The Peep Show Review Blog!

Season 4, Episode 3: "Gym"

2010-11-25T17:00:00.000-08:00

Mark joins a gym to avoid Sophie, while Nancy comes back into Jez’ life.

- I don’t particularly enjoy this one, possibly because it involves Nancy, but more likely because the way in which Mark and Jez deal with Matt, the personal trainer, is pretty awful, even by Peep Show standards. Funny, but awful.

Consequently, I don’t have much to say about this episode.

- Jez’ doodles reappear in this one. He has an amusing, though limited, artistic side that is hinted at occasionally. I guess he’s a bad musician and a bad drawer.

- Mark refers to his “misshapen scrotum” for the first time in a long while. This used to be a staple of the first season.

- Nancy works at a health club. When we last saw her, she had to leave her sham wedding early to go to an interview for a job at a health club. The only trouble is that, prior to working at the club this episode, she evidently went about and worked elsewhere. Perhaps she got the job back at the end of the second season, and they kept it on-hold while she went on sabbatical? In any case, again, the show is very good about staying consistent with the most minor details from years-old episodes.

- Toni is referenced, along with the Robin Williams movie nights Jez and Nancy used to enjoy.

- Once again, in desperation, Mark will do crazy things, like, say, claiming that his personal trainer sexually assaulted him. The scene in which Mark does this is one of the show’s most awkward.

- Mark making the assault story up on the spot is reminiscent of his Hofmeister/kettle chips/”not even a proper cocktail” speech at the drinking support group. Both are funny.

- This one ends on a bizarre note. Just how do the main characters resolve the situation (Matt about to beat them up while they hide behind Sophie and Nancy)?

- Nancy comes back in this one, and for a few more episodes scattered across the season. I’m not entirely sure why she’s back, though, seeing as how she has very little presence in any subsequent episodes.

Quotes:

- Jeremy: "I don’t need to pay money to join a gym. The world is my gym. The hills, the trees, the rivers – they are my gym."
Mark: "Yeah, well, the world is my gym, too. It’s just the bit of it that’s actually a gym, that’s gonna be my gym."

Mark, watching someone (revealed to be Jeremy) setting the mail on fire: “Jesus, what’s that man doing? I should do something. If decent people like me do nothing, then what? Then they’ll come for the trade unionists – although that, to be honest, wouldn’t bother me too much.”

- Mark wants to marry Soph because it’s his “chance to be a proper human being.”

UK Stuff:

- Alain de Botton: A Swiss writer and TV presenter who lives in the UK, according to Wikipedia. I take him to be a philosopher of some sort.

- Edward and Mrs. Simpson: A TV show from the late-70s about the Abdication Crisis.

- Punnet: A basket to keep fruit in.

Season 4, Episode 2: "Conference"

2010-11-19T16:22:00.000-08:00

“Great, now I’m getting an angry lap dance. Brilliant.”

Mark tackles “Project Zeus” while Johnson makes a move for Big Suze.

- This is a fun one, perhaps in large part because it does a good job of integrating secondary characters like Big Suze and, best of all, Johnson. Also, Mark and Jez have distinctive, amusing plots of their own.

- Project Zeus is inherently an unworkable, terrible idea. This is, perhaps, a hint at the unhinged Johnson we encounter in season six.

- This episode introduces us to Gerrard, who plays minor, yet amusing, roles in upcoming episodes.

- Lisa first shows up here. She’s an employee at JLB who shows up in a very limited capacity from time to time.

- Jez and Johnson, obviously, still hate each other. This is the first time they’ve had any sort of meaningful confrontation, and it’s very appropriate that it leads to Johnson stealing the love of Jez’ life.

- This episode continues to portray Mark as a character who reacts very poorly to stress. With Project Zeus a shambles, he alienates everyone around him, including his fiancée, with his poor behaviour. Once it all starts falling down around him, he tries to make a desperate escape from civilization. In previous episodes, we’ve seen him pissing on a supervisor’s work and cutting his forearm to get attention, in reaction to stress.

- Mark is such a complete cock when dealing with people when his job is at stake. That’s funny.

- Suze’s place isn’t the same one as seen in season three, episode one. I suppose she’s moved out from Michelle’s.

- Again, this show is very very good at casting incidental characters. Johnson’s friends that go to the strippers’ are very believably, as Mark says, “literally the worst men in the world.”

- There are actual tits in this episode. Real-life tits. Such is UK TV.

- This is perhaps not entirely a huge surprise, but I quite like the stripper who gives Mark a lap dance. Some bizarre part of me would like them to end up together. Moreso than most other women he meets, she, bizarrely, seems his intellectual equal.

- Jez and Soph kiss briefly in this one. This becomes a minor issue in the season finale, and is a precursor to them actually having sex later on.

- Jez calls Mark “Captain Corrigan.” This is the nickname Mark has for his penis.

- Jez, evidently, has been with more than four men.

- There’s a good Jeff scene at the end, where he gives Mark the finger after Mark comes to him in desperation. It reminds us that Jeff hasn’t had much to do in a while.

- Johnson stealing Big Suze from Jeremy is inspired. Their domestic life is fairly amusing, in season six.

Quotes:

- Johnson, providing motivation for Project Zeus: Hi guys. I just want to drop by and say “have fun.” Tonight should be a free-fire idea zone. Watch a DVD, eat some pizza… fuck each other. I’m serious. Fuck a chicken if that’s what it takes. Watch a chicken fucking a horse.

