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.