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I've been sitting on this one for a while, hoping to get the specials done, but there hasn't been a chance for that since the semester began. I have a vacation week after next (spring semester is so weird), so I'm gonna shoot for getting them done then. They're gonna be tougher going because they're twice as long and pretty political - I might have to do, like, research or some shit to manage anything coherent. But then I get to do series three, and I'm still looking forward to that.
Anyway!
Here we have a proper finale, which would eventually prove to double as Hugh Abbot's exit from The Thick of It. Yeah, I told you we'd get back to that.
Uuuugh I had the worst time getting through this ep to do this post. I think partly it's because I've sort of worked myself up for the conclusion of Hugh's character and my notes are full of rage, and partly because I just don't like the e-mail story very much. I don't actively dislike it; it just kind of bores me and skirts a little too close to contrived sitcom shenanigans for my taste. Though, unlike contrived sitcoms, the focus is complementing the main story in terms of thoroughly outing Hugh as an asshole, and not on humiliating poor Terri for our entertainment. Which is why my feelings on it are "meh" instead of "HATE." (I also object to the fact that Glenn apparently went from being able to navigate Hotmail to barely knowing what a computer, like, is in series three, but that's a small nitpick.)
But boy, have I got some hate on for Hugh now. Like, thirty seconds into the episode, he's already asking Terri how she is after her father's death and then almost immediately changing the subject and I'm going "SHUT THE FUCK UP HUGH." Like, okay, with the awkwardness and the Britishness, fine, but it's all mixed in with a generous dollop of Hugh's own special self-centeredness. I honestly don't remember being this pissed off at him before; I guess it's a combination of actively paying attention to his character arc this time around and knowing what's coming at the end of the episode.
And it is some really interesting writing, how in six episodes the show neatly takes him from being an awkward bumbling clod to being a flat-out asshole. I've made a point of following it in these posts, noting how his behavior toward others, especially Glenn, gets progressively worse in the "second series," and it is well done. I absolutely believe that the poor guy trying to bond with Malcolm in episode two is the same guy who sells Glenn out so completely in this episode.
Maybe I didn't notice it before because he is so damn funny. Even in this episode, he cracked me up more than once. Goddamn your sense of humor that is right up my alley, Hugh Abbot! Goddamn it to hell!
(Speaking of humor and douchebaggery, it is also funny that it's Hugh who ends up chewing Olly out twice for remarks that are crude and insensitive even for Olly.)
This is also the first episode that presents a situation in which Hugh's own morals come into play, and the job requires him to go against his better judgment. We'll see a lot more of that with Nicola in series three, but Hugh, as he points out himself, doesn't have too many things he sincerely believes in. And, with the character set-up he's gotten, it's no real surprise that he doesn't even seriously consider going against it no matter how unhappy he is about it:
Hugh: "I'm gonna go straight to the PM, and I'm gonna tell him this bill is a load of old bollocks."
Glenn: "No, you're not."
Hugh: "No, I'm not, but it would be great if I did, wouldn't it?"
But it's still a shock when we see the way he goes about saving himself, by twisting that sweet story about Glenn's son into something unrecognizable that suits his needs, and oh god to watch Glenn in the background as he does it. A lot of people, when talking about James Smith's fine work as Glenn Cullen, point to the "I am a man" speech, but to my mind this moment is an even better showcase. It's a lot harder to show in absolute silence that your character has been irrevocably betrayed than it is to rock an awesome speech. He pulls it off so well that it just breaks my heart.
And this is an irrevocable betrayal. We already know - Glenn already knows - that Hugh is willing to leave Glenn twisting in the wind politically to save his own ass, but now he's crossed a line. The scenes between him and Glenn where he talks about hating to go against Glenn in this issue, and Glenn's repeated assurances that he understands, are a genuine affirmation of their friendship, which just adds a little extra salt to the wound. It's a personal betrayal, not a political one, and it's one Glenn won't forgive. Hugh has saved himself (and earned a compliment from Malcolm, which can be a pretty rare coin), but he's lost what seems to us to be the only real friendship he has.
Which serves to lead into a discussion of What Happens Next, because of course at the time no one could have known that this would be Hugh's, but not the show's, final episode. (He has this great line while complaining to Olly: "I don't know what else can go wrong now." Well, Hugh . . .) But again, I don't want to get into the whys and wherefores of Chris Langham's departure from the show. It is what it is, and I hope he's gotten help.
But with the way Hugh's character arc plays out, and with that final shot of him just walking off-camera, alone, it's almost like Iannucci was deliberately writing him out; if I didn't know the circumstances, it's what I would assume. He's been left essentially isolated in DoSAC - sure, Olly's still talking to him, but Olly will talk to anyone if doing so will help him (or entertain him). Glenn, Hugh's friend, and Terri, the most reliably efficient member of DoSAC, have frozen him out and, with the knowledge that he won't be back on the show, it's easy enough to assume that things never got better there. I can't remember if the reason why he was in Australia for the specials is given, but the perfunctory way his apparent dismissal was addressed and disposed of in series three (and the fact that Glenn never sees fit to mention him) speaks volumes. And, honestly, all comes together to tell a more satisfying story.