“That’s a great piece of real estate you’ve got there.”

- Johnson: In business, Jeremy, you learn that every man has his price and I judge yours to be, what… 530 pounds?
Jeremy: What?
Johnson: I’m not going to beat around the bush, Jeremy. I want to make you a real life… indecent proposal.
Jeremy: An indecent proposal?
Johnson: I want to sleep with your girlfriend, Jeremy. But I don’t like playing the game with women. I don’t like listening to them, I don’t like talking to them, but I do like some of the things… they do, so…
Jeremy: 530 pounds? To sleep with Big Suze?
Johnson: That’s my… indecent proposal.
Jeremy: Certainly is an indecent proposal!
Johnson: You have a property of which I which to make a use. Is that so very different from hiring a solicitor, or leasing out a Spanish villa?
Jeremy: Well it is a bit different because you’d be putting your dick right-
Johnson: What’s your answer, Jeremy?
Jeremy: Maybe you could finger her for 300?
Johnson: I’m not going to bargain with you, Jeremy.
Jeremy: He obviously thinks I’m some sort of skag addict bedroom DJ who can be bought off. But… no-one’s going to give me a medal for saying no, and I am pretty broke and… Okay, it’s a deal. Is this a terrible idea? It can’t be, it’s in a film. They wouldn’t put a terrible idea in a film, they’d get sued.

- Mark, expressing reservations about the strippers: “Wasn’t the last one a bit… thin?”

- Jeremy: What’s Johnson done for Black people lately?
Suze: You mean apart from his mentoring and charity work?
Jeremy: Yeah, apart from that.

- Mark says that his getting an erection during his lap dance is “grimly predictable.” That’s a saying I’ve come to adopt as one of my own.

- Mark, coming in on Sophie and Jez about to make out: "Why are they being so nice? Maybe they’ve been having a big chat about me and they’ve suddenly realized that I was right about North Korea, I was right about the European constitution, and by god I think I’m right about the congestion charge."

UK Stuff:

- Skag: Heroin! Who’d have thought?

- Bernie Winters and Schnorbitz: Bernie Winters was a comedian, and Schnorbitz was a St. Bernard in his act.

- Congestion charge: A not-insignificant toll on vehicles entering downtown London.

- I have a feeling that Jez and Big Suze are watching the UK Apprentice on TV in the hotel. With the oft-mentioned Sugar!

Season 4, Episode 1: "Sophie's Parents"

2010-11-17T14:39:00.001-08:00

Mark makes a good first impression

Mark and Jez head to the countryside to meet Sophie's parents.

- Partly because this is one of the better episodes, I think I’ve seen it the most. I recall how fresh and different it felt the first time watching it, what with the introduction of so many amusing characters in Sophie’s family.

- This episode has a total of two Seinfeldian quirks. The first is Mark’s new facial hair at the start of the new season, not unlike Jerry and George’s at the start of season… eight, or so? Or Adama’s at the start of the New Caprica stuff. Always good for a laugh.

The second, and more important, is the notion that one of the main characters has entered into an engagement with a character he doesn’t actually love, but is determined to go through with it all the same. Seinfeld got a season of decent material out of it before Susan was killed off, whereas Peep Show takes the concept to the wedding day itself, and beyond.

- Jeremy being so pissed off at Mark for wearing the same shirt is pretty funny. I imagine Jez’ distinctive shirts are a large part of his identity, so to see someone else in the exact same one as he’s wearing must be quite an existential threat.

- Jez actually going along for the occasion of Mark’s first meeting with Sophie’s parents is a bit… convenient. That wouldn’t actually happen outside of a sitcom, I don’t imagine.

- Mark says that the doubts he expressed to Jeremy about marrying Soph were just “pub talk.” But, no, they weren’t! They were on the moor and totally sober when they had that conversation!

- Sophie’s dad, Ian, is one of the show’s better characters. He’s shown up in three episodes since, but not for too long. He really needs to be featured again.

- Sophie’s mom, Penny, is believably hot. She does a good job of seeming a tad frumpy at first, and then, you know, might have quite a bit of potential upon second glance.

- Sophie’s brother, Jamie, is a curious character. In an episode next season, a cousin, Barney, shows up (the one who idolizes Jeremy and eventually sucks Super Hans off). This cousin is exactly like Jamie in every conceivable way. Surely he was supposed to have been Jamie, but perhaps the original actor was unavailable. Either Jamie or Barney shows up, briefly, in the wedding episode, flinging rice at Mark as he leaves the church.

- Jamie mentions “Outrageous,” Jeremy and Super Hans’ song from way back in the first episode. Only massive fans of the show would get that.

- Mark ripping the bird’s head off is a fairly memorable scene.

- Mark and Ian have a few pints at The Round Bush. The Internet tells me that this pub is in Hertfordshire, about an hour (my estimate!) to the north of London. So I guess that’s where Sophie grew up. Hertfordshire.

- The whole thing with Jez and Penny is great. Even after having watched scenes where, say, two straight male characters suck each other off, I was still surprised they went for that. Perhaps it speaks more to my innate innocence than anything else.

- Tony Blair announces his resignation around the time of this episode. According to Wikipedia, that would have been on September 6^th, 2006. The episode was aired in April the following year, indicating that the time at which the episode occurs and its airdate are not necessarily the same thing.

Of course, there was also snow on the ground in Hertfordshire during the episode, presumably in September. So that doesn’t work, either. In the end, maybe it’s best not to think of such things.

