Sugar Rush: Season Two, Episode 10

"You have a cappuccino maker. And I love you!"

And so Sugar Rush ends, with a happy ending and a bit of minor uncertainty. It's satisfying enough and wraps the series up, but can't hold a candle to last season's magnificent finale.

Sugar is now living in a depressing little bedsit and facing a marginalised, underclass future now that her relationship with her upper middle class boyfriend is over. It is awful, but realistic, to see a woman from Sugar's background finding escape from poverty not in achievement but in finding a suitable man; I'm glad they didn't take that route, but poor Sugar ends the series in her usual precarious position.

Stella is determined to be a good mother this time, even giving up the wine. Sugar has a new place. Kim is moving back in with Saint- it's new beginnings for everyone. But there's a tension; will Kim choose partying, and Sugar, or settling down, and Saint? This is a commonly seen but false choice, and not one I like to see; I'm married, and my life is no less of an adventure. Settling down does not mean less excitement or fun, whatever popular culture may say.

Sugar makes Kim see sense ("Go and get your girl!") and so ends up being a good friend after all. She and Saint have a touching reunion. But there's a twist- Sugar's place has burned down during the party and she needs somewhere to stay...

It's a fitting ending, even if they did take the easy option and make it a happy one.

Sugar Rush: Season Two, Episode 9

"I'm pregnant!"

So, Kim is back with Saint and very much in love. Everything's fine, right? Well, wrong. While Kim is all self-obsessed about her own happiness, she fails to notice what is going on. Things fall apart in an episode based on failure to communicate. You know, Marshall McLuhan and that.

Firstly, Saint is in a bad mood because of work and isn't feeling horny. And there is tension with Sugar, too; Kim wants to get pissed with her, but she's busy with Mark. People insist on having lives of their own. How dare they!

It's Mark who has to explain to Kim that it's the anniversary of Saint's mum dying, and she isn't sharing this with Kim. How can she connect with her?

Stella drops the bombshell that she's pregnant, and hasn't told Nathan. When she does, he doesn't take it well; once again, failure to communicate.

Sugar is nervous about meeting Mark's parents, but is relieved to find their class background similar to hers. Things are fine and relaxed- until she mentioned prison. This ruins the night and, when Mark says the wrong thing (that theme again), she hastily dumps him.

Yes, this is effectively an episode that comes up with a bunch of problems for the finale to solve, but it's a nice treatment of the themes.

Sugar Rush: Season Two, Episode 8

"When you care about someone, should you risk them finding out about the real you?"

All is seemingly sweet with Kim's love life, but there remain tensions at home. Stella is still well up for swinging, but Narhan has started insisting on things like "family time", and is being, for him, assertive. Sugar, meanwhile, is getting together with Saint's male ex, Mark. Yet again, though, class rears it's head: Sugar is nervous about impressing her cultured, middle class boyfriend, so she lies about her poverty-defined past and especially the prison part.

Saint, meanwhile, is employed doing the gear for a swinger's party and, what with this series being no stranger to high farce, we all know where this is going. 

The Saturday night in question sees a number of deceptions. Kim lies to Stella in saying she will babysit Matt. Stella and Nathan, naturally, conceal the nature of what they are doing. Matt, while alone, cross dresses. So many secrets, and some rather clever structural plotting.

In contrast, Sugar decides to be honest to Mark and it pays off; she is, ironically, the honest one in an episode about deception which culminates in Kim seeing Nathan hurt on a sex swing...

The best thing about the episode, though, is Saint's awkward Sunday lunch with Kim's family: "Breast or thigh, Saint?"

Sugar Rush: Season Two, Episode 7

"I'm in love with you!"

"Good. Pass the cheese."

Oh dear. Kim is in a bit of trouble. Looks as though she punched the "other woman" who went to Saint's and got herself arrested. Oops. Luckily, Saint is able to persuade her to drop the charges. They are back together. Aaah!

Sugar is still trouble, though. She needs money to replace what she stole from Dmitri, fast so, after some hilarious scenes of her in the sex shop, she betrays Kim's trust by stealing money from the till, as we, the viewers, knew she would.

This leads to the most brilliant sequence of the entire season, as Kim, Saint and Sugar plan a daring burglary of Dmitri's home to get the money back, which is hugely entertaining viewing. Dmitri ends up tied up, expecting sexual delights which will never arrive, while our three conspirators are laughing and drinking.

