Luke Owen reviews the fourth episode of Peep Show series eight…
I’m beginning to run out of things to say about this series of Peep Show. After last week’s almost-good episode we’re met this week with another sort-of-good-but-not-really good episode. The first half was lousy but the second half almost saved it. However ultimately episode 4 was still nothing more than an average episode.
This week saw Dobby trying to encourage Mark to go travelling with her while Jez tries to fight off his feelings for her. Mark on the other hand couldn’t think of anything worse that “being strapped to a backpack” and being “unable to take a peaceful poo” and decides that it’s time to get his MBA on an 18-month course. There he meets Stephanie, an older woman who shares a lot of his business and life ideals – could she be the woman he needs? Is she better for him than Dobby?
As I said, the first half of the episode is incredibly slow, short on laughs and low on plot progression. It just stumbles from scene to scene with nothing really happening aside from Mark buying a cat in an attempt to lore Dobby into finally moving in (however he buys the wrong type of cat). While it sounds like I’m being really harsh on the first half, I did actually find a bit of humour in Super Hans trying to date woman by advertising specific things on Freecycle to find his perfect match (she has to take the ballet shoes and the speed). It could have had a lot of added a lot of comedic value but it was sort of forgotten about only to be dragged back for one final gag which didn’t even include Hans.
As the adverts rolled I found myself in a disillusioned position. I’ve been watching this series that I used to love for the last four weeks and all it’s done is raise a few chuckles from me. I remember saying back in my first review that the series ran its course a long time ago and should have been killed off. Now it just feels like it’s on life support with me at its bedside wondering if I’ll ever see the show I used to adore.
Thankfully the second half of the episode kicked in and everything became a little better (the key word there is “little”). Mark’s relationship with Stephanie so to speak moved forward to the point where it looked like he was going to cheat on Dobby – with Jez in the background cheering him on. It was a nice character dynamic that we’ve not seen from Jez in quite some time – the man who doesn’t really care about other people’s feelings so long as he gets what he wants. What makes it funnier is that he’s so nonchalant about the whole thing. However it wasn’t all roses as the sub-plot of Jeremy helping Mad Andy didn’t go to plan as he ends up punching him repeatedly in an attempt to make him better. This series long plot thread is already growing stale to the point where they’ve used the same “I printed your certificate” line two shows in a row.
Once again, Peep Show produces yet another substandard episode. Parts of it were sort-of-funny, lots of it was sort-of-boring. Nothing really moved forward and nothing was really accomplished. Not to go back to my life support analogy, but I’d really like to sign that waiver so they can turn off the plug…
Originally published December 17, 2012. Updated April 10, 2018.