- I like how Mark figures out Jez has had sex with his fiancee’s mom just by looking at him.

- Jez, of course, is the one who has to drive the pair to Sophie’s. Mark’s inability to drive has been, and will be again, a plot point in a few episodes.

- A question to leave you with: If this is how Mark met Sophie's parents, how and when did Sophie meet Mark's? That would be an interesting "lost" episode.

Quotes:

- Mark, despondent about the turn his life has taken since becoming engaged: “How the fuck did it come to this?”

- Sophie, motioning to a shirt in a department store: “Try this on.”
Mark: “This is just a zip. There’s no pocket to this zip.”
Sophie: “So?”
Mark, internally: “That’s the way things are these days. ‘Let’s just put a zip here, a swastika there. Why not? Who knows what these things were once used for? Who the hell even cares?’”

- Mark, hunting: “This is what farmers do. They go around shooting crows and trespassers and eventually, because of the EU, themselves.”

- Jez, thinking Penny’s offer over: “Suck mommy’s finger? Do I suck the finger?”

- Jez, catching on: “Okay, it’s not going to be just about the jam.”

- Mark, reacting to Jez’ affair with Penny: “You’re not James Bond, you’re disgusting.”
Jez, internally: “I am James Bond.”

- Jez: “I’m a mother fucker. That’s literally what I am.”

UK Stuff:

- The Big Chill: Some music fest.

- Hollyoaks: “A long-running television soap opera.”

- Ian going around his farm with a metal detector seems odd, yet I understand this is something of a regular thing for such people. The past year alone, two major discoveries of Anglo Saxon loot have been announced.

- Scrumping: To steal fruit, usually apples.

- Café Nero: It offers, according to its website, “the finest Italian-style coffee in the UK.”

WW2 Stuff:

- This one is stretching, but Mark says that, after fiddling with his goatee, he eventually looked like an “evil overlord.” Hitler moustache, perhaps?

- Mark says that Penny “probably had a ration book,” although, since rationing in the UK went on into the mid-50s, this one, again, is stretching it.

- Mark’s dream is to live in the Ardennes. Given that I can find no information online to indicate that the Ardennes is some sort of tourist/rich person hotspot, I have to assume that his interest in living there is entirely related to its position as a key battleground in the Second World War.

Actually, all three of these are only tenuously connected to WW2, but I'm gonna put them in anyway.

Season 3, Episode 6: "Quantocking"

2010-11-15T08:27:00.001-08:00

Mark and Soph get engaged on a romantic weekend retreat, while Jez and Super Hans tag along.

- This is a great episode, although I tend to watch it too often. Even the talky bit when they’re lost on the moor is a good scene.

- Jez aiming for the bullseye while playing darts is completely in-character.

- Mr. Patel is once again mentioned. He saves hotel vouchers in newspapers for Mark.

- Super Hans calls Mark “the abdominizer,” whatever that means. In an earlier episode, he gave Mark the nickname of “Professor Yaffle.”

- The scene of Mark and Sophie having a very bland, mildly passive-aggressive conversation while trying to find a restaurant is fairly true to life.

- Super Hans doesn’t particularly affect the plot, but he does bring the laughs.

- Mark’s gay feelings for Johnson are mentioned here, and in the previous episode.

- There’s a long-distance shot of both Mark and Jeremy walking along the moor, yet… from whose POV is this shot? In the commentary, they thought they might set things up so that it’s from a cow’s perspective, but they figured that bringing animals into the POV mix was a bit much.

Of course, we all know that in season one’s “Dream Job,” there is a brief shot from a dog’s POV.

Regardless, this is the one shot in the entire history of the show whose POV I can’t account for.

The shot in question

- This episode establishes that Mark doesn’t actually love Sophie. This is a key turning point in the show and colours many episodes to come.

- Sophie mentions the juice bar in Bristol where her friends from the previous episode work.

- It looks like, strangely, Mark is drinking booze when he finally gets back in the morning.

- Jez giving recovering addict Super Hans the crack at the end is actually kind of sad.

Quotes:

- Super Hans calls a can of beer a “sauce bottle.” I’ll have to start using that term.

- Super Hans, tied to the bed, trying to convince Jeremy that he’s in a rational state of mind:

“It’s all becoming very clear to me now, Jez. I want some drugs.”

- Jez to Super Hans, who is rolling up a joint with his feet: “Are you trying to skin up with your feet again? Because it doesn’t work, does it? It just makes a mess.”

- Mark, exasperated: “Why won’t that stupid bitch let me propose to her?!” Not unlike his reaction to stress in the first season, when he peed on Barbara’s files and had to go into therapy.

- Mark, after having a straight drink at the hotel bar: “Ahh, that smarts! Stupid… whisky.” Very understandable reaction.

- Mark: “Nobody dies in southern England, Jeremy. That just doesn’t happen, okay?”

- Super Hans, feverishly chasing after a bag of drugs taped to a thrown Frisbee: “Drugs! Drugs! Druuuugs!!”

- Jeremy to Mark, upon discovering that the engagement is on, after all: “So… what the fuck?”

UK Stuff:

- Quantocks: Via Wikipedia, the Quantock Hills are a range of hills in Somerset. That makes sense.

- Super Hans says that Mark gets his “morning horn off on the FT,” or, the Financial Times.

- Peter’s Friends: A British comedy/drama from the early 90s. Wikipedia tells us that “the film deals with themes of friendship, marriage, fidelity, materialism, and coping with death and loss.”

