Series
2: Episode 4: The Week and Pizza
review by Giselle
Once
Upon a Time...
...there
was a young writer, who would one day grow up to win
BAFTAs and
Roses of Montreux and
multiple other awards for extreme cleverness. But
before any of that, long before he invented the
Giggle Loop and the Sock Gap,
this young writer was honing his craft on quite
possibly the best drama not written for adults in
the history of the Universe... a Universe most
recently saved by a certain Mr William Sullivan,
also of this parish.
And so it is that we arrive here, at
the fourth episode of that young writer’s second
series, and the need to experiment and play with the
format is already proving too much of a temptation
to resist. This in itself is extraordinary: the
challenge of writing engaging, award-winning drama
in a 25 minute slot is quite daunting enough. But
not satisfied with delivering more snappy dialogue
per square inch than Clement & La Frenais on a good
day (and lest we forget, there are two of them), and
more fascinating characterisation in a 13 part
kiddie series than is offered in a decade’s-worth of
Coronation Street or EastEnders, this
young man now chooses to enhance his storytelling
still further by toying with its structure. And
though it is not nearly as ambitious a task here as
his later examples in
Coupling (The End of the Line,
Nine & a Half Minutes, and most impressively
Split), this indicates to me a man who has never
been content to simply turn in a traditional, run of
the mill script.
Whilst there are elements of creative
playfulness in Going Back to Jasper Street,
these are essentially more traditional flashbacks,
and they are more impressive visually than
narratively. However, in TW&P the structure
of the episode brings its own meaning to the piece,
as well as controlling and shaping the extent of the
story.
And so, ladies and gentlemen, without
further ado I give you... The Week and Pizza...
Thursday
Here are Sarah and Tiddler, subjected
to one of Sam’s tall tales about boys. And here is
Kenny teasing Lynda about Spike’s presence at the
weekly meeting, his bottom lip quivering with
barely-contained hilarity. Spike himself is on top
form, delivering a string of cool quips from the
moment he walks through the door. He’s still
flirting gently with Tiddler, but appears to have
given up his attempts to persuade Lynda to go out
with him – at least via any direct method. And now
here is the pizza, its delivery bizarrely
accompanied by some strange cheap and nasty guitar
riff. What’s that all about? (note to self: must
organise pilgrimage to Uxbridge Pizza Hut)
We
learn that the Thursday evening meeting is all about
planning the next edition of the paper. The Editor
and her senior staff (plus Spike, of course) eat
pizza and prioritise tasks for the week ahead.
Tiddler and Sarah have a disagreement
about who should interview Virginia Hume, and Lynda
comes down on Tiddler’s side. Once again, little
Toni is holding her own with the Big Kids – and
she’s clearly in a league of her own sartorially.
Sam wants Claire Pearson fired off
Graphics. Lynda tells her that’s fine, but she has
to do it herself. Sam talks about the drongo problem
that’s been around “since we started here”. Was
this a mistake, or are we to assume that although
she hasn’t been in charge of Graphics very long, Sam
has been around at the JG since the beginning?
Apart from the fact that we didn’t see her for the
first 13 episodes, I think this conflicts with what
Lynda says about Sam in BAC... It always causes me
to frown anyway.
Colin finds himself cornered by Lynda
about the JG budgets. Paul R manages to look
sheepish, panicked, underhand and adorable all at
once. So, just how much money did they make on the
last edition? “Some... Some and a bit... Ish.”
Genius.
Friday
Colin is in his office, confiding in
Spike. Well actually, one suspects that he is simply
attempting to use Spike to get Lynda off his back...
but Spike isn’t playing the game. It’s a shame
Colin forgot about the (now deceased) CME hamsters,
since Lynda is apparently so fond of keeping them as
pets (see GBTJS). Spike, who is wearing what
is possibly his most hideous shirt ever, passes
Sophie and Laura on his way out... The girls
demonstrate their “Gore Balls” to Colin. It is
difficult to understand why Colin is unimpressed –
they seem like they should be right up his street –
especially with such a stylish and graphic
advertising campaign. But Colin has other things on
his mind, and wastes no time recruiting the young
ladies to help him blackmail Lynda...
Out in the newsroom, Spike is
obviously up to something. Confident that he now has
the right kind of Lynda’s attention, he continues
with his campaign to make her jealous. But it seems
that whilst he has been fruitlessly pursuing Miss
Heart of Teflon Day, word has got around of his
obsession. He’s going to have to work hard to
convince Yvonne Morley to go out with him – and he
does so in the middle of the newsroom, only feet
away from Lynda’s desk. Interestingly, we don’t get
to see any reaction to this ploy from Lynda herself
– its just piling on the layers without spelling it
out.
Saturday
Spike and Tiddler visit Virginia
Hume. I wondered for a while whose hallway we are
in, but have to assume from the gratuitous baseball
artefacts that it is the Thomson home. Did they
deliberately employ a horse-faced woman to play
Virginia so that The Moff could work in the line
about sugar lumps?! Vair amusant.
The newsroom is surprisingly busy for
a Saturday. Colin and Frazz drop into a
well-rehearsed advertising feature for the Rubber
Relaxer, although the other JG staff appear less
than impressed, and are clearly accustomed to CME’s
marketing techniques and the quality of their
products. I can only conclude that Colin has put
Frazz on a commission-based scheme in order to
secure his assistance.
