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Friday Night Dinner: The Females (2020)
A very emotional, conclusive episode
This is a really good series finale. There are a lot of funny and also emotional moments throughout this episode.
The scenes where Martin has to pull the boys into the bathroom to discuss the awkward situation are always great. But I found it hard to watch Jackie slurping down the glass laden soup and nobody would outright tell her the danger she was in. If that was me, I would swallow my pride and bloody well tell her there was glass in the soup with no hesitation! What's more important? Getting the dinner 100% right or not destroying the internal organs of my nearest relatives (in law or otherwise)? It took way too long for anyone to say anything!
Friday Night Dinner: The Cage (2020)
It's just so lovely! Ahhhhhhhowwww!!
Crazy title for this review, but if you've seen this episode, you will know what I'm referencing, lol!
This episode is one of the highlights of the whole series. There are so many hilarious moments packed into 24 minutes. All the characters are on top form, most of all Jim and Aunty "bloody" Val.
Any episode featuring aunty Val and the irritation she causes the Goodman family (especially Martin) is pretty much destined to be a classic episode. There are plenty of laugh out loud moments involving Val and her sexual conquests.
But Jim's performance is the real highlight here. Without giving away the plot, let's just say that Jim's unwavering reverence to the Jewish faith makes for the most awkward yet hilarious and delightfully naive performance.
And, of course, Martin slamming the cage is another real highlight!
Friday Night Dinner: The Plastic Bag (2020)
Still funny but a bit too cruel
I have to agree with Crawley's review, I'm afraid. While I did actually get a good few laughs out of this episode (the crap ladder comes to mind), I found myself cringing at the unwavering cruelty and hatefulness exhibited by "the boys" in this episode.
Adam and Johnny are always pushing each other and other characters to the limit, right throughout the 6 series. And 9 times out of 10, it works and is hilarious. But there has been a few times where I've found myself no longer routing for them because they took it just a tad too far.
And that is what happened with this episode, especially. I think Adam went too far with taunting his mother over the magazine interview and playing on her jealousy towards "Aunty Val". And I think Johnny shouldn't have made his dad crawl along with back pain whilst pushing him with a rake!
But at least Adam finally said he loved his mother at the end of the episode. I would've thought it pretty pathetic and unreasonable if he hadn't. How would he like it if all his family except him were mentioned in a magazine interview? He'd hate it and demand answers, just as Jackie did!
Carry on Henry (1971)
OOH, err!
This film is heavily a product of its time. After an extremely restrictive era of sexual repression in the 1950s and early 60s, the British were rabid for this irreverent sexually explicit comedy. It was very corny and obvious but at the time, very popular. Now, it is very dated and OTT. But it is still an important part of British cinematic history, as it perfectly encapsulates a very specific moment in British history - the transition between 1950s conservatism and reverence to established authority and the irreverence of late 60s-early 70s British society. This irreverence has remained, for the most part, ever since, although the youngest generation are not so prone to alcoholism and drug taking (except laughing gas). I'm sure there will be another rebellion quite soon as society tends to work in cycles.
Friday Night Dinner: Congratulations (2016)
Annoying girlfriend doesn't help
This episode had some very funny moments, especially from Martin with his sick sense of humour and Adam prodding away at his brother Johnny. But Johnnys girlfriend was annoying from start to finish. Her OTT facial expressions and trying to be edgy and controversial all the time wore thin rather fast. And it's not because she's American as I am very fond of several American comedies (Curb Your Enthusiasm, Seinfeld, Family Guy etc). It's more that she is an OTT stereotype in general.
And the drama around Jackie feeling betrayed by Johnny for him marrying on a whim wasn't particularly funny, but it was a tad awkward.
But the best part was probably when they announced their divorce and everyone congratulated them! Jackie's joy at inappropriate moments is always amusing but also, thank god Johnnys girlfriend didn't become a regular cast member!
My Family: 2039: A Christmas Oddity (2009)
A show way past its sell by date!
My Family was actually a pretty funny and entertaining sitcom when it started back in 2000. And it remained good for a good 3-5 series, especially when Nick was still in the show. Then, it gradually went downhill until around series 9-10, by which time it had become a very poor shadow of its former self hanging by a thread. This Xmas special is a perfect example of this. The few moments which are actually new material are full of extremely obvious and unimaginative, old hat jokes and stereotypes. Then the largest part of the episode is just flashbacks of previous seasonal episodes. The first flashback goes way back to the early days of the show when Nick was still around and it just highlights how much better the show was at producing a laugh back then. The other flashbacks focus on a much more recent episode which is not much better than the new material. The dinner fight scene isn't remotely funny unless you have the mind of a 6 year old at most.
My takeaway message is don't bother watching any episodes of this show made after 2008 at the very latest. And if you want to see the very best of the show, watch series 1-4 (2000-2003).
Friday Night Dinner: The Au Pair (2020)
Definitely not the best but not as bad as it's rated.
This is the lowest rated episode of Friday Night Dinner, as of January 2023, at 6.1 out of 10. A big fall from the second worst rated episode, which sits at 7.5. I can definitely see why this episode would irritate many viewers as it becomes pretty outlandish and absurd at certain moments. In particular, the Jim and Gibby scenes are pretty silly, honestly.
