*Spoilers for episode 3*
Hot damn! This is another really strong episode for Joel Fry. I continue to be cautiously optimistic about where Daniel’s story with Marni is going, and Fry gets some topnotch acting moments. It’s a return to Alice behaving incredibly badly and shirking accountability, but while she does some awful things here (and Steve does too,) it still avoids the heavy cringe factor of episode 2.
At the end of episode 3, Alice and Steve had begun to reconcile, and she made him promise to end things with Izzy. Right after he’s forced himself to do the deed and Izzy storms out, a bomb Alice had lit a couple episodes ago finally drops. Although she’d all but forgotten about it, it wreaks havoc on Steve’s life. It’s now open war between the two, who set out to make each other’s lives hell. Meanwhile, Marni tries to help Daniel open up more sexually. (This isn’t actually what it sounds like—I’ll explain further when I get to the Daniel/Joel Fry part of the review!)
Our character of the week is Izzy, played by Yali Topol Margalith. She’s both hurt and furious at Steve for breaking up with her, an action he regrets almost immediately—whenever he’s not slinging blows at Alice in this episode, he’s trying to convince Izzy to take him back. She attempts to prove that she’s strong, independent, and doesn’t need a man, although one of her friends points out she’s not getting off to a stellar start with that.
Because Alice and Steve have known each other for so long and been so close, they have all the dirt on one another and know just how to use it. They both can cause maximum damage: to their reputations, their careers, Alice’s marriage, and beyond. And because they can both be impetuous, they move quickly to blowing up their fragile truce instead of trying to work things out or make amends for what’s already been done.
However, within all that anger, the hurt still comes through. Steve is a pathetic wet cat of a man as he tries to apologize to Izzy, literally on his knees at her doorstep. And Alice’s evasions are in part because she knows she’s a mess and struggles to truly be vulnerable. It can be easier for her to lash out than to face up to that.
Steve’s opening shot in his war with Alice is to air all her dirty laundry to Daniel, who’s understandably upset at hearing about all the different times she lied to him. Daniel needs some time apart from Alice, standing his ground that he’ll be the one staying at the house with Dom. One thing I really like about this portrayal is that, as much as other characters paint Daniel as weak, passive, or cowardly, he actually speaks his mind quite a bit. Although he doesn’t rage or beat his chest, he expresses his anger and hurt in no uncertain terms. He doesn’t lie back and take things. That’s not to say he isn’t overly timid/avoidant at times, but Joel Fry does a splendid job of showing that Daniel can be sensitive and still have a backbone.
There are a couple scenes here between Daniel and Alice that are just splendid: one where his anger is burning pretty brightly and he’s able to be firm, and one where his hurt takes precedence and you can feel the effort it takes for him to speak. Joel Fry’s performance in both of them is just wonderful. As I’ve said before, Daniel isn’t nearly as expressive as the louder, more self-centered characters around him, but Fry does a magnificent job of quietly conveying Daniel’s feelings through his more reserved nature.
Okay, let me back up now and give some context from the last episode. Marni tried to hook up with Daniel in Antwerp, and he was completely blindsided by this. Once he finally managed to convince her that he didn’t want to cheat on his wife, she pried for some more information and found out Alice calls all the shots in their sex life. Marni told Daniel, “You need to get in touch with your sexual self, like stat!” and offered to help him (as a friend.)
So once again, Daniel is very upset with Alice and mainly has Marni for company. She takes him out to “cheer [him] up,” and the conversation quickly turns to her project to help him explore/assert his sexual desires. And look, maybe this is going to be about Daniel getting more comfortable voicing what he wants in the bedroom, which could either help him and Alice or lead to him realizing he’d be better off with someone who cares about his needs. It could still be heading toward Daniel having an affair with Marni or some sort of “Daniel is a ‘low-T’ beta male who needs a proper shag to finally assert himself as a ‘real man’” story, but at this point, I don’t think so.
And honestly, I don’t think it’s out of the realm of possibility that Daniel is somewhere on the asexual spectrum. I’m trying not to get too excited about it, because I don’t want to get my hopes up. But while Marni assumes Daniel is just uptight/repressed (and is super allonormative about it,) his characterization throughout this storyline could definitely support an aspec interpretation. When Marni pushes him to admit who he’d want to have sex with in the pub or encourages him to tell her about his fantasy, he feels more than uncomfortable. To my eye, he feels at a loss. Does he not want to say what he wants, or does he not know?
There’s all kinds of goodness going on with Joel Fry’s nonverbal acting here! I love it soooooo much. If they actually go there, I’d be ecstatic, but as I said, I’m trying not to hope too hard. Either way, Fry is doing such a fantastic job with this character!
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