And oh! Kenny and Sam flirting! How
gorgeous is that? Can this really be the same Kenny
that was dumped only a couple of weeks ago? Is this
the same man who will have to be blackmailed into
becoming a pop star pin-up? You know only too well
that Sam would eat Kenny for breakfast, but that
really doesn’t matter if it means he comes out of
his shell to flirt so beautifully with her.
Sunday
I’m
tempted to think the structure of this entire
episode was designed just for this one scene, since
it telegraphs so much about Lynda simply by being
the only thing that happens on Sunday. It almost
doesn’t need any dialogue at all, but the phone call
contrives to remind us of Kenny’s dogged attempts to
balance her obsessive nature. Oh, and Lynda also
appears to dress better on Sundays!
Monday
Colin is attempting to extract
blackmail material from Mr Sullivan, and although he
has pinged in the past, the Assistant Head has now
clearly wised up to Colin’s sales technique and is
therefore able to tip Lynda off that something is
afoot. The phrase “a fireproof Joan of Arc” is
alarmingly portentous... Is The Moff teasing us? Do
we think that if pressed he would offer this as
evidence that Lynda survives the fire in TAC?
Back in the newsroom, the magical,
marvellous and manly Spike appears to be playing
down his intelligence as Tiddler writes up her
Virginia Hume piece. Isn’t alliteration something
that Spike would only pretend not to
understand if he was talking to Lynda? Still,
without his stupidity, we wouldn’t get the glorious
“Stick to looking good in jeans” line.
Elsewhere, Duane Orpington (Mark
Baxter, ex Grange Hill, and previously seen
working in the shop that sold glue to Jenny Eliot’s
brother in HTMAK part 1) is hanging around
looking for something to do.
Tuesday
Spike is preparing for his date with
Yvonne Morley. I love his exchange with Sam, but
why does he turn off the light in the graphics room
when there’s a black shade on the window?! When
Yvonne arrives, Spike seems overly-keen to get her
out and away, which seems strange, since surely the
point of the whole exercise is to incite jealousy in
Lynda – otherwise why arrange to meet at the
newsroom at all? He can certainly not have
anticipated the response, however. After months of
S&L anticipation, it is pure Moffness to deliver The
First Kiss in such an offhand and casual fashion
that only serves to rack up the tension about 17
notches. So much so in fact that the tendency is to
discount this kiss entirely. I’ve noticed people
seem to talk about the nearly kiss in BAC,
and then skip forward to ALAD... But this is
a proper snog, the kind of thing I am sure Spike had
in mind in BAC when he suggested a trial run,
and here delivered entirely on Lynda’s terms. I
adore the way it knocks Spike for six. Bless.
Of course, Lynda is already on a high
from “firing” Claire. Kissing aside, the true joy in
this sequence is seeing the softer side of Ms Day
deliciously uncovered as Kenny figures out the
truth, and he and Lynda huddle together in moment of
shared giggles. The Lynda/Kenny relationship might
not have been in the plan from Page One, but
it’s so beautifully realised throughout Series 2
that I would never wish it any other way.
Wednesday
As Assistant Editor, Kenny gets the
job of reminding everyone of their weekly deadlines
– and here it only serves to date the series,
reminding us that even 15 years ago they were still
pasting news stories together rather than creating
them all on computers.
Lynda demonstrates her growing sense
of journalistic responsibility when she suggests
that Tiddler might like to change the tone of her
Virginia Hume article. Methinks perhaps Kenny
suggested it first though.
Notably, there is no mention of
Yvonne or The Kiss.
Thursday
Laura and Sophie deliver The
Fluffy-Wuffies & the Silly-Billies to Colin.
Paul in story-reading mode is pure genius. The Evil
Goblin’s realisation that he has been outsmarted by
the Beautiful Princess is delicious. However, I
can’t help but wonder what the original version of
the story was about. The title doesn’t sound very
Lyndalike, does it? I’m sure she must have meant it
ironically...
Since Virginia Hume becomes the lead
story, what they would have gone with if she hadn’t
had a heart attack? Some scintillating action down
at the garden centre, one assumes.
Still no mention of Yvonne or The
Kiss. We are supposed to have forgotten it, which of
course is infuriating and dastardly in the extreme.
Almost as if someone calculated the dramatic effect
it would have...
There is the lovely visual gag of a
suckered Lynda in the final shot, and then we have
come full circle, because the pizzas are here...
YAY!!!
Also worthy of note:
-
Costume changes. And ok, yes, I am mildly
obsessed with the stripes thing, but there are
loads here... Kenny (THREE different shirts),
Sam’s shorts, Colin’s shirt & waistcoat. And
there is a Severe Dorkrobe Warning issued for
Tiddler’s homemade outfit. Also there is a rash
of Norbridge High school uniforms, that are
rarely seen otherwise.
-
Question marks – one in the graphics room and
one on the wall outside Colin’s office. Is this
another Moff nod to
Doctor Who, or a secret fanclub for the
Hardly-a-Mystery-Any-More Mystery Writer???
In conclusion...
Covering a single working week, we
learn so much here about the JG processes, their
teamwork and social dynamic. We can’t help but be
impressed by Lynda’s dedication and Colin’s endless
machinations. Most importantly, the beauty of the
structure is that you are left with the impression
that this is very much a typical seven days, and
therefore somehow this episode is shorthand for many
more weeks of routine, and of relationships building
and growing over time, regardless of what is making
headlines or is actually played out on screen in the
meantime.
Genius is an overworked word in these
parts, but there’s a very good reason for that... |