- Sugar and The Apprentice (see last episode) get mentioned. See, now you get the joke! Unless you’re from the UK, in which case it’s not a big deal.

- Des Lynam: A TV and radio presenter.

- Jimmy Carr: A dark humourist, it would seem.

- Public right-of-way: Those paths through farmers’ fields that anyone can use.

World War 2 Stuff:

- When looking for a restaurant, Marks says that they must “push on to Moscow,” perhaps mindful of how futile the search has become.

- Jez makes a rare reference to WW2 in this. After discovering that Mark has been stingy with the chocolate rations, he sarcastically remarks that the “spirit of the Blitz lives on!”

Season 3 Episode 5, "Jurying"

2010-11-14T11:39:00.000-08:00

"Look, maybe I didn't play by the rules this time."

Jez starts a relationship with a criminal while Mark gets roped into going to a rave.

- This one, more than others, can be either annoying or perfect, depending on my mood. I suppose that says more about me than anything else, but there it is.

- There’s yet another scene in a grocery store with Mark and Jez. This happens in a lot more episodes than you would think. I might go so far as to say that of all sitcoms, this show features the most scenes in a grocery store. I quite like that, as roommates in real life often go there together.

- This one introduces us to the reckless Sophie that shows up more often later. I really like this side of her character. It’s very believable that she would turn to this as she enters her 30s and life hasn’t worked out how she expected.

- The actress playing Carla, the defendant, is perfect. She really does seem trashy.

- The guy playing the foreman of the jury is a judge in the movie, “Magicians.” Yet another Peep Show/Magicians connection.

- The guy playing Sophie’s gay friend, Dom, is perfect, yet… where does he go? I don’t see him in any scenes beyond the first one he shows up in, although he’s supposed to have gone clubbing with them, surely?

- The scene with Mark, the homophobe, talking his way into a gay bar is pretty good.

- Mark’s speech on the necessity of capitalism is one of the character’s finest moments. It really encapsulates everything he believes. And it’s true.

"There are systems in this world for a reason!"

Quotes:

- Jeremy, on his philosophy as a juror: “Whatever it is, I’d let them off.”

Mark: “Jeremy, don’t try and upset me.”

- Jez: “This isn’t wrong, just illegal. Like drink driving.”

- Jez, mockingly: “’Oh, I’m the foreman. Only I get to talk to the judge.’ Fuck you.”

- Mark, reluctant to try E: “Is there not a slim chance I might… die?”

- Mark, pretending to be on E: “I might be getting the famous ‘munchies.’”

Sophie: “Really, on E? I’ll get you some water.”

- Mark, to the ravegoers squatting in his house: "It's only through the miracle of consumer capitalism that means you're not lying in your own shit, dying at 43 with rotten teeth, and a little pill with a chicken on it isn't going to change that.

Now, come on. Fuck off.”

UK Stuff:

- Skinner and Baddiel: A comedic duo.

- Rymans: A stationery store.

- Goose Green: The site of a Falklands War battle.

- Hen night: A bachelorette party. Jez likens women’s prison to this.

- Sugar: Alan Sugar, who Wikipedia tells me is a “British entrepreneur, media personality and political adviser.” He has Donald Trump’s role on the UK version of “The Apprentice.”

War references:

- Mark likens himself, positively, to Rommel.

Season 3, Episode 4: "Sistering"

2010-11-13T08:10:00.000-08:00

Jez at work

Jez gets involved with Mark’s sister, while Mark might have something going with Big Suze.

- Mark’s sister Sarah makes her first appearance, after having been mentioned twice (the first time was way back in the very first episode). She’ll show up in… one future episode? The party episode in season six, at least. (Which might just be the best one, incidentally.)

- The actress playing Sarah looks quite a lot like David Mitchell. I mean, not identical or anything, but one could honestly believe that these two people are siblings. Good casting.

- Sarah mentions (what my ears perceive to be) “Grange Terrace, before the move.” There’s a Grange Terrace in Edinburgh, although I doubt the Corrigans are from Scotland. I’m not entirely sure where she’s talking about, or when it happened (it seems to be somewhat recent, if Sarah is trying to come to terms with it now) although evidently everything there, “before the move,” was fine. The Corrigan children seem to make a distinction between pre- and post-Grange Terrace.

- Sarah hasn’t met Jez until now. This isn’t particularly notable, given that Mark likes to stay as far away from his family as possible.

- Jez has symptomless Chlamydia. Can’t that be treated? Did he just recently acquire it?

- Sarah is 29. I’m not exactly sure why, but I think she’s older than Mark. It’s strange when your TV heroes are suddenly (at most!) your age.

- Big Suze is evidently an actor of some sorts. I could be wrong, but I don’t think this is ever mentioned in another episode.

- Mark believes Big Suze to be smart in this episode. Now, while she’s never an outright idiot, I would say that in none of her subsequent appearances has she ever come off as particularly perceptive or intelligent.

- Mark was privately educated until his dad’s British Aerospace shares “went kaput.” More Corrigan family insight.

- Mark’s reaction to jogging is just about right. It seems amazing for about 30 seconds, and then it’s painful and utter shit. Moments like this – shining a light on essential human experiences - are just pure Peep Show.

- When Mark and Big Suze are jogging, they set up very cleverly a few shots of Big Suze looking back at Mark. This show is very good about sticking to its POV rules.

