This review contains spoilers.
My opinion on episode three wasn’t entirely popular so I’m readying my flame suit for this review. Episode five didn’t feel like filler as much as number three, but it's another case of an episode that didn’t tie very well into the overall narrative.
Bar an incredibly funny sequence where Morning’s botched plastic surgery makes filming an episode of Pucks! very difficult, there’s no mention the show whatsoever. Myra and Andy aren’t present, neither are the rest of the cast of Pucks!, and the focus is almost entirely on Merc and Jamie’s respective affairs. That is the problem with this episode: it’s pretty much a light hearted soap opera with a touch of heavier drama at the end. Admittedly there are some important developments in terms of character arcs, particularly the end of Merc and Carol’s relationship which will undoubtedly carry big repercussions as Carol has now lost her job security.
I’m also at a loss as to why, in their first scene, Carol and Beverly are hiking. There are only two or three lines in the scene that refer to it and it has no bearing on the rest of the episode whatsoever. Admittedly it adds some variety but there’s no humour or plot development connected to the setting. It’s a scene that could have easily taken place in Beverly’s house, or at a restaurant.
A subplot that really works, however, is the aftermath of Morning’s latest bout of plastic surgery. Her new cheek implant has fallen out of place and there’s been so much trauma to her tissue that it can’t be altered for two months, which is bad news for a show that shoots each episode several weeks before broadcast and therefore can’t halt the filming schedule. There’s a lot of great humour from this story but at the same time, it helps us gain a deeper understanding of Morning as a character. Rather than just vanity, we see that it’s the idea that she’s being sidelined because of her age that causes her to undergo so much surgery. It’s also nice to see this become a full-fledged joke rather than just vague jibes about her unspecified age from the other characters.
The character jokes are still there and still going strong and there’s some excellent banter between Matt and Jamie but the main plot itself just doesn’t seem to fit with the style of the series. Episodes is largely character and observational comedy with a hint of light absurdism. The whole plot of the mix-up of Jamie and Merc’s separate holidays is a bit too Fawlty Towers. It feels too much like mainstream sitcom with lots of comedic misunderstandings as opposed to the slower, hyper-realistic humour of Episodes.
Another problem is that this episode sidelines Beverly and Sean far too much. They’re two thirds of the main cast yet in this episode they don’t get any significant development or stories. I’m holding out hope for another instalment in the vein of episode four next week but I’ll keep my flame suit on hand just in case.
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