Breaking Bad: Bit By a Dead Bee

 "It wasn't Whole Foods, was it?"

Now that was impressive. I mean, Breaking Bad literally always is, but they'd written themselves into a corner. And got themselves out of it... to the extent they wanted to.

It was inevitablt going to stretch credibility with Hank getting dangerously close to what Walt is up to, however dramatically effective. They had to bring it to a head, and it's to their credit that it all worked out with plausibility. 

It's plausible because the whole amnesia schtick is just Walt being clever, as well as coaching Jesse on what to say to the DEA- athough it turns out Jesse is genuinely lucky in his choice of girlfriend: Wendy has something on Hank, sort of. Yet Walt stage-manages everything to perfection, with superb acting- including "acting" acting- from the magnificent Bryan Cranston. For a while it seems as though Walt may have a problem in not being released from hospital and thus unable to cook... but the way he plays the psychiatrist (the mayor from Buffy!) is masterful indeed.

There are two loose ends, though, as life isn't that neat. Is Jesse getting cold feet? Oh, and Skyler still wants to know about that second cell phone. Ouch. She thinks he's having an affair. Is this going to push them apart? After all, Walt can hardly maintain both of hs lives forever. Is thisperhaps how his family life ends?

I'm REALLY enjoying this.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Touched

"Your performance as a disgruntled minion was spot on"

"I'm method."

It’s an interesting way to do the episode just before the two part final battle, just after the episode in which our titular heroine has hit rock bottom, rejected by all her friends. In a way it’s catharis for last episode; in a way it’s also a way to get everyone to have sex before a big battle before some of them, and not all of them redshirt Potentials, will die. Perhaps it’s convenient that the First and Caleb are busy in their cave this episode, but it’s important that we slow down and do all this character stuff.

It’s uncomfortable without Buffy and Faith- crude, uneducated, is unsteady as leader. That much is clear. Her plan to kidnap a Bringer and make it talk is good, and Dawn’s linguistic skills in magic lore (Ottoman Turkish this week) are impressive, but they don’t discover anything not already found out by Spike, Andrew and Buffy.

As for Spike, he’s not happy with what he finds on his returns and has some harsh and truthful words for Willow’s blatantly practised speech (“You sad, sad, ungrateful traitors”), some fists for Faith, and some harsh words for them all. And when he finds Buffy he finds her so very down- Sarah Michelle Gellar does a scarily realistic performance as a depressed person.

But this is an episode about healing, so out he comes with the uplifting, cathartic pep talk, reminding Buffy who she is. And this leads to a cuddle, and then some healing sex.

Cue more healing sex back at the house, before the big battle. Faith and Robin- I called it- Willow and Kennedy, even Anya and Xander. It’s lovely, but by the laws of drama it must also be ominous.

So Buffy and Faith & co make simultaneous assaults on the vineyard, where a reenergised Buffy runs rings around Caleb by dancing like a butterfly. She discovers what looks like a useful MacGuffin. Unfortunately Faith finds a time bomb...

It’s starting.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: This Year's Girl

"It's just with…"

"Little sis coming, I know. So much to do before she gets here!"

Gosh, that's an interesting bit of dialogue. What on Earth could it possibly mean?

This episode is probably more fun of stuff than any Buffy episode ever, as Faith wakes up at precisely the least convenient moment. Even the "Previously on…" segment is the busiest one ever. Not only do we have all the "current" characters making an appearance, plus Faith, but Joyce and even the late Mayor put in an appearance. There's a fair bit going on here.

It's interesting, given the fact that Adam is at the forefront of all our minds, that the early scenes, with Faith in a coma, should use imagery which so strongly hints at Frankenstein. Also interesting is that Faith should spend much of this episode subtly but symbolically dressed as Red Riding Hood. I have no idea what either of these things mean. The extended dream sequences early on are interesting and mystifying, too. The Mayor is obviously the father figure, taking Faith on a fatherly picnic, but the snake? Obviously it refers to his death but also, you know. It's a bit phallic. Faith makes a joking reference to "some stuff about cigars and a tunnel", but most of this subtext is going right over my head.

