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You know how I said in the first post that some episodes are more politicky than others? Yeah, this is one of them. I'm not really clear on some of what happens here, so I didn't find this story quite as absorbing as usual and my post is a bit more scattered.
It's also rather later than intended - I wrote it about a week ago, planning to stockpile a few of these before I continued to post them, but it was so much to deal with (and I was tired when I did it, which I do not think helped) that I couldn't do another episode until tonight. So, obviously, I'm not going to get these finished before vacation is over, but I'll do my best. I'm more clear-headed now and think it will be a bit easier to plow through the the last two episodes of series two. The specials, I don't even know, I'll deal with those when I get there. I miss series three, though, and I can't wait to rewatch it.
But for now:
So. This is the series one finale, I guess? That makes total sense. Way to be, BBC.
There are aspects of this episode that are more interesting when one considers what eventually happens to Hugh's career, as talk of his resigning is flung far and wide. I especially liked Terri on the phone to someone, snarking about how it was "very sad," which will later be referenced in the third series premiere when she pretends to care at all that Hugh appears to have evaporated.
Hugh himself handles the idea with rather less grace at first, as he gives up trying to bond with Malcolm in favor of yelling at him instead. I like how Malcolm just stands there with his hands on his hips, letting Hugh yell himself out but making it abundantly clear that he's not happy about it, either. (I also like how Hugh takes another opportunity to discuss taking a dump: "Minister in Disgusting Defecation Outburst!" Your digestive system has really been on your mind lately, hasn't it, Hugh?) Then Malcolm points out that there is such a thing as a good resignation, an idea which will crop up in the show later.
I love the continuity on this show, too - the beginning of the ep is Malcolm dealing with the tail end of the fallout from the focus group disaster, and then toward the end Hugh's distaste for the "smirky" driver he had previously comes back to bite him. I have no doubt I could point out examples of this in every episode - and I probably will, because I'm a geek for stuff like that and because it lets me go on some more about how well-written The Thick of It is. Stuff you don't think twice about comes up casually in one episode only to become a plot point in the next, and Iannucci remembers and references and mirrors older episodes in newer material, like the introductions of the show in 2005 and 2009 both being done through the eyes of a new minister.
There's also the bit with Malcolm running flat-out down Downing Street the way he does through Washington in In the Loop, which combines to make me wonder how often he has to resort to just fucking chasing people down and why he doesn't work some cardio into his schedule so he doesn't sound like he's going to have a heart attack while he's doing it. XD
More stuff with Hugh and Glenn, too, with Glenn mentioning specifically a period of "thirty-seven years" as he and Olly discuss who should resign. The context is ambiguous enough that I wonder if Glenn is referring to his career, his friendship with Hugh, or possibly both. His frustration over Hugh's willingness to throw him to the dogs is a nice bit of foreshadowing for episode six. But I will save discussion of that for when I actually get there.
Okay, so, one of the things I don't really get but find funny anyway, and which also doubles as the moment from this ep that I did remember, is the whole thing with the biscuits. I don't really know who the biscuit woman is or what she does, or what that little room is (it looks like a kitchenette?), or exactly how appropriate it is for Hugh to be sitting there and eating biscuits - there's such awkwardness, but then she gets him a chair and some more biscuits, but then Malcolm comes in and just stands there for a second, staring in bewilderment at all the biscuits, and I just know there's a whole layer of social stuff I'm missing here, but fuck if it isn't still funny.
[After writing this, I had a moment while visiting my dad in the hospital; I was standing in the doorway of a wicked tiny hospital room with no chair while a nurse did something with his IV, and happened to make eye contact with another nurse heading down the hallway, and there was this moment where she was going to keep going, then apparently thought better of it . . . and offered me a chair. I declined, and, reminded of Biscuit Woman, thought, "And no biscuits either, thanks," and felt rather more cheerful for a moment.]
All the stuff with Dan Miller is, especially in light of what comes later, a bunch of political stuff that I don't understand - everyone thinks he's awesome? Hugh is incredibly jealous? it is somehow relevant for him to resign over Hugh's extra flat? [Wikipedia says it is, so okay, way to pay attention, me] - but he'll come up again, so . . . he exists and I feel it would be remiss of me not to mention it. And so I have.
Let us conclude somewhat lamely, with a few bits of dialogue I liked that are not from Malcolm (because everyone quotes Malcolm, including me, but the others are funny too!)
Hugh, to himself after checking his breath prior to dinner with the Prime Minister, and I had to listen to this like three times because he whispers it so I hope I got it right: "Oh for god's sake, I'm not going to kiss him."
Hugh, after the interview with Angela Heaney: "I think I denied being a racist, god, I hope so."
Olly: "You didn't say you have lots of black friends, you didn't go -?"
Hugh: "Of course not. I haven't got any."
And Hugh again, in a line so random that I think it might be connected to something in a later ep but I can't remember: "Yes, I am king of remembering my own password."
