(no subject)

[catslash]

The Thick of It.

I can say, and have been for a few weeks now, that this is easily the best show I am watching right now, and some of the finest television I have ever watched, period. You know when you watch or read something so good you feel privileged to have had the chance to lay eyes on it? That's how I feel about The Thick of It, and that's why I want people to watch it so much. I'm not recruiting. I'm sharing.



You know you're watching good television when you see something coming and it still shocks you when it happens. Malcolm has been increasingly tense, shredded, and out of touch all series - when I talked about episode three, I mentioned being surprised at his ignorance about the political significance of the internet and blogging. And in an earlier post, I commented on his anger:

[...] what seems to be a subtle difference in Malcolm Tucker's explosions. He's still funny as hell, but there's been a moment or two where Peter Capaldi's performance is more rawly furious than I recall it being before; it's much easier to see that Malcolm is going to give himself a stroke long before he has a chance to retire.

("Retire." Insert bleak laughter here.)

Now, of course, with the events of this episode (well as previous ones I haven't posted about) it's clear that we've been given a really wonderful character arc for a character who could so easily been just a caricature. Between the writing and the acting, Malcolm Tucker has proven himself to be a wonderfully rounded and subtly portrayed character, and believe me when I say I never would have paired the word "subtle" with Malcolm Fucking Tucker when I started watching this show. It's hard to see Malcolm go down in flames, because despite all that stuff I just said I really do want him to be the infallible genius he was in the first six eps and the specials - it's not unlike watching the Doctor lose his shit in "Waters of Mars" - but this is far, far better television and I know it.

(Actually, for me, Malcolm and the Doctor have a lot in common, now that I think about it, and no doubt Malcolm would hate that comparison. They're both characters I've come to trust absolutely to get shit done. They may go about it in rather different ways, but the second Malcolm or the Doctor is on the case, you can just chill and follow orders because everything is going to be taken care of. But then they started flaking around the edges, and falling apart at the seams, and they bought too much into that very belief and brought themselves down. And unlike the Doctor, Malcolm doesn't regenerate.)

The other characters, too, were really on form this episode. Olly usually makes me wince more than laugh - his malicious little barbs just scream PAY ATTENTION TO ME in a way that makes him a believeable character and an unlikeable little douche - but he was funny today. And I always love watching Glenn (with one N, according to Olly, but I wouldn't put it past him to put out a deliberate misspelling because of aforementioned douchiness) lose his temper on something, even if it's just kicking a box of paperwork over. I love Glenn period, and he's as close as the show has to a buttmonkey (except the show is too well-written to actually fall directly into a dreadful cliché like that) with all the shit that happens to him, and he deserves to get to kick something every now and then.

And Nicola oh my goodness. I LOVE NICOLA. She has been such a great character to watch for reasons I can't define as clearly as I can with Malcolm or Glenn, probably because it's still depressingly unusual to see a really good, flawed, well-written female character who is allowed to be flawed and is so without falling into any of the gender stereotype pits that so many female characters end up in. She was the one able to admit out loud that they're all working for a dying government, and she'll put up with a lot and still will tell people to fuck off if necessary ("Don't fucking call me sweetheart!"), and the way she literally ran from the hideous scene of Malcolm's sacking and holed up in her office while everyone was celebrating somehow made me love her even more.

. . . so I guess I can define why I love her after all.

I will end with two things: First, a sincere wish that someone punches Fleming in the face, because GODDAMN. At least Malcolm is honest and up front about being a bastard. The actor was so effective, with that hunched-up and ingratiating body language and delicious line delivery, that he succeeded in making me hate the character inside of thirty seconds, rather than the few minutes it would have taken otherwise. So, bravo to him, I guess. The acting on this show is always top notch.

Second, what was possibly my favorite moment of the whole episode, and one of those examples of Malcolm being a well-rounded character: in the midst of his own destruction, he still waded in to defend Sam from a bunch of assholes making her cry. He's always had a good rapport with his secretary, and that few seconds was a lovely payoff to that and the moment of the episode that finally brought tears to my eyes.

Comments

[erinpuff]

THIS EPISODE GODDAMN.

I see the Doctor comparison - it's really unsettling to have two of the best characters on TV ever going down in epic flames at the same time. (And as you pointed out, Malcolm doesn't regenerate... as far as we know.)

