The Thick of It: Series 3, Episode 4 (2009)

The end-of-season election looms throughout series 3, but its presence really starts to be felt here.  In this episode, Peter Mannion and his team pay a visit to DoSAC, getting the lay of the land.  As Nicola’s counterpart in the opposing party, DoSAC will be his if his party gains the majority, as will the non-party civil servants like Terri and Robyn.

 

Which, of course, means it’s the perfect time for an enormous crisis in Nicola’s camp:  a big juicy story involving her family that would ruin her if the media got a hold of it.  But beyond that, it highlights the huge amount of stress and strain the job is putting on her – Malcolm isn’t one to put things on hold so Nicola can take calls from her daughter’s school.  We’ve seen Nicola looking horrified before, as well as furious and why-did-I-say-that regretful, but this is the first time it’s ever looked as if she wants to throw in the towel.

 

Malcolm doesn’t quite know what to make of that.  It’s interesting; he’s described himself as being “so much worse” than a bully, and with his appetite for power and one-upmanship, you’d think that seeing someone else reach their breaking point would be his Christmas.  He’s made no secret of his exasperation with Nicola, and I think he’s probably gotten angrier with her than he ever did with Hugh.  But seeing her so defeated, so deflated, seems to perplex him; it stops him mid-insult, and he winds up making the world’s most awkward attempt to comfort her.  It’s kind of wonderful.

 

As the election gets closer, we’ll be seeing a lot more of the Mannion crew, which is fun because they’re pretty great.  They’re prone to some of the same boneheaded moves and squabbles as the DoSAC characters, but they have enough of their own dynamic that it doesn’t feel like a retread.

 

Stewart Pearson, the opposing party’s spin doctor, is a particularly hilarious character.  I’ve mentioned before that he and Peter clash a lot; while Peter is rather set in his ways, Stewart is all about the “new” conservative party.  He dresses business casual, drinks herbal tea, and talks almost exclusively in buzz words.  “Let’s imagineer the narrative!” he shouts to the rest of the team as they prepare a matrix of their foes in the enemy camp.  But despite seeming like the antithesis of Malcolm, Stewart’s feel-good persona isn’t unflappable.  He knows how to turn nasty, and Peter knows how to needle it out of him.