But, despite that, I still think this episode deserves a good 6.5-7, purely for how the main cast, especially Johnny and Adam respond to the annoying Gibby. I find their usual dry responses to her very broken English highly amusing. E.g, regarding the use of "the facilities" and "the memory of you hasn't vanished". And another highlight is when Jackie tells her to sit down in the living room, "on the own".
Of course, if broken English doesn't tickle your funny bone, then yes, this episode will leave you rather underwhelmed and probably irritated, but if not, this episode doesn't deserve quite as much flack as it's received. A full 1.4 points less than all the other episodes seems slightly harsh, especially considering how irritating and awkward the 2nd worst rated episode, "The Girlfriend", is.
Edit May 2023: just watched this episode again and Gibby is beginning to irritate me a bit more. I still find Johnnys reactions to Gibby fairly amusing but it isn't enough to counteract the OTT cartoonish quality of Gibby and Jim in this episode. Especially in comparison to the first series when everything was much more subtle and subdued.
Two Doors Down: Christmas Special (2022)
Only just a comedy episode
This episode did contain a few jokes here and there, but the main focus of the episode seemed to be on sentiment and the woes of being lonely at Christmas.
It started out with Beth, Eric and Christine entering a local cafe. They ordered their food and drinks and Christine actually insisted she'd pay for a change to thank Beth and Eric for "all they do for her". This set the tone for the rest of the episode. It was obviously going to be an episode aimed at being festively wholesome and family friendly, tugging at the heart strings without being too controversial.
The rest of the gang turned up throughout the episode and a few chuckles were raised for the audience here and there but it was predictable and much the same as the usual episodes of the series and somehow more safe than usual. For example, Eric and others winced at the mild violence described by Christine in the PG rated 1990 film Home Alone. It all seemed very family friendly and pandering to a family friendly audience in general.
I felt for Christine at the end when her daughter Sophie texted and said she'd be coming round for Christmas after all, but I don't think this episode set the tone for a funny Christmas episode to cheer people up in such miserable times.
I may have cut the writers more slack if the jokes were actually really good in an effort to balance the scales between humour and soap opera level misery but that balance was not met for this special, as far as I'm concerned. Yes, it would have made for a good episode of a soap opera or a drama, but Two Doors Down is supposed to be a comedy.
For a good example of when Pathos is used to good effect and in the right quantity and balance, take the 1994 Christmas special of One Foot In The Grave, "The Man Who Blew Away", Written by David Renwick. In that special, a man attempts to commit suicide by jumping off the Meldrews roof. There are a whole bunch of really good jokes to counterbalance the misery in that episode, including the scene in which the actual attempted suicide takes place as the mans trousers come off as he's left dangling from the Meldrews drainpipe after a change of heart. But in the Two Doors Down episode, the only counterbalance to the Pathos is a load of highly predictable jokes told a hundred times before in previous episodes.
It was ok but more of a soap opera than a comedy. I would have worked if there had been outstanding humour to counterbalance the misery.
Friday Night Dinner: The Two Tonys (2016)
One of the best ones
Friday Night Dinner is an excellent example that UK comedy is definitely not completely dead! This is a real gem of a series with so many damn good episodes, this being in the top tier.
This is a great example of how the worst, most awkward and uncomfortable situations make for the best comedy. Which is what Friday Night Dinner succeeds at on a regular basis.
There is a great mix of characters included in this episode - the main Goodman family, Nellie (Jackie's mum), Aunty Val and weird but friendly neighbour Jim and his dog Wilson. And a one off but hilarious character, Tony Michaels!
Suffice it to say but Tony causes chaos among the Goodman household and it makes for an excellent storyline with great performances from all of the cast.
My favourite line from the episode - "Am I still Mrs Whittaker?!"
And, of course, "PASS ME THE PINEAPPLE!!!!!!"
Two Doors Down: Veggie Curry (2021)
So glad Beth finally put her foot down!
It seems that in this series, Beth has become a little more assertive as well as having a new haircut. Beth has always been the thread that holds everything together, or tries at least. She is the least selfish and most conscientious character of the series and so it's a good sign that she is finally finding her voice. And I always loved Arabella Weir in The Fast Show.
The rest of 'em are the same as ever, Kathy and Christine just as utterly selfish as ever, and also Colin. Although Christine seems to have lost a little weight and Gordon is a little more sexually explicit.
This series seems to be fairly consistent overall and all the characters have very distinctive personalities. Definitely one of the best sitcoms of the 21st century!
Two Doors Down: Doughnuts (2022)
Good if not for new couple
I really like this sitcom, it's probably one of the best of recent years. And I really like Arabella Weir in her role as Beth and I enjoy the not so likeable characters such as Christine and Kathy. But these two new residents in this episode completely lacked any comical value or charisma and were basically giant buzzkills. I don't see what's so funny about someone with a pissed off expression constantly. At least with Beth, we know her enough to empathise with her pain and anguish and she comes across as a warm and friendly character, unlike the doctors of this episode. And it has nothing to do with their ethnicity, it's all to do with their lack of personality and overall drab humourless dullness.