Quote: sootyj @ December 3 2012, 9:21 PM GMTI think it really missed the 2 story lines crossing over. I mean in the one where they have the mushrooms and Mark has the shits.
It's just beautiful how the 2 stories intersected.
Wank bullet was my favourite climax. Perfectly done.
I thought it was the best episode in ages, back to the early series feel. "Velvet spoon" and several other laugh out loud lines.
I thought it wasn't too bad, but was really unconvinced that Mark wouldn't have known he was being scammed by the 'publisher.'
Still pretty funny, though!
Quote: Andicus @ December 4 2012, 2:03 AM GMTI thought it wasn't too bad, but was really unconvinced that Mark wouldn't have known he was being scammed by the 'publisher.'
Still pretty funny, though!
If it was Jeremy being scammed Mark would know and would be trying to talk him out of it but when it's him in that situation he wants it so much he's blinded.
Quote: Team Film It @ December 4 2012, 2:26 AM GMTIf it was Jeremy being scammed Mark would know and would be trying to talk him out of it but when it's him in that situation he wants it so much he's blinded.
Trouble is you'd usually need to be slightly less intelligent than Mark to start with for him to be blinded.
I'm wondering if it's suffering because there's only two characters you can look through. It's either got to be Mark or Jeremy (or possibly both) get into difficulty.
But isn't Mark supposed to be on a bit of a downward slope? Still living with his loser friend, can't get his girlfriend to fully commit, selling showers for a living; this was something to grab hold of; something to flatter him, and he was blinded to its obvious flaws.
I think Mark falling for the vanity publishing scam was believable.
The problem was it was depressingly, normally believable.
I mean didn't last season start with an amazing first episode twist. Where Jeremy's got a job at the bank and Mark's looking forward to bossing him around.
And then bang!
Ending up with Jeremy as the employed one and Mark on a downward spiral. It was about one of the bravest turn arounds I've seen in a sitcom.
Quote: sootyj @ December 4 2012, 10:02 AM GMTII mean didn't last season start with an amazing first episode twist. Where Jeremy's got a job at the bank and Mark's looking forward to bossing him around.
Wasn't the first episode the birth of Mark's child; or am I remembering that wrongly?
I think I'm thinking of the series before last.
Doh!
You're right last season was Mark avoiding responsibility by eating an entire bucket of chicken.
Quote: Andicus @ December 4 2012, 2:03 AM GMTI thought it wasn't too bad, but was really unconvinced that Mark wouldn't have known he was being scammed by the 'publisher.'
I'd agree with this. They could have still had Mark falling for the scam, but they could have put a bit more effort into him kidding himself that it wasn't vanity publishing. Or that even if he saw that it was, he believed he'd be one of the few vanity publishing success stories. As it was, we were just meant to swallow it and add our own character motivation.
Although this lack of character continuity has become something of a Peep Show pattern. Sophie morphed from boring girlfriend to self destructive addict to carping harpy. Johnson's dallied with being a stalking obsessive loon. Super Hans seems to have suddenly gone straight... It's hard to imagine long running American shows like Curb doing so many about-faces with their main characters.
That said, it's still very funny and head and shoulders above every other British sitcom on TV at the moment so it's hard to get too upset.
Yuh I mean it was just straight into the deep end with the interview at the mobile cafe.
Quote: sootyj @ December 4 2012, 11:42 AM GMTYuh I mean it was just straight into the deep end with the interview at the mobile cafe.
Yeah, the guy screamed shyster right from the start, which you'd have thought even Mark's self-esteem damaged senses would have spotted. Although it did lead to a funny line about mustard (which I forget now, but did make me chuckle).
I took it that Mark knew deep down he was a fraud but bought into it for the tiny chance he wasn't, a bit like the episode where he knows deep down his new friend is racist but is in denial because at last he has a new friend.
Best start to a series since 2007 in my opinion. The first scene of the latest episode harked back to the good old days.
Not to say it hasn't always been very good, but the last series was the weakest yet in my view so nice to see something of a return to form.
I liked the therapist that was a nice twisty character.
