Can't believe there isn't a LOG thread here (I did search too)
Watched Series 3 again. Loved the linking device of the plastic bag and the same end to each episode that's retold from different viewpoints. But episode 6 suffered in my opinion from several issues.
The linking device and the final collision of many of the characters' threads in the crash led me to anticipate a much cleverer ending than was finally offered. The last episode didn't so much add a killer twist but only offered a more comprehensive viewing of the aftermath. It left me wishing they'd had a better end in store.
The emotional tie ups of many of the series 1-3 stories were satisfying (the wedding was a nice touch and gave Pauline a human side that completed the transformation of the dynamic between Pauline, Ross, and Mickey beautifully - Ross partly becoming a Pauline 'Dole Scum' parody before coming back on-line as kind Ross) but the Papa Lazarou chase ending with people embodied within animals didn't seem resolved, it left me wanting a real end to that thread. Perhaps watching it on low volume didn't help me catch all the words. Can someone explain the Lazarou thread resolution / non-resolution?
Some new threads were left isolated and incomplete. The Legz Akimbo / street magician / doctor threads are some but especially the Knight Rider parody which is left with the man and son tied up in a burning building.
3 also suffered from generaly poorly disguised nods to genre that series 1 and 2 were far better at inserting without intrusion. Plus hideous stealing of pub gags - the Stella / Charlie exchange in the toilet "Where are we going?" "I've won the bingo. I'm off to x, you're off to y" is a verbatim retelling of an old Bernard Manning / Chubby Brown gag. And there was a section featuring a rehersal funeral that was almost identical to Futurama's Bender funeral rehersal - but maybe in this instance the borrow is in reverse?
Loved this series not as a comedy but as interesting visual entertainment. I think it failed to match either of its predecessors in terms of laughs or faux horror. I liked the emotional completion of some threads but felt let down because other threads were unresolved. I don't want happy endings, but I do want endings.
In many ways, it was an iconoclastic series in that the writers seemed determined to end the show as a TV entity. But I guess much better for the writers to kill it rather than listen to public opinion, produce more and wished they'd killed it when they wanted to. But I'd have preferred they maintain the standards they set themselves rather than allow the occasional shoddy sections within the last series taint what should be a brilliant and finished piece of work.