Still, Faith is back, and she's dangerous. Everybody's scared of her. But there's so much else going on here, albeit with her as the catalyst; she isn't going to really move beyond that and start doing the bad stuff until next episode. So here she just lurks around, while her presence causes things to happen, such as Buffy failing to explain about her sunlight-averse ex to Riley, Joyce realising that Buffy hasn't paid much attention to her for months, and Spike having to exclaim "Can't any of you damned Scooby club at least try to remember that I hate you all?". Of course, this is also a bit of a rebuke to us viewers for too quickly accepting Spike's unwilling role as good guy, and thus pleasingly meta.

Riley is learning to live in a world with shades of grey in it, with the help of his adoring girlfriend. They're very lovey-dovey here, but there's an underlying tragedy; Riley has given up everything he believed in for her and firmly deciding whose side he's on, agreeing to act as the Scoobies' double agent in the Initiative. Buffy is now the sole centre of all meaning in his life. And yet… the signs are that Buffy isn't that into him; for all her fussing over him and her genuine deep affection, there are all sorts of signs that the relationship isn't going to last for ever. When it ends, where will Riley go?

Once again I have to give a shout out to Amber Benson for some outstandingly good physical acting, but also to Sarah Michelle Gellar who, as the star, is easy to take for granted. The last five seconds of the episode remind us just how good an actress she is.

Oh, and I like the new wardrobe for the Watchers' Council. Very fetching.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Graduation Day, Part Two

"There's a certain dramatic irony that's attached to all this; a synchronicity that borders on predestination, one might say"

"Fire bad, tree pretty."

Careful, Giles. You could do some serious damage to the fourth wall, saying things like that. Nice coda to the episode, though. Heck, this episode as a whole would have made a nice final episode ever. That's how perfect it is.

I'm amazed that Joss Whedon managed to fit all this into forty-two minutes, really. He essentially has to tell two separate stories in two separate acts (as the Mayor actually points out!)- Buffy saving Angel with a bit of Faith stuff thrown in, and the final battle- while also throwing in lots of character stuff, lots of thematic stuff, and even a surreal dream sequence which hints at his evil future plans. Whatever entity he had to sell his soul to for these evil scriptwriting powers, it's worked. And not turned him into a nasty, slimy, ugly CGI snake with pointy teeth and no limbs, unlike the Mayor. Yes, no limbs. Did he really want that- an eternity of paraplegic demonhood? Well, I say eternity. Obviously, that part's dependent on proximity to loads of explosives.

Buffy curing Angel by letting her bite him is dramatic, and the perfect end to their relationship. Also, it's more than a little erotic, and very, very kinky in a Dracula sort of way. But the question of Faith hangs over this entire subplot- and, in fact, over the main plot with the Mayor. It seems I was dead wrong about the Mayor using Faith as bait; he really does care. So much, in fact, that it's his downfall. That's a surprise, but it convinces, not least because of how Harry Groener plays it.

The season ends with Faith, who more than anything is its catalyst and its thematic anchor, in a coma, we're told permanently, although we don't believe this. We know how TV works, and she'll be back. But at least Eliza Dushku gets a chance to actually act, with the bizarre dream sequence, full of clues to the dastardly plans inside the evil brain of the esteemed Mr Whedon. "Little Miss Muffet counting down from 7…3…0…", eh? We'll see what that's all about, eventually.

There's one interesting little story telling point, I thought, in the hospital. Angel has to use a payphone to call the Scoobies, whereas of course if the episode were to be made today he'd use a mobile. But this is 1999, as we keep getting told: people have mobiles. It's just that the conventions of TV drama haven't quite caught up.

Buffy leaves the hospital ready for a war, and with a plan. Xander is key; nice echoes back to The Zeppo there. I was wondering if Whedon had forgotten about his military superpowers, but he hasn't. Nice touch. It's also nice that Wesley accepts Buffy's resignation, and simply wants to help before he has to leave. Cordelia, of course, rather wishes he wouldn't ("You got fired, and you still hang around like a big loser. Why can't he?"), until, finally, they kiss. And he's a terrible kisser. End of. It's a brilliant scene, which would never have been written if Whedon hadn't known that Charisma Carpenter had the comic acting talent to pull it off.

Willow and Oz continue to be the sweetest couple ever, too. Whedon is kindly waiting until next season to cruelly destroy their lives, obviously.