- Jeremy is playing his sex mix from an earlier episode.

- There have been various infidelities in the Corrigan family. While hinted at in previous episodes, I think this is the first time it’s implied that these were a recurring problem.

- This episode suggests that Mark and Big Suze could have been an item, and it’s actually somewhat believable. It would be interesting to see this idea followed up in another episode.

- The final scene between Sarah and Mark (where Mark “breaks up” with his sister) hints at the dysfunctional Corrigan family dynamics.

“What an idiotic boob I was back ten or eleven seconds ago.”

Quotes:

- Mark, playing a video game: “Can’t stop now. Gotta win the war for the Nazis.”

- Mark, reacting to Jez putting the moves on Sarah: “Oh my god, he’s doing it – his routine. He’s doing his routine on my sister!”

- Jez, after Sarah gets him a job: “Turns out getting a job doesn’t involve spending hours and hours making sure you spelled every word on your CV right, eh Mark?”

- Jez: “Who still uses talcum powder?”

- Jez, excitedly: “Let’s crack open the gin!”

- Sarah, to Mark: “You’re loving this, aren’t you?” Evidently it’s not just Jez who uses this line. Perhaps Sarah picked it up from him?

UK stuff:

- Mark and Jez meet up with Sarah at the Dolphin. An Internet search reveals this pub to be in Hanwell, in London’s west end. Considering this is far from Croydon in the south where Mark and Jez live, we might assume that, perhaps, Sarah lives nearby?

- Digby, the biggest dog in the world: Some giant dog from a 1973 children’s film.

- Mark and Suze go to a Hawksmoor church. Nicholas Hawksmoor was an architect who designed a few churches in the 17^th-18^th centuries. Big Suze is related to a Hawksmoor through her mother.

- Mark playfully compares Suze to Christopher Wren, a rival – of sorts - of Hawksmoor.

- Jacket potato: A baked potato.

- Steve Cram and Steve Ovett – “Dominant middle distance runners” during the 1980s, Wikipedia asserts.

War references:

- At the very start of the episode, Mark is playing a real-time strategy game on his computer, “Blitzkrieg.” This game does, in fact, exist.

Season 3, Episode 3: "Shrooming"

2010-11-11T06:01:00.000-08:00

"Is that... normal pooing you're doing?"

Mark’s illness puts a damper on Jeremy’s shroom party.

- “This is bullshit!” is said by multiple characters throughout this episode. It’s slowly becoming a very common line. The funniest is, of course, Super Hans’, when he freaks out in the washroom and kicks the door out.

- “Oh for God’s sake!” and its variants also show up about three times. It’s a great line, particularly since when Jeremy says it, his indignation is almost never warranted, whereas Mark’s is.

- Super Hans’ father made alcohol at home, and Hans was forced to watch over the still.

- The guy playing the carpenter, is, again, just the best working-class casting ever. Like I said, at this point I’m starting to wonder if the country isn’t just entirely full of these people, making their casting on TV shows incredibly common.

- Johnson comes to rescue Mark from his locked room. When Jez answers the door, their mutual disdain is apparent. I quite like how that relationship is pretty consistent, if subtle.

- Johnson first meets Big Suze here. And by “meets,” I mean that they’re in the same shot for about four seconds, and they don’t exchange any dialogue. Tellingly, perhaps, Johnson gives her a look-over. I vaguely recall that when he later makes his “indecent proposal” to Jeremy, it’s as if he’s laid eyes on her for the first time. But there is definitely something in that look. Check it out yourself!

- The pooing scene at the end is really a highlight. The show almost never does humour like that (and I don’t generally think it’s the greatest), but something about it works here; probably Super Hans, Johnson and Jeremy’s reactions.

-Mark mentions his sister, Sarah, by name. He had previously alluded to her in the very first episode, saying that she was a lawyer. She finally shows up in the next episode, and her character is entirely consistent with what Mark had set up before.

I wouldn’t normally be blown away that the show follows its own continuity, if not for the fact that: 1) almost no other shows bother keeping track of this stuff, and 2) some of these little mentions are just one-off lines that almost nobody would remember, particularly the bit about her being a lawyer.

"Doesn't sound normal. Doesn't smell normal."

Quotes (quite a few of them this time):

- Jez: “If people only did what they wanted, everybody would spend all day sitting on the carpet watching the poker channel and wanking, and eating those expensive German biscuits. Probably.”

- Jez, feigning outrage at discovering that Super Hans is eating out some girl in Mark’s bed: “They didn’t go in there, did they? Oh, that is too much. I’m annoyed now.”

- Mark, on the perils of getting too chummy with contractors in your home: “You have to maintain the barrier, or they’ll retune your radio to a commercial station.”

- Jez, on his afternoon: “To him it looks like I’ve done literally nothing since lunch. Well, the washing up isn’t nothing, mate, and I’m going to be doing that any bloody minute!”

-Jez, pleased with himself: “God, look at me talking with a builder like we’re both on the same level.”

- Mark, after learning that a strike in Frankfurt has, mercifully, delayed his flight: “God bless those overunionized European economies.”

- Jez, after purposely giving Mark too much Nyquil: “It’s not like I’m going to rape him. I could rape him. I’m not going to rape him.”

- Jez: “I almost certainly haven’t killed him.”

- Super Hans’ date at the shroom party: “Before I did shrooms, I was stuck at HSBC doing the 9 to 5.”

Super Hans, supportively: “Yeah, and now you’ve got your room in the centre and you’re making your masks.”