Anyway!
Here we have a proper finale, which would eventually prove to double as Hugh Abbot's exit from The Thick of It. Yeah, I told you we'd get back to that.
Uuuugh I had the worst time getting through this ep to do this post. I think partly it's because I've sort of worked myself up for the conclusion of Hugh's character and my notes are full of rage, and partly because I just don't like the e-mail story very much. I don't actively dislike it; it just kind of bores me and skirts a little too close to contrived sitcom shenanigans for my taste. Though, unlike contrived sitcoms, the focus is complementing the main story in terms of thoroughly outing Hugh as an asshole, and not on humiliating poor Terri for our entertainment. Which is why my feelings on it are "meh" instead of "HATE." (I also object to the fact that Glenn apparently went from being able to navigate Hotmail to barely knowing what a computer, like, is in series three, but that's a small nitpick.)
But boy, have I got some hate on for Hugh now. Like, thirty seconds into the episode, he's already asking Terri how she is after her father's death and then almost immediately changing the subject and I'm going "SHUT THE FUCK UP HUGH." Like, okay, with the awkwardness and the Britishness, fine, but it's all mixed in with a generous dollop of Hugh's own special self-centeredness. I honestly don't remember being this pissed off at him before; I guess it's a combination of actively paying attention to his character arc this time around and knowing what's coming at the end of the episode.
And it is some really interesting writing, how in six episodes the show neatly takes him from being an awkward bumbling clod to being a flat-out asshole. I've made a point of following it in these posts, noting how his behavior toward others, especially Glenn, gets progressively worse in the "second series," and it is well done. I absolutely believe that the poor guy trying to bond with Malcolm in episode two is the same guy who sells Glenn out so completely in this episode.
Maybe I didn't notice it before because he is so damn funny. Even in this episode, he cracked me up more than once. Goddamn your sense of humor that is right up my alley, Hugh Abbot! Goddamn it to hell!
(Speaking of humor and douchebaggery, it is also funny that it's Hugh who ends up chewing Olly out twice for remarks that are crude and insensitive even for Olly.)
This is also the first episode that presents a situation in which Hugh's own morals come into play, and the job requires him to go against his better judgment. We'll see a lot more of that with Nicola in series three, but Hugh, as he points out himself, doesn't have too many things he sincerely believes in. And, with the character set-up he's gotten, it's no real surprise that he doesn't even seriously consider going against it no matter how unhappy he is about it:
Hugh: "I'm gonna go straight to the PM, and I'm gonna tell him this bill is a load of old bollocks."
Glenn: "No, you're not."
Hugh: "No, I'm not, but it would be great if I did, wouldn't it?"
But it's still a shock when we see the way he goes about saving himself, by twisting that sweet story about Glenn's son into something unrecognizable that suits his needs, and oh god to watch Glenn in the background as he does it. A lot of people, when talking about James Smith's fine work as Glenn Cullen, point to the "I am a man" speech, but to my mind this moment is an even better showcase. It's a lot harder to show in absolute silence that your character has been irrevocably betrayed than it is to rock an awesome speech. He pulls it off so well that it just breaks my heart.
And this is an irrevocable betrayal. We already know - Glenn already knows - that Hugh is willing to leave Glenn twisting in the wind politically to save his own ass, but now he's crossed a line. The scenes between him and Glenn where he talks about hating to go against Glenn in this issue, and Glenn's repeated assurances that he understands, are a genuine affirmation of their friendship, which just adds a little extra salt to the wound. It's a personal betrayal, not a political one, and it's one Glenn won't forgive. Hugh has saved himself (and earned a compliment from Malcolm, which can be a pretty rare coin), but he's lost what seems to us to be the only real friendship he has.
Which serves to lead into a discussion of What Happens Next, because of course at the time no one could have known that this would be Hugh's, but not the show's, final episode. (He has this great line while complaining to Olly: "I don't know what else can go wrong now." Well, Hugh . . .) But again, I don't want to get into the whys and wherefores of Chris Langham's departure from the show. It is what it is, and I hope he's gotten help.
But with the way Hugh's character arc plays out, and with that final shot of him just walking off-camera, alone, it's almost like Iannucci was deliberately writing him out; if I didn't know the circumstances, it's what I would assume. He's been left essentially isolated in DoSAC - sure, Olly's still talking to him, but Olly will talk to anyone if doing so will help him (or entertain him). Glenn, Hugh's friend, and Terri, the most reliably efficient member of DoSAC, have frozen him out and, with the knowledge that he won't be back on the show, it's easy enough to assume that things never got better there. I can't remember if the reason why he was in Australia for the specials is given, but the perfunctory way his apparent dismissal was addressed and disposed of in series three (and the fact that Glenn never sees fit to mention him) speaks volumes. And, honestly, all comes together to tell a more satisfying story.
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