Still, the Graduation arrives, and with it the promise of speeches and doom. It's so very weird to hear Land of Hope and Glory in this context; are all American high school graduations suffused with random eruptions of British nationalism? It's very bizarre. Also, there's tension. This is it. The final, epic battle, with the demons and vampires pitched against the Class of '99. It's great to watch. There must be casualties, of course; we see Larry being killed, and Harmony appears to get bitten. Snyder, in the most fitting thing in the history of fittingness, gets eaten. And, in the immortal words of Mr. Vincent Furnier, school's blown to pieces.

So, that was high school. What next? This has been a show about high school; it looks as though some fundamental retooling is needed so the show can deal with the themes of young adulthood. Season Four of Buffy and Season One of Angel are both coming very, very soon to a blog near you…

Buffy the Vampire Slayer; Graduation Day, Part One

"We're gonna need a bigger boat."

This is it, then, or at least the first half of it. You could cut the tension with a knife and, er, Buffy sort of does exactly that. There's mere hours to go until the end of school and, since the Mayor will be making his speech and doing all that Ascension stuff right there, also the end of everyone's lives. Jonathan may have been a bit premature when he said that the Class of '99 has had the lowest mortality rate ever.

The American concept of graduating high school is a fascinating one to me as a Brit; we don't have anything like that. Lessons end, you take your final A Level exams, and you wait until the results come in mid-August, long after school ended, when either you'll have achieved the grades you needed for your provisional place at University or it's time to panic. There's no graduation as such, just separate qualifications in the three or four subjects you studies post-16, and nit much of a sense of ceremony although, obviously, the fact that school, ends means something. On the other hand, my degree ceremony was just like this, with gowns and speeches and balls. It feels odd to me to see that sort of thing happening to teenagers.

There's a real contrast between the liberating feeling of school ending, winding down into yearbooks and games of hangman, and the sense of imminent death, as Xander pretty much articulates at the very beginning. But either way it means leaving childhood behind. In fact, this is an episode full of rituals to do with growing up. Willow loses her virginity and Buffy (finally!) severs all ties with the Watchers' Council, calling it a "graduation". She's an adult now and she'll make her own decisions.

Willow and Oz's short scene of post-coital bliss is incredibly sweet, obviously, and so are Anya's obvious feelings for Xander. I love Anya, as do all right-thinking people. But there's something of a cruel contrast between these two couples being brought closer together by the upcoming apocalypse and the fact that they seem to have no future. The whole mood of this episode is so very ambiguous, yet so very powerful too. But then, that always happens in these episodes where Joss Whedon both writes and directs.

The Ascension is near, but the Scoobies still have very little idea how to stop it, and the Mayor is careful to keep them distracted with finding a cure for the mortally wounded Angel and, much though he may bleat about no father being prouder, he's essentially using Faith as expendable bait; he must have known that the blood of a Slayer was the only cure. She doesn't know it, but it seems she's been tossed aside.

It feels the whole series has been running up to this: an epic showdown between Buffy and Faith. It ends inconclusively, of course, as we need a cliffhanger, but it's so, so meaningful, in the context of these two characters and their arc, to see Buffy actually stabbing Faith. Even Faith is more surprised than anything.

Like all first parts to series finales, though, this is just the build-up, and it seems to end on a big suspended chord, just as it should. Tomorrow there should be a proper sense of closure, as I finally get the end of what is still my favourite season.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Choices

"Why couldn't you be dealing drugs, like normal people?"

As often happens in Buffy, the title refers to more than is immediately apparent. Yes, there's Buffy's choice, or lack of, about whether to go to uni somewhere other than Sunnydale. But this episode is also about other choices. Willow makes a positive choice to stay in Sunnydale for the right reasons, because fighting the baddies is what she wants with her life. And Faith has to deal with the consequences of the choice she's made. She and the Mayor may get on fine at the moment, but he's very much the controlling type. This relationship is going to get more and more abusive, and Faith is trapped.

The plot is rather straightforward and blah, really. Its purpose is to get the inevitable and showdown between Buffy and the Mayor out of the way, as it has to happen at some point before the finale, and also to enable the Scoobies to learn more about the Mayor's plans. But the interesting stuff, as ever, is all about the characters.