That seems to tie up the biggest dangling plot threads, so where now...?

Sugar Rush, Season Two, Episode 6

"I don't judge you for being a swinger."

Kim is still ridden with guilt over her betrayal if Saint. Stella and Nathan are still the same therapy-obsessed stereotypical Guardian readers. Sugar is still allowing Kim to believe that it was herself that took her to hospital. What is going to puncture this awkwardness?

Firstly, Sugar, as heedless of consequences as ever, is recklessly spending Dmitri's money. Secondly, an awkward conversation with Kim reveals to Saint that Sugar lied. At this point we know that the status quo cannot last.

To complicate things further, as soon as Sugar knows that Saint knows she goes to ridiculously doomed-to-fail lengths to avoid Kim finding out. Eventually she is found out, and Kim throws her out of the house. She's in a bad situation, especially as she stole Dmitri's money.

There's a twist, though: it appears that Saint is now with someone else, and a broken-hearted Kim returns to Sugar after all. It's getting complicated, which means the season is starting to rev up for the finale.

Sugar Rush: Season Two, Episode 5

"Which grape goes best with group sex, do you think?"

Again, we have Stella and Nathan providing comic relief to counterbalance the serious emotions involved with Kim's, Saint's and Sugar's plot line. Saint is away for the weekend, and Sugar is missing, and possibly in trouble. Kim is very alone; her many messages for Saint go unanswered, and she gets the crop only in dream sequences.

Sugar, it turns out, is apparently safe-ish, and with a bloke called Dmitri. But could he be her pimp? Kim is tempted to cheat on Sugar by the highly alluring Montana at the club, played by the actress who played a very similar role in a Torchwood episode (Greeks Bearing Gifts). We never know whether Kim would have cheated on Saint, but Saint is back early, in the club, and sees them kidding. Everything has gone horribly, horribly wrong.

It seems that Kim has wrecked her relationship withbthecwonan she loves. Distraught, she drinks herself into oblivion and wakes up in hospital, with Sugar by her side. Sugar takes the credit for taking her to hospital, but it was actually Saint. What's Sugar's game? And can Kim's and Saint's relationship be resurrected? The tone has suddenly become very, very serious...

Sugar Rush: Season Two, Episode 4

"Swingers..."

It's predictable: things are awkward with Sugar. She has a minimum wage job (with sales of, er, pharmaceuticals on the side) on a stall; those class issues are rearing their ugly head again. And Sugar has adopted the role of the annoying gooseberry in Kim's and Saint's relationship. They find themselves going to clubs with men for Sugar's sake, and having frustratingly little time alone together.

In the B plot, meanwhile, Stella suggests tentatively that she and Nathan might go swinging, which feels very Brighton, although not as Brighton as a sex shop called "Munch Box". This eventually develops into having the neighbours round, one of whom Stella fancies. It won't end well.

Meanwhile, Kim becomes unreasonably jealous after Saint and Sugar have a night out together. There is a horrible, horrible argument, partly caused by possible stirring from Sugar but essentially Kim's fault. And Sugar is, unsurprisingly, depressed. She feels a spare part, but has no one else but Kim. So, when she disappears, things could be very bad...

Sugar Rush: Season One, Episode 10

"Don't you just love happy Hollywood endings?"

Let's step back a bit: this is based on a novel which Julie Burchill wrote a long time ago. We shouldn't be surprised to see an ending which is not designed to enable a second series, and that's exactly what we get. The season ends dramatically, finally and metatextually. It's the last episode, and the narrative is finally liberated from the tyranny of consequences. Anything can happen.

Sugar has stabbed someone and is covers in blood. There are extenuating circumstances- it was an attempted rape- but she is still going on the run, fleeing, with nothing in particular planned, to the only possible destination: London. Kim, still infatuated, goes with her, and both of them irrevocably outlaw themselves by stealing a car.

Both of them are outside the law and doomed to capture and consequences; all that matters is how they spend the few hours before that happens. They talk; Kim tries to tell Sugar that she's wasting herself on useless men who don't care about her, but it's no good; the series has always had a subtext of social class, and it is here that Sugar points out that she and Kim were always going to have different futures.