- Mark: “Locked out of a party in my own home! It’s Sarah’s 18^th all over again!”

UK Stuff:

- The Sick Man of Europe: Used since the mid-1800s to describe any European country undergoing some sort of economic trouble. Mark and Jeremy might be more familiar with its use during the 70s, when the moniker was often applied to the UK.

- Rick, from “The Young Ones”: Wikipedia tells me that “The Young Ones” was a 1982 sitcom with “anarchic, offbeat humour.” Rick was himself “a pompous, would-be anarchist.”

War References:

- Absolutely none. Very disconcerting.

Season 3, Episode 2: "Sectioning"

2010-11-10T12:21:00.000-08:00

"He was running around with his cock out, saying it was on fire!"

Mark and Jez get their friend sectioned.

- This is one of the more depressing episodes, and I tend to avoid it whenever I want to casually watch a Peep Show. It also only has one plotline (with a bit of Mark/Sophie stuff off to the side) and gets a tad boring. That said, a boring Peep Show is better than anything else, bar none.

- We’re introduced here to Canadian Mary, from Mark and Jez’ days at Dartie. This is, so far as I recall, one of the show’s two references to Canada; the second comes in season six, when Gail (Elena’s fiancée) is said to have family in Quebec.

- Super Hans mentions that he once ran a pub.

- Mark can’t even enjoy a day at the carnival with his girlfriend. As Jez says to him later in the episode, “Mark, do you have to live quite so relentlessly in the real world?”

- Barbara at JLB is mentioned once again.

- Super Hans mentions his disdain for “logos in the foam” again, as he did in his very first appearance.

- It’s implied that Mark and Mary have hooked up; to be specific, that’s how Jez remembers it and, when pressed, Mark dodges the issue.

- Super Hans’ proposed name for the pub, “Free the Paedos,” is one of the show’s funnier bits.

- The El Dude Brothers horn makes an appearance.

- This is the first mention of Mark and Jez’ friend Pedge – one of those sitcom characters who is mentioned but never seen. In this episode, we discover that he works at HMV.

- It’s said that Pedge also knows Mary – implying, perhaps, that he went to Dartie with Mark and Jez. If that’s the case – and if I’m remembering my later episodes correctly – it may be that Mark and Jez met Super Hans through Pedge (I get the impression later that Pedge and Super Hans are good friends, but I might be making that up).

- A “European Bob” is mentioned, but, unlike Pedge, I don’t think we ever hear of him again. One gets the sense that Mark has met all his friends through Jez, given how strange they are.

- Super Hans really shines in this one; he has a stake in the proceedings and actively gets involved. He’s a good character to have in the background doing funny things, but it’s also nice to have him come to the forefront now and again.

- It’s implied that Sophie might have slept with someone in Bristol. Later on (I think!) she tells Jez that she’s only been with four guys. Up to now, we have Jeff, Mark, possibly the Bristol guy and then, presumably, whoever the first guy is.

Mark gets barred from Free the Paedos

Quotes:
- Mark: I’m just a normal, functioning member of the human race, and there’s no way anybody can prove otherwise.

- Super Hans: I’m really particular about the kind of establishment I run, though. It needs to make a political statement; a very strong political statement.
Jez: Does it? Are you sure? Because I really don’t think it does – if it’s a pub.

- Super Hans: “People like Coldplay and voting for the Nazis; you can’t trust people.” – not a statement I’d disagree with.

- Jez to Mark: “You’re loving this, aren’t you?” – a phrase that pops up occasionally, said by either one of them.

- Super Hans, making out as though Mark is insane: “He thinks there’s a pigeon in Catalonia who’s in control of his legs!”

UK Stuff:
- NHS Direct: Via Wikipedia, a “health advice and information service” over the telephone, presumably not unlike our Telehealth Ontario. This is pretty clear from the episode itself, of course.

- Sectioning: A UK term which, clearly, means to be institutionalized involuntarily. A good word, that one. I keep meaning to use it in everyday life, but always forget.

War References:
- Again, none. Very bizarre. Super Hans does mention Nazis generally, though.

Season 3, Episode 1: "Mugging"

2010-08-15T17:24:00.000-07:00

Mark tries unsuccessfully to get his phone back

- It occurs that I haven’t made any remarks on the new theme song (Harvey Danger’s “Flagpole Sitta”), which debuted at the start of the second season. In short, while I don’t particularly like the tune (though it’s not awful), the lyrics fit nicely with the show. If they had to go with a popular song, they could have done worse. I certainly have no alternative in mind.

Quite obviously, the little bleeps and bloops from the first season aren’t exactly going to draw much of an audience. “Oh, it’s that weird show with the weird song,” is rightfully what the average TV-watcher might feel upon tuning into Peep Show’s earlier episodes. So fair enough.

But don’t take my word for it! Here’s Sean Nelson of Harvey Danger in an interview with a blog called Globecat, on the legacy of the band’s most notable song:

“The best thing about "Flagpole Sitta" so far is that it is the theme song to a really smart and funny British sitcom called Peep Show. It's the only pop culture item the song has been associated with that feels like a kindred spirit to the original attitude of the lyric anyway.”

(http://globecat.blogspot.com/2008/06/interview-harvey-danger.html)

One peril I see in using a song for the title theme is that it has to fit with the characters. In this case, I don’t think that either Mark or Jeremy would particularly like it. But, again, it has its place and the band’s frontman seems to get the show, so it works in its own way.