In the way she responds to being captured, Willow shows herself to be brave and resourceful, yes. But there's more to it than that; this is the episode where it suddenly becomes manifest that she's no longer one of the civilian-type Scoobies; the way she uses that levitating pencil (nice shout out to earlier in the season, that) to stake that vampire shows us that she's beginning to be useful in the field. She's the fully-fledged magic user to the D&D party that is Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Er, sorry. Also, she gets the important pages from the Books of Ascension for Giles. That's big. Whatever the increasingly marginalised Wesley might say, the Scoobies are not back to square one at the end.

Of course, the best character moment ever is Oz's angry and eloquent reaction to Wesley's suggestion of not bartering to get his Willow back!

A lot of this episode is about how teenagers' lives are punctuated by huge responsibilities and big decisions which can seem almost crushing in a stage of life where you don't have the experience, and the accumulated confidence that comes with hears, to deal with it easily. I have far more responsibility in my life today than I did when I was the Scoobies' age, but it doesn't cause me stress in the way that pretty much everything did when I was eighteen, on the school-uni-career conveyor belt, where it seems that the slightest mistake will ruin your life forever. Kids that age are experiencing these pressures without any of the benefit of experience which allows us adults to deal with pressure so much less stressfully, and sometimes we forget that. This is an episode about big choices about one's future, and that's scary.

On a more functional note, of course, it's also an episode which begins to hint at how the series can continue after everyone finishes school. They're not all going to disperse to universities all over America, but choose to stay for reasons similar to Willow. Except Xander, of course, who clearly isn't going to college. And what's up with Cordelia? Why is she working in a shop?

The Mayor's little monologue about the doomed nature of Buffy's relationship with Angel is, of course, ominous. He is, as Willow says, evil, but he's also, as no one wants to admit, right. This is clearly foreshadowing. Their relationship is not long for this world.

Oh, and that rather disgusting McGuffin full of spiders… what's all that about?

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Enemies

"I'm the world's best actor."

"Second best…"

Back on Wednesday I was bibbling about the way there are two kinds of Buffy episodes- the funny and the heartbreaking, and how, what with Joss Whedon being evil and all, a funny episode is likely to immediately precede a direct act of violence to your heartstrings. Well, obviously, I was exaggerating a bit there. There are your ordinary monster of the week episodes too, although we haven't really had many of late, what with things being so tense lately, arc-wise. There's another distinct kind, though: the plot episode, an anchor in the season arc, full of plotty goodness. We typically get one just before the final run of episodes before the season finale, and that's just what we've got here.

And I'm impressed. This episode has to do a lot of heavy lifting, arc-wise. It has to show our Scooby friends realising that Faith is working for the Mayor. It has to lead to Buffy breaking up with Angel, at least temporarily. It has to have the Scoobies becoming aware of the Mayor's mysterious-but-ominous-sounding Ascension, and it has to establish that Ascension Day is to be D-Day. That's a lot to fit in. So it's all the more impressive that the episode is such an entertaining watch in its own right.

Obviously, a huge reason for this is the big, big twist, which is one of those "everything you thought you knew was wrong" moments. It really hits you like a punch, especially as "Angelus" is so convincing. Boreanaz, Angel, Gellar, Buffy… all four of them show themselves to be brilliant actors.

Another great thing is the developing relationship between Faith and the centenarian Mayor, conveyed mainly through some mutually great facial acting. "Miniature golf" indeed. The Mayor is such a fun character, far more so with Faith than with Mr Trick, rather appropriately allowing us to enjoy our Big Bad more in the season's closing episodes. It's also notable, once again, how powerless Wesley is: no one (except Cordelia, who seems to have rejoined the gang because of him) listens him, and it's notable how Buffy, Angel and Giles don't include him in their plans. And there's a rather sweet scene with Willow giving Buffy some sensible relationship advice, establishing that they're now back to being as close as they were before.

Interestingly, this episode gives us an early example of the "good demon" trope, much as Faith may think that "A demon's a demon." Racist! I suppose Giles is just as bad, what with "Demons after money? Whatever happened to the still-beating heart of a virgin? No one has any standards any more!" Still, I'll cut him some slack. It's a good line.

Probably the most interesting part, though, is after Faith kills the demon, and we see her bloodstained hands, in a moment that recalls Macbeth. This is her first deliberate murder, and I suspect that some of the conflicted feelings she confesses to Angel are genuine. But there's no going back now. She's literally dipped her hands in the blood.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Doppelgangland

"She was truly the finest of us."

"Way better than me."