She has been such a great character to watch [...] probably because it's still depressingly unusual to see a really good, flawed, well-written female character who is allowed to be flawed and is so without falling into any of the gender stereotype pits that so many female characters end up in.

Thiiiiiiiis. When I first heard that Chris Langham's replacement would be a woman, I was like "oh shit, they're not going to handle this well and it's going to piss me off," but that hasn't happened.

Fleming ughghhhhhh. I, too, hated him instantly.

And yes, the little moment with Sam made me wibble too.

Peter Capaldi, seriously. Why isn't he winning every acting award ever?

[catslash.livejournal.com]

I had just gotten into TToI when I heard about Nicola - seriously, I learned about series three two weeks before it started airing, which was like a month after I'd seen In the Loop and decided I must DL TToI immediately - so I didn't really know whether to trust the show yet. I loved it and all, but dude. A female minister on a show that had been heavily concentrated on male characters, with Terri the only noticeably recurring female?

Yeah, I prepared myself for the possibility of some wicked genderfail. But then Nicola turned out to be AWESOME. I loved her before the first episode was even over. And I love how the show treats her like it does all the male characters - her gender is part of her overall identity, yes, but it's not the central aspect of her character. When it comes up, it arises from the characters or the situation; there has never once been a moment where the show itself has been like "LOL IT'S FUNNY BECAUSE SHE'S A GIRL." Even when she cried in Malcolm's office, it didn't read to me as being some kind of female weakness or whatever; she was just at the end of her rope and crying is the socially acceptable way for women to respond to that.

I actually loved that moment for Malcolm, too, as it's another one where he comes off as more than just the heartless PR monster. Nicola can't be the first person to cry in his office, but he's thrown by it anyway, because he may be a bastard in many ways but making women cry is not something he sets out to do. The one-dimensional way for him to respond would have been for him to ignore it or give her shit for it or something, but he didn't, and to anyone who's been paying attention that's a blinking neon sign as far as characterization goes. Man, it's gonna be fun to rewatch what they do with his character arc, now that we know what's coming.

. . . um. I'm an English major. I get babbly and analytical a lot. XD

[meddow.livejournal.com]

OMG yes to the Malcolm-Doctor comparison, made all the more tragic by their downfalls occurring in the same month. Lately I've been really worried that this series will be the last we'll ever see of Malcolm Tucker, but I'm starting to think that maybe it's better that way, because then his amazingly written and acted downfall would have that dramatic sting to it that would keep it brilliant. Just like how the Tenth Doctor's WoM breakdown is more devastating than his previous breakdowns just because we know it's the end.

I can't agree with you more about the Nicola love either. They've allowed her to be a woman in a position of power, but at the same time, they've allowed her to be just as flawed and funny as the rest of the characters. Far too often women play the less-flawed straight-person to the male characters, and that annoys the hell out of me.

[catslash.livejournal.com]

but I'm starting to think that maybe it's better that way

I think you're right, for both Malcolm and the show as a whole. Much as I've adored this series and would be stoked if a fourth were announced, I also want very much for the show to go out at the top of its game. TToI jumping the shark would be a fucking tragedy.

All that said, I also want Malcolm to continue being awesome in some capacity forever, because he is MALCOLM and I have come to cherish this particular status quo. Plus, you know, he's Malcolm. Giving up is not part of his programming.

Comparing him to Ten has made me want a crossover where they have to work together on something, because you know they'd hate each other. :D

Yes! I really adore that Nicola isn't any worse than the male characters, and she also isn't any better. She'll give Malcolm's shit right back to him, but then she'll turn around and do whatever morally questionable thing he's telling her to do, as if having expressed her objection makes it okay. She'll feel genuinely awful over being a bad mother, but she won't take immediate steps to fix what she's done to her daughter. The writing for her is really well-balanced and enjoyable and I'm sorry I ever doubted Iannucci's ability to create a good female character.

[irradiatedsoup.livejournal.com]

Should I watch this all from season one? Or is season three where it's at?

[catslash.livejournal.com]

Watch all of it, including the two specials (only eight episodes altogether, with the series eps being about twenty-five minutes and the specials an hour, I think). It's all excellent, and you'll definitely want to get to know the characters for some of the stuff in series three to really pack a punch.