Anyway…

Jez enters the exciting world of threesomes, while Mark finally makes it with Soph.

- Michelle – one of the girls with whom Jez has his threesome – was originally supposed to have been Toni. Sadly, while they couldn’t get the real thing for whatever reason, the actress does a good job of acting in a Toni-like way. Plus, they look very similar. She’ll do as a consolation prize.

- Similarly, Big Suze was supposed to have been Nancy. This is why, for instance, the character is dating a monk (recall, if you will, that Nancy is openly-Christian). At any rate, this is Suze’s first appearance, and, luckily, she has remained a mainstay on the show.

Big Suze was mentioned in passing way back in the first episode. Jeremy says that he still has her dildo. The Big Suze we eventually come to know doesn’t seem the type to own a dildo, but I’m willing to give them a pass on that.

- The muggers who steal Mark’s phone are perfectly cast. Once again, Peep Show proves that it’s the best when it comes to casting that type of bit actor. Or, maybe, the country is full of those types and they’re not particularly hard to come by. One or the other.

- This is the first episode to be shot in the apartment set, rather than an actual apartment, as in the first two seasons. The DVD commentary tells us that the set is in a carpet warehouse, and much more convenient for David Mitchell and Robert Webb to get to.

- This is the start of David Mitchell’s (Mark) fat phase. I only bring this up because, today, he’s rather slimmer.

- Big Suze is so posh. I’m not entirely sure what that word means, but I think she epitomizes it.

- Big Suze moves in with Michelle in this episode (one wonders if the original intent hadn’t been to have Nancy move in with Toni?), in what I think is the same house that Johnson shares with her later. So consistent, this show – although that does make me wonder what becomes of Michelle, who we never see again.

- It’s been 3 years since Suze last saw Jeremy. From this, if we care to, we can establish a bit of a timeline in the Peep Show world. 3 years prior to the episode (which, if we assume takes place roughly around its airdate, would put it in late-2005) brings us back to late-2002.

Assuming that Jez went right from living with Big Suze to living with his old university mate, Mark, we could guess that Jez and Mark started living together roughly a year before the first season. Maybe; all conjecture, of course.

- Jez takes a woman’s laughing over the phone to indicate her interest in him. So true.

- Mark mentions “Mr. Patel and his illegal supply of knives.”

- “Captain Corrigan” is mentioned once again.

- Mark puts Jez’ Sex Mix CD on to get Sophie going. This CD shows up in a later episode, I believe.

- Is this the first appearance of the “End of Part 1” interstitials before (what I assume are) the ad breaks? They maintain the beeps and bloops of the original theme.

- The DVD has a number of special scenes filmed especially for the DVD, mostly of Mark and Jez phoning the muggers on his phone, trying to get it back. It's really quite funny.

Quotes:

- Mark: “Why can’t people button up like in the 40s? People saw terrible things in the War, but they didn’t go on about it; they had a cup of tea and invented the NHS.”

- Jez: “Drinking alone – what’s the big deal? If you drink a bottle of vodka with a bloke sitting beside you, somehow that’s alright?”

- Jez, on Suze: “She’s probably getting wet just looking at me.” Rather a shocking quote, I must say. I guess they really can do any fucking thing they want on TV over there.

UK Stuff:

- Newsnight and Paxman are mentioned. Jeremy Paxman is, evidently, an aggressive interviewer on the telly.

- The NHS: The National Health Service is the public healthcare system in the UK.

War References:

I do believe this is the first episode to feature no mention of or allusion to the Second World War, minus Mark’s little quote.

Season 2, Episode 6: "Wedding"

2010-08-11T13:47:00.000-07:00

"Do I?!"

In the season 2 finale, Jez and Nancy have a sham wedding.

- This one has an amusing bit where Mark and Super Hans have to team up to stop Jez’ marriage to Nancy. The idea that the two of them would ever meet together on their own for a drink is amusing. I’d like to see Super Hans’ dislike of Mark played up more.

- This is the last appearance of both Toni and Tony (the latter of which is in way more episodes than I’d noticed). Toni’s a character I wouldn’t at all mind seeing return; indeed, Michelle, one of the women Jez has a threesome with at the start of the next season, was originally supposed to have been Toni.

- Mercifully, this is also Nancy’s last appearance for a while. She leaves the wedding reception early for a job interview at a health club, which exactly the job she holds when we meet her again in the fourth season. As with Toni, however, she was supposed to have returned at the start of the third season. Thankfully, she did not.

- Sophie’s behaviour with Mark is all over the place. In the last episode, she is actively trying to avoid him; here, she wants to be his friend? She seems to be behaving in whichever way a particular episode’s plot needs her to.

- Mark says that he’s not an “Italian builder,” a term I have come to enjoy.

- The girl that Sophie tries to set Mark up with, Karen, is a major character in the Mitchell/Webb film, “Magicians.” She’s also a regular on their skit show, “That Mitchell and Webb Look,” particularly the third and fourth seasons.

-Come to think of it, Sophie and Johnson are often on the first two seasons of That Mitchell and Webb Look - a fact I might have mentioned earlier.

- Why is Tony at Jez’ stag? Who are half the guys at that stag? Jez’ friends we never see or hear about? The Buddhist is said to be "Darren's mate." Who's Darren?

- It’s mentioned that Jeremy and Nancy are still abstaining from sex.