"Much, much better"

I love this show. This isn't the first time I've banged on about the alternation of the funny episodes with the darker ones in a predictable but good way, but the extraordinary run of serious episodes we've experienced lately is followed by this, the most laugh-out-loud funny thing I've seen in, well, months. It's no surprise to realise this is both written and directed by Joss Whedon. Truly, the man is God.

At times like this it's always tempting just to quote the huge number of hilarious lines throughout the whole review, but I won't. That sort of thing might be fine for five minutes of uninspired pub chat but it won't do for blogging. I mean, of course I'm going to shoehorn some of that stuff in when I'm ostensibly taking about the character development, or how brilliant Alyson Hannigan is, but you can rely on me to be subtle.

So… Alyson Hannigan. I didn't think such a thing was possible, but my opinion of her acting has just got even higher. She's great at comedy, but we knew that. We didn't need that bored look from evil Willow at being lectured by Cordelia to tell us that, hilarious though that scene is. But seeing her playing two completely different characters (except, of course that "our" Willow is Totally Not Gay and this is in no way foreshadowing, right?) really hammers home how great she is. That scene with her playing "our" Willow pretending to be evil Willow is a tour de force.

Oh, and Evil Willow… mmm! Is it just me who thinks Alyson Hannigan should have her own show where she stars as a Goth dominatrix? Thought not.

It's great to have a sequel to The Wish for general reasons, of course, not least because it means more Evil Willow (although she's seemingly dead, sadly), but it's nice to have some sort of link between the two worlds. And it's also great to have Anya back; a 1,200 year old vengeance demon stuck in Sunnydale High is too good a character not to become a regular.

It's also good to have Oz back after a rather jarring absence, and Snyder, of course. It's been a while since this foreigner has made any comments about the otherness of American schooling, but to me the whole idea of artificially inflating someone's grades just because they're good at a sport is horrifyingly corrupt! Does this stuff really go on much?

Also in season arc news  it's deeply worrying to see Faith still pretending to be one of the Scoobies while secretly working for her new sugar daddy, the Mayor, who's bought her a swanky new luxury flat, complete with PlayStation, which in 1999 was really something. It's very quickly established that there's going to be no hanky panky, which makes the Mayor a sort of father figure and so, I suppose, an evil parallel to Giles. That's interesting, as Buffy gets a lot of dialogue early on about how easily she could have turned out like Faith if things had been different. Of course, this also works as some pretty neat foreshadowing of the two Willows.

Cordelia still blatantly fancies Wesley, and this is getting increasingly foregrounded. I suspect this subplot is probably there to give us some light relief when the heavy stuff starts up again sometime soon. Also, it gives Wesley something to do, and the character would by now be redundant otherwise, it seems.

I somehow suspect next episode will be rather more heart-crushing than this one, just because this one was fun. Joss Whedon does that.

Incidentally, I've now finished The Bridge, which means it's all uninterrupted Buffy from now on, films aside, until the end of Season Four. Well, apart from Angel Season One, which is not far off. Unfortunately, The Bridge was being shown two episodes a week on BBC4, and I was forced to keep up, which led me to rather neglect Buffy. I don't think I'll watch anything being broadcast like that in the future, unless it's a new series of something I've already been blogging. Certainly, it's all Buffy and Angel (and films) for a good while now.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Consequences

"We help people. That doesn't mean we can do anything we want!"

So, the consequences. This episode really, really, really walks a tightrope. Its task is incredibly difficult. On the one hand, it has to establish that, as Slayers, Buffy and Faith are not Nietzchean superwomen who can do whatever they like and the little people don't matter. On the other hand, we obviously can't just have the title character of the show thrown in jail as an accessory to murder. That would cause problems, to put it mildly.

In the end, I think, the episode works, although there's an inevitable bit of sleight of hand. The episode turns on the moment when Giles sides with Buffy and accepts this is just an unfortunate accident, the kind of collateral damage that happens in war. This just about works without sounding like a justification of Faith and Buffy's actions on the grounds of their "specialness", but only because of the sheer amount of angst Buffy goes through during the episode. Emotionally, at least, it works, although the other small matter of burglary, resisting arrest and vandalism of police property is neatly glossed over.