The two of them illicitly stay at a penthouse in central London for what must surely be their last night of freedom. A lot is said; Kim loves Sugar and will do anything for her. She always comes running, while Sugar does nothing but take and take. But there is kidding, and implied sex. And then, finally, in slow motion, the police, Stella and Nathan arrive at the hotel... 

This is a perfect, beautiful, clever ending to a perfect, beautiful, clever series. Can the second and final season be as good...?

Sugar Rush: Season One, Episode 9

"I'm a homophobic gay virgin..."

Kim is still, for the time being, pretending to experiment with the fundamentalist Christian homophobes. Still, at least there's a nice Irish lesbian girl, Beth, who only goes to the group to pull: I love that!

Beth is extremely good for Kim; at last she has someone with whom she can properly unburden herself and, yes, engage in the requisite sexual tension culminating in kissing.

Things are looking good. Very good. Naturally, it can't last, by all the rules of drama. We end with a phone call from Sugar: she's in deep, deep trouble...

Sugar Rush, Season One, Episode 8

"OK, so the stupid Malory Towers gay crush thing had to end."

It's all change. Stella is, awkwardly, back with Nathan. And Sugar is over what for her was a casual dalliance with Kim ("We were on E. It's no big deal."). For Kim, of course, it meant everything. And rejection hurts.

So Kim experiments with fundamentalist Christianity, half-heatedly trying to "cure herself". But she's too intelligent to keep up the pretence for long. She's just gay. It's as simple as that. The bloody self help culture and homophobia don't exactly mix well. Ironically, Kim fancies one of the girls there. And sex with Tom is both meaningless and uncomfortably reminiscent of Stella and Nathan.

We end with Stella going to hospital for some reason and, awkwardly, Sugar sleeping in Kim's bed without warning. Two episodes to go...

Sugar Rush, Season One, Episode 7

"OK, so Sugar's worked out that I'm a rug-muncher..."

Again, a fairly serious episode which starts with Kim staying in her room and unable to face the world for a week, on spite of the fact that Sugar turns out to be completely sensible and pragmatic about the whole thing. The point is, of course, that coming out can be traumatic even if there isn't any great drama.

This being a fairly serious episode, again we get sone comic relief in the form of Matt, who is supposedly having his period. Nathan tries to have "the chat" with his son about manhood, but the problem is that he isn't very masculine. Meanwhile, the age gap between Stella and the much younger Dale throws up cracks in their relationship; beyond the sec they have little in common, and even the sex is no longer what it was once Stella's back goes. Reality bites.

Sugar, rather nicely, is a little bi-curious and is willing for Kim to show her about lesbianism. The men in her life have, after all, left a lot to be desired. So they go clubbing, they take pills, there is some nicely druggy camerawork, and... Sugar ends up kissing a man. Devastated, she meets Stella outside, who has come to realise how little in common she has with Dale. There's a very obvious parallel between mother and daughter.

So, both have gained a little self-knowledge. What next? The series continues to he gripping, smart, witty and emotionally real.

Sugar Rush: Season One, Episode 6

"I am totally off men!"

Guillaume has not yet buggered off; Sugar is apparently off to Paris to be with him, until she realises exactly what he really meant by "putain". So she goes off on the prowl. For men. Poor Kim's love for her has never seemed more unrequited.

Things don't go to plan. Kim intends to go to see Sugar and declare her love, but instead she shags Tom the stalker. Oops. But she goes all out to sabotage Sugar's date, right up to the point of dog kidnapping.

The ending, with Sugar trying to comfort Kim, is something of a turning point: she jokingly says "Well, maybe you like me then" only to realise that, yep....

Oh dear. What next? This series is gripping, and shows a complete mastery of tone.

Sugar Rush, Season One, Episode 5

"I was their French-speaking, gooseberry interpreter."

After the intensity of last episode we get much more comic relief this time around, as Sugar gets involved with a French bloke, Guillaume, with whom she is unable to communicate without Kim translating, which gives rise to much comic potential. (The best example is when Kim translates "cunnilingus" as "up the arse". But things are still very raw. And Kim is still sexually and emotionally frustrated by Sugar's unavailability. And she is, as she says, "sick of being the sensible one."

