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 Two, Episode 3

"You're probably going to need some lube...!"

So, Kim is now in a relationship with Saint, who is the purveyor of a sex shop. Like many lesbians, she is kinky, and floggers and other toys abound. But Kim has it wrong; she's a little anxious about how she, a sexual novice, can satisfy someone who runs a sex shop, but the deeper truth is both simple and beautiful: Saint is a sensitive soul who likes snuggles.

Sugar, meanwhile, has very nearly finished doing her porridge. Awkwardly, she has nowhere else to live and wants to stay with Kim. I foresee difficulties here. Meanwhile, an ex of Saint's enters the scene. A male ex. Does this mean she "misses cock"? There are harsh words, but Saint gets her revenge on Kim. With a crop. While she's tied to a chair with handcuffs.

The inevitable ending happens on schedule as Kim finds Sugar waiting inside the place she shares with Saint...

Sugar Rush: Season Two, Episode 2

"Spanking, role play... she's a dyke."

Kim confidently rings up Saint on the number she obtained at the end of last episode so, obviously, with this being Sugar Rush, that would be a dream sequence. Her gaining the confidence to actually talk to this girl she likes is obviously going to be the subject of the episode.

In other news, Nathan is feeling emasculated, but it was ever thus. And Sugar, still inside, has been caught with some hash. But she has some advice for Kim: woo Saint by playing hard to guess. So she pretends to be in a relationship with the annoying Melissa, which turns out to be a bad move, as Melissa is really dull.

In other comic relief, Stella spikes Nathan's wine with Viagra, leading to a weird orgasm and an uncomfortably lingering erection. But the episode ends as it had to: in spite of Kim's silly games, Saint ends up with her anyway and we end with a long, lingering kiss.

For the first time, we get to see Saint as something more than the impossibly cool and sexy object of desire. She's clever, nice, and a little bit vulnerable...

Sugar Rush: Season Two, Episode 1

"I don't want therapy. I want sex!"

Quite sensibly, given what happened at the end of last season, we fast forward eighteen months. Kim is back with Stella and Nathan, who are back together and embarrassing as always. Matt, sensible chap, is a Goth. It's all back to normal for Kim but Sugar, who is not so middle class, is consequentially still in prison. Kim hadn't seen anyone since and is desperate to go on the pull.

While the first series is based on the Julie Burchill novel, this season is entirely original. It feels much the same, certainly, but a certain amount of exposition is required to untangle the mess that was the end of the last series.

Stella and Nathan are currently celibate, and are receiving sex therapy in scenes which delightfully skewer the whole self help industry. Kim fancies Saint, the purveyor of "Munch Box", a new lesbian sex shop in town (it's definitely Brighton!), but chickens out of asking her out. Saint, and her shop, symbolise the deeper waters of sexuality where Kim is not yet a confident swimmer.

Kim, naively, meets Anna in a gay club and has an amazing time with her, culminating in a bit if schoolgirl roleplay, during which her parents walk in ("That, Nathan... that is sex.") I'm the episode's funniest moment. That's the thing about Sugar Rush; much of it is really just old-fashioned farce, but it feels much witter and meta and modern.

Sugar, during one of Kim's prison visits, clocks immediately that Anna is just using her (is she jealous?!) and, yep, she is ("You were sweet. I had a nice time"). Sugar is afraid of her imminent release from prison; beyond the visits from Kim she has nothing, no life. Never has the class gulf between the two of them seemed so stark. 

Things are looking up, though: Kim ends the episode with Saint's number...!