Thursday, August 28, 2014

Favorite Characters: Mike Watt (Spaced)

 
I’ve already talked about Tim and Daisy relationship, and while both of them will most likely get their own post someday, today’s is about Tim’s best friend Mike.  He’s such a funny, outrageous character that it can be tempting to think of him as a mere cartoonish presence, but like everyone in Spaced, he mixes heart with the hilarity.
 
Mike seems to have two chief loves in his life:  Tim and the Territorial Army (the British army reserves.)  He eats, sleeps, and breathes soldierdom, always carrying at least one “security gun” with him and frequently dressing in combat gear.  When the gang plans an elaborate caper, Tim tells everyone the rendezvous time but needs to convert it to military time for Mike.  The only problem?  The Territorial Army will no longer have him.
 
Yep, the TAs ousted him after a slight incident involving a stolen tank.  Mike, then, is more than a soldier without a war; he’s one without an army.  While he makes do in his day-to-day civilian life – snapping off salutes, throwing himself ferociously into paintball, joining the Rough Ramblers (from what I can tell, a Cub Scout equivalent) – it’s clear that he’s desperate to get back in.
 
When he’s not treating London as his own personal foxhole, Mike is joined at the hip with Tim.  He enjoys many of the same geeky pursuits that Tim does, from Star Wars to Lara Croft, and is naturally at his happiest if he can incorporate tactical movements and violence.  His walkie talkies are ever at the ready for scheming purposes, and when he and Tim build a competitive battle robot, he treats it like a particularly lethal pet.
 
More than that, though, Mike is there for Tim in ways that his somewhat navel-gazing friend doesn’t always manage.  Whether he’s advising Tim to be cautious with his ex-girlfriend or helping him climb into an air duct, he always has Tim’s back (and that’s literal when they play paintball.)  His protectiveness toward and constant efforts to help Tim are as sweet as they are entertaining, and some of the show’s most surprisingly serious moments come when Mike takes Tim to task for not giving their friendship the proper attention.
 
I should mention there’s a distinct possibility that Mike is in love with Tim.  While there’s no woman he shows an especial interest in, he’s been known to appraisingly compliment Tim’s looks and has outright said, “I fancy you.”  I know that sitcoms are notorious for bromance jokes, but for whatever reason, the dynamic here feels a bit more earnest to me.  Maybe it’s Tim’s reaction to statements like this; he’s non-receptive but no more than mildly annoyed, and on the rare occasions when he’s the bromantic one (like saying, “Hey, babe,” when Daisy tells him his “boyfriend” is on the phone,) it feels overtly jokey in a way that it doesn’t when it’s Mike.
 
Overall, from a gender perspective, Mike is an interesting character.  He’s incredibly nerdy, uber-macho, and openly sensitive, which makes for a neat mix.  Any time his rough-and-tumble military exploits fall flat, it’s because he’s been ambitious and gung-ho beyond his ken, not because he’s generally incapable, and he slips as easily into geek references as Tim does.  All the while, he’s an emotional guy who doesn’t balk at talking about his feelings.  It’s not often that you come across a character like Mike on TV.

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