Things are awkward at home; Nathan, always a weak character, is unsurprisingly miserable, and he wants Stella to leave. He's finding it hard to cope. Stella, meanwhile, leaves the family home and is absolutely fine.

Guillaume is the first person ever to give Sugar an orgasm, a really big deal, but he isn't staying. Is there any hope for Kim? This is the halfway point of the season; I suspect there very much may be. 

Sugar Rush, Season One, Episode 4

"Just when you think life can't get any worse, you're a virgin with a sexually transmitted disease."

The tension finally snaps, in a delightfully and relievingly farcical way, as Stella infects the entire family with crabs and is forced to confess all to Nathan. This is a massive event and a turning point in the season, shattering the status quo in all sorts of ways. Yet Kim, of course, retains the preoccupations of a teenage girl throughout it all. And there are more dream sequences.

It's a fairly Sugar-lite episode, for understandable reasons, but we end with Sugar, erm, doing Kim's bits for crabs. It's not hard to see a bit of sapphic sexual tension here.

Four episodes on and the series continues to astound with script, performances and directorial style. It's superb.

Sugar Rush, Season One, Episode 3

"Are you on something?"

"No."

"Then why are your hands on my tits?"

The tension now ramps up with both it strands- Stella's affair and Kim's unrequited passion for Sugar, and things start to get seriously uncomfortable. There's a change of tone, and a fair bit of non-linear storytelling.

There's a more serious tone. We learn that Sugar's mum tried to kill herself "when Dad pissed off". There's real darkness beneath the chirpy exterior, and sex is cheap for her: she's always "too pissed to remember." This does not indicate a particularly filling sex life.

We see plenty more of Stella's mid-life crisis affair with Dale, with spliffs, wine and cunnilingus. Matt has an accidental overdose. But the episode ends with the tension unresolved.

Sugar Rush: Season One, Episode 2

"I hope your pubes turn ginger!"

In a sense, this episode is still setting stuff up- the alienation between Kim and her parents being symbolised by Kim's knowledge that her mum, oblivious to her dad, is having an affair, and also of course by the theft of her parents' credit card. There's also the usual wit, and some very nice use of dream sequences. Even the plot structural things are witty and a bit meta.

The most blatant sign of Kim's alienation from the not-exactly-maternal Stella is their failure to connect even during their "mother and daughter day" at the spa; she'd rather be with the object of her desire, Sugar, who unfortunately has yet another useless male lover, Ray. Instead she has her misfit parents and Matt, the worlds oddest brother.

We end with Stella blackmailing Kim with the prospect of divorce if Kim spills the beans. These episodes are very short but this allows for a lot of playfulness. Still great so far.

Sugar Rush: Season One, Episode 1

"Nice tits!"

"Die."

It's entirely possible you haven't heard of Sugar Rush. Well, it was on Channel 4 from 2005, with just ten short episodes for each of it's two series. It's a delightfully irreverent lesbian coming-of-age story set, naturally, in Brighton, and based on a series of novels by everyone's favourite controversialist Stalinist Christian veteran of the punk era music press, Julie Burchill. And yes, I'm still fully commited to all my ongoing series. Tell you what, I won't start anything new for a bit, ok?

This was a favourite of my then-girlfriend, now-wife and we recently (ish) watched the whole thing together. I had no preconceptions, but I found the whole thing to be superb. The first short episode gives first impressions of being very, very mid-2000's with the opening titles, and the first person narration from Kim which gels well with the directorial style. It reminds me, visually, of Nathan Barley.

Kim is a teenage closeted gay virgin, just moved down from London. Her family is middle class, slightly bohemian and probably takes the Guardian. Her mum Stella is having a mid-life sexual crisis while her dad, Nathan, is a wet drip. She calls them both by their first names, naturally. And her brother is... eccentric.

The best bit is Nathan's unintentional double entendres after Kim has seen Stella banging the decorator, but there are many funny moments. It a smart, snappy kind of humour. 

The point of the episode, and the series, is Kim's infatuation with the alluring, fascinating yet rather direct Sugar- seemingly completely straight and, in spite of her near-RP accent, rather more working class than Kim is. This latter point will remain a constant, unspoken subtext.

This is a nicely done introduction to the characters and the premise, and it even has a young Andrew Garfield as Kim's hopeless male stalker Tom. And the toad on the hole metaphor for sexual orientation is magnificent!!!