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!