It's an intense and extraordinary episode, and essentially a character piece focusing on Faith. We've known she's had a dark side now, but here she may be slipping into real darkness, as Angel's commentary underlines: this is how evil starts. Again, it's all a little too psychologically neat, but a little sleight of hand makes it work emotionally. It helps that Sarah Michelle Gellar and Eliza Dushku are so brilliant here.

There's another side to all of this for Buffy, too. Earlier in the season she kept a secret, hiding Angel's return from everyone, causing a great deal of angst and almost losing Giles' trust. Here, she's grown up, and comes straight out with it as soon as she realises that Faith isn't going to confess. It's a shock to find that Faith has claimed that Buffy is the killer, of course, but I don't think anyone would have been fooled by Giles apparently believing Faith over Buffy. He's far too close to her for that.

Also interesting is how this episode sees the gradual and final rejection of Wesley as Watcher: he's completely lost the respect of everyone and suddenly no one (except Cordelia!) is listening to him. He's powerless, and the organisation he represents is shown once again to be hidebound, of questionable authority and, worst of all, incompetent. In fact, it's interesting to watch this episode now; extrajudicial "extraordinary rendition" has a resonance that it didn't in 1999. Still, Giles, to all intents and purposes, is Buffy's Watcher again. And this time round he doesn't have to answer to anyone.

There are so many other moments in this episode, though. Buffy's heart to heart with Willow, who unlike Faith is a true friend, the hilarious scene in which everyone suddenly realises that Xander is saying he's shagged Faith, and the simple, short, heartbreaking scene of Willow crying at this news. Most shocking, of course, is Faith's attempted rape of Xander. This show, at its core, is all about the reversal of gender roles, but this one's a biggie.

By the end of the episode, the Scoobies are well aware that the Mayor is this season's Big Bad. Mr Trick is dust. And the Mayor has a new employee…

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Homecoming

"As Willow goes, so goes my nation."

So, we're back to these American high school traditions again, and this foreigner's continuing clumsy attempts to understand what's going on. I can work out that it's a posh ball, and a girl gets voted "queen", but I still have no real idea of what Homecoming is. To my American readers it's probably a traditional rite of passage. To me it's a lyric from the Monkees' "Daydream Believer".

Still, this is a great comedy episode, and also a Cordy episode, which goes some way to redressing the way the character's been neglected in recent episodes. She's still as shallow as ever, but that's the way we love her. And she's the one who scares off Lyle Gorch with that brilliant bluffing speech.

Of course, putting Buffy and Cordelia into conflict has repercussions on the rest of the Scoobies, who are forced to pick sides and feel the inevitable guilt. Most of the guilt, though, has to do with the kiss between Willow and Xander. Worse, it's not just an isolated kiss; there are obvious feelings of attraction that they have for each other which are only deepened by their very close friendship. And this happens at a time when they're both happily attached. This cannot end well. But both actors are superb in these scenes.

There's a direct contrast with Faith, of course, to whom this sort of guilt is alien. Not only does she discuss using and discarding a couple of "studs" with Buffy, but she brazenly goes and takes Scott away from his partner, no doubt to be used once and destroy. A lifestyle based on short-term pleasures, in fiction, is usually shorthand for a lack of investment in any sort of future.

Buffy, meanwhile, is dumped by Scott on the rather undeniable grounds that the life seems to have gone out of her. It's left to Giles to remind Buffy to actually have fun, and even to make a non-ironic joke at one point. Wow.

The conclusion of the episode is funny, but it's still a rejection of Buffy, who isn't even in the yearbook now. We're reminded that this is the final year of High School, and Buffy is finally working hard, investing in her future in stark contrast to both Faith and her slightly younger self. How will it end for her?

Plot arc-wise, there's a nice bit of sleight of hand here. We already have an established tradition of a rather cool baddie being introduced early in a season but turning out to be a red herring, so when Trick gets arrested we assume that's it for him. But it isn't. And we finally get to meet this mysterious mayor, a kind of Howard Hughes with a direct hotline to the socially conservative id and no apparent problem about associating with vampires. He only gets a few lines but he's a memorable and quirky character already. A lot of that is down to Harry Groener's performance.

Oh, and Lyle Gorch doesn't die either. I genuinely don't remember but I take it we'll be seeing him again.

It's a fun little episode, heavy on character development but with a lightness of touch befitting a comedy episode. Don't worry- after yesterday's barrage of political subtext I'll go light on it here…!