has his hands full with the catastrophisation committee as well. Not only are they trying to reassure the Americans that all security issues are under control, they’re also dealing with a rash of incidents involving starter pistols that have been doctored to fire live rounds. And Graham’s presence at important meetings has never been all that helpful.

Several episodes ago, Kay and Fi were fighting over the future of the Stadium from a sustainability vs. legacy perspective, but now it’s the hot potato that no one wants. Kay is scraping the bottom of the barrel, variously courting a rinky-dink football club and a dog track. When she informs one man, “Sustainability isn’t actually about easy solutions, it’s not about being popular,” he replies, right on cue, “Oh, you might be all right then.”

Some nice David Tennant narration lines today. Here are my favorites:

• “Aware of the crucial importance of the occasion, Deputy Assistant Commissioner Crane has come up with what amounts to nothing short of a statistical breakdown.”
• “When Walthamston Greyhound Racing Track finally closed in 2008, it was the final straw for lifelong Irishman Brian McLoughlin” – I just love that character description!

Our character of the week is Barney Lumsden, played by Alex Beckett. He’s another member of Siobhan’s PR team, her “information architect.” I hadn’t realized it, but he actually appeared back at the start of the show too, with the launch of the Olympics website. I’m highlighting Barney today because he’s on my shit list for his treatment of Karl.

The dynamic with Siobhan’s team is much the same as it was in episode 3. They’re in two scenes instead of one this time, but we follow similar comedic beats: the team pitches their ideas to Siobhan, riffing as they go, until they hit upon something she likes. Barney explains the problem with the information packet, saying, “What we found is, with words, you get too many of them, what happens is, you get like this blehhhh.” Meanwhile, Siobhan reassures them that the whole point is coming up with a catchy enough title that people don’t feel the need to actually read the packet. She likens it to airplane safety instructions: “They’ve got shit like buckles and, I dunno, whistles and stuff. And they’re having a good time, everything’s cool. I don’t need to listen to this—I’m good.”

Karl’s dynamic within the team is the same as well. Barney and Coco, the third member of the team, energetically riff, complimenting each other’s ideas and feeding off each other, while for the most part Karl just quietly repeats key words and tacks on the odd “yeah.” Because every time he does timidly put forth an idea of his own? Barney immediately dismisses in a faux-nice way that feels condescending. Here, when Karl offers a different spin on one of their branding ideas, Barney turns to him and says, “Yeah, that doesn’t actually mean anything?” (He always shoots Karl down with this lilting “statement in the tone of a question” voice.)

This is Karl’s second episode, and I’m not saying I’ve reached the “I’ve only had Arlo for a day-and-a-half” stage, but I have a lot of affection for this guy. Joel Fry’s performance is endearing and quietly funny and the way Barney treats Karl is already making me mad. While it’s true that his ideas aren’t always good, Barney and Coco’s aren’t either—they just have the good fortune to be the sort of bad ideas that Siobhan loves. But Barney never critiques anything Coco suggests, only Karl and always Karl. This man can’t add a single thing to the conversation without Barney telling him it doesn’t work. Contrast that with Siobhan, who actually is a semi-helpful manager during this pitch session. She recognizes ideas she likes, and when she hears things that are off the mark, she steers them in a better direction: that’s too many words, that’s too short, that’s too serious. In this scene, she encourages creativity by using the wrong idea as a jumping-off point to find something better. But whenever Karl tries to speak, Barney stops the idea in its tracks so there’s nowhere for it to go.

Which leads me to an important point: critiquing Karl isn’t Barney’s job! Barney’s not his boss, Siobhan is, and Siobhan doesn’t talk to any member of her team, including Karl, like that. I can’t tell if Karl’s actually an anxious person or if he’s just had it drummed into him because Barney jumps down his throat every time he plucks up the courage to open his mouth. Also, I imagine the show’s not intending this, but I don’t ignore the fact that Karl is the only Black person in the room—the only recurring BIPOC in the show, in fact—and it’s a bad look for Barney to incessantly nitpick his Black coworker. Just let my man talk, good grief!