It's also rather later than intended - I wrote it about a week ago, planning to stockpile a few of these before I continued to post them, but it was so much to deal with (and I was tired when I did it, which I do not think helped) that I couldn't do another episode until tonight. So, obviously, I'm not going to get these finished before vacation is over, but I'll do my best. I'm more clear-headed now and think it will be a bit easier to plow through the the last two episodes of series two. The specials, I don't even know, I'll deal with those when I get there. I miss series three, though, and I can't wait to rewatch it.
But for now:
So. This is the series one finale, I guess? That makes total sense. Way to be, BBC.
There are aspects of this episode that are more interesting when one considers what eventually happens to Hugh's career, as talk of his resigning is flung far and wide. I especially liked Terri on the phone to someone, snarking about how it was "very sad," which will later be referenced in the third series premiere when she pretends to care at all that Hugh appears to have evaporated.
Hugh himself handles the idea with rather less grace at first, as he gives up trying to bond with Malcolm in favor of yelling at him instead. I like how Malcolm just stands there with his hands on his hips, letting Hugh yell himself out but making it abundantly clear that he's not happy about it, either. (I also like how Hugh takes another opportunity to discuss taking a dump: "Minister in Disgusting Defecation Outburst!" Your digestive system has really been on your mind lately, hasn't it, Hugh?) Then Malcolm points out that there is such a thing as a good resignation, an idea which will crop up in the show later.
I love the continuity on this show, too - the beginning of the ep is Malcolm dealing with the tail end of the fallout from the focus group disaster, and then toward the end Hugh's distaste for the "smirky" driver he had previously comes back to bite him. I have no doubt I could point out examples of this in every episode - and I probably will, because I'm a geek for stuff like that and because it lets me go on some more about how well-written The Thick of It is. Stuff you don't think twice about comes up casually in one episode only to become a plot point in the next, and Iannucci remembers and references and mirrors older episodes in newer material, like the introductions of the show in 2005 and 2009 both being done through the eyes of a new minister.
There's also the bit with Malcolm running flat-out down Downing Street the way he does through Washington in In the Loop, which combines to make me wonder how often he has to resort to just fucking chasing people down and why he doesn't work some cardio into his schedule so he doesn't sound like he's going to have a heart attack while he's doing it. XD
More stuff with Hugh and Glenn, too, with Glenn mentioning specifically a period of "thirty-seven years" as he and Olly discuss who should resign. The context is ambiguous enough that I wonder if Glenn is referring to his career, his friendship with Hugh, or possibly both. His frustration over Hugh's willingness to throw him to the dogs is a nice bit of foreshadowing for episode six. But I will save discussion of that for when I actually get there.
Okay, so, one of the things I don't really get but find funny anyway, and which also doubles as the moment from this ep that I did remember, is the whole thing with the biscuits. I don't really know who the biscuit woman is or what she does, or what that little room is (it looks like a kitchenette?), or exactly how appropriate it is for Hugh to be sitting there and eating biscuits - there's such awkwardness, but then she gets him a chair and some more biscuits, but then Malcolm comes in and just stands there for a second, staring in bewilderment at all the biscuits, and I just know there's a whole layer of social stuff I'm missing here, but fuck if it isn't still funny.
[After writing this, I had a moment while visiting my dad in the hospital; I was standing in the doorway of a wicked tiny hospital room with no chair while a nurse did something with his IV, and happened to make eye contact with another nurse heading down the hallway, and there was this moment where she was going to keep going, then apparently thought better of it . . . and offered me a chair. I declined, and, reminded of Biscuit Woman, thought, "And no biscuits either, thanks," and felt rather more cheerful for a moment.]
All the stuff with Dan Miller is, especially in light of what comes later, a bunch of political stuff that I don't understand - everyone thinks he's awesome? Hugh is incredibly jealous? it is somehow relevant for him to resign over Hugh's extra flat? [Wikipedia says it is, so okay, way to pay attention, me] - but he'll come up again, so . . . he exists and I feel it would be remiss of me not to mention it. And so I have.
Let us conclude somewhat lamely, with a few bits of dialogue I liked that are not from Malcolm (because everyone quotes Malcolm, including me, but the others are funny too!)
Hugh, to himself after checking his breath prior to dinner with the Prime Minister, and I had to listen to this like three times because he whispers it so I hope I got it right: "Oh for god's sake, I'm not going to kiss him."
Hugh, after the interview with Angela Heaney: "I think I denied being a racist, god, I hope so."
Olly: "You didn't say you have lots of black friends, you didn't go -?"
Hugh: "Of course not. I haven't got any."
And Hugh again, in a line so random that I think it might be connected to something in a later ep but I can't remember: "Yes, I am king of remembering my own password."
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I reallyreally want to watch them all now. Christmas rpesent to myself? I think so!
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Biscuit Woman I think is the PM's secretary or PA or something. And the pantry scene is lovely.