- Super Hans uncharacteristically displays genuine remorse about tricking Jez into thinking Nancy sucked him off. In the fourth season finale, this doesn’t stop him from actually getting off with her.

- I know the Europeans have a more permissive attitude with respect to public drinking than we do, but Super Hans can just drink a beer in a hospital waiting room? That’s allowed?

- Jeremy’s surname, Usborne, is revealed here.

- Who is at Jeremy’s wedding? We never see or hear about his parents being present. On that note, then, who is sitting with him at the head table?

- The visual of Super Hans on coke in the stall is one of the better Super Hans moments. That said, it would be really difficult to make a Super Hans highlight reel without including every single thing he’s ever said or done.

- Mark prefers Paul to John, which I think is odd. Isn’t John generally viewed as the better one? Not knowing my Beatles, I could be way off.

- Jeff crying on Sophie’s dress at the end is extremely rewarding. Hell, here's a photo of it:

- I absolutely hate Nancy after this episode, after she ran out on Jez at their reception. I wonder what the status of their marriage is, though. I have a feeling he still calls her his wife when they meet again in the fourth season. Perhaps this little thread can be picked up again in the seventh season.

Good Lines:
- Jeremy, after Nancy tells him she could instead marry one of her gay friends to get her visa: “Oh Nancy, don’t marry those gays!”

World War 2 References:
- Everyone has a fake moustache at Jez’ stag. Mark’s is, of course, a Hitler moustache.

UK Stuff:
- Strimmer: What they call a weed whacker. How crazy!
- David Blunkett: A Labour MP who served as Home Secretary until he resigned following an affair (which occurred after this episode). He's blind, as Mark notes. I don't really want to mention this, except to make note of how one rarely sees blind people in the highest levels of government.

Season 2, Episode 5: "The Man Show"

2010-07-21T11:06:00.000-07:00

A night with the guys

Mark attempts to become Jeff’s friend in an effort to get closer to Sophie.

- This one focuses a lot on the Mark/Sophie plotline. It’s amusing that, in light of how it eventually turns out for them, I very much do not want them to get acquainted in this episode. I want Mark’s plan to fail. By contrast, during my initial viewing of these ones, I really wanted things to work out for Mark and Sophie.

- It’s mentioned that “Super Hans is back on the rig,” implying that, at times, Super Hans actually works rather hard and has a decent job.

- Mark and Jeff play pool at the Loop Pool bar, which is a real bar in their neighbourhood of Croydon. This show is consistent about finding local places for them to hang in.

- The Jez and Jeff combination is a pretty amusing dynamic.

- Mark really goes off the deep end by cutting himself for Sophie’s attention. It’s rather amusing, and in the same vein as his pissing all over Barbara’s stuff in the first season. Mark isn’t very good at coping with stress, it would seem.

- The Oval Tavern is another Croydon location they use. This isn’t its only appearance.

- Mark buying condoms for Jeff (or “rubber Johnnies,” if you prefer) is one of the show’s better moments. Too thin, and he’ll get off quickly, but will enjoy himself more. Too thick, and he’ll give it to Soph all night. What’s Mark to do?

- A scene begins with Jez telling Mark that he was “going to twat this geezer, but it turns out they’re both Polish!” This is in reference to a rather amusing deleted scene in which Jez and Jeff were about to start a fight with these guys at the Oval Tavern. Unaware of the custom of reserving a pool table with a coin, two Polish gentlemen had jumped ahead of Jez and Jeff.

- Another deleted scene has Jeff telling Johnson that Mark and Sophie never made their tandem jump for charity.

- This is the first of many appearances of crying Sophie.

- Jeff’s burly mate at the poker game and the two lads at the tandem jump are even more examples of the great job this show does in casting working-class sorts of people.

This is definitely a good idea

Good Lines:

- Mark, trying to be one of the guys: “So, FHM have only gone and done a bloody sex issue! You see that?”

- Jeremy, on his poker skills: “I’m hot… like Pol Pot.”

- Jeremy, revealing his awful hand (which he thinks is great because it’s made up of “all the reds”): “Red sky at night, shepherd’s delight.”

- Jeff, in response to Mark’s pretending to be gay and thus non-threatening: “Gay or not, there’s no threat from you. You could have your cock in her and you still wouldn’t have the balls to fuck.” Probably Jeff’s best line.

War References:

- Mark is showing Sophie “Das Boot,” because it’s both a War movie, and incredibly long.

- Mark says that “Hitler promised not to invade Czechoslovakia, Jeremy!” in explaining why he violated Jez’ trust.

UK Stuff:

- Jez mentions an MP’s wanking death. This would be Stephen Milligan, a Conservative member who died of autoerotic asphyxiation in 1994. Consider that a cautionary tale, kids.

- Alcopops: As I understand it, it’s sort of another term for coolers.

- A bottle: Person who is prone to unexpected failure.

Misc:

- This isn’t the best place to mention this, but as it recently came to my attention, it’ll have to do. In a second season episode of That Mitchell and Webb Look, during one of those scenes where David Mitchell (Mark) and Robert Webb (Jeremy) play “themselves,” it’s mentioned that Mitchell is to host a documentary on Stalingrad, because he’s read the book “Stalingrad” and played a character on a TV show who read the book “Stalingrad.” That book really has some legs.

Season 2, Episode 1: "Dance Class"

2010-07-19T18:32:00.001-07:00

The El Dude Brothers spend some quality time together

For the start of the second season (yeah, I forgot to post this earlier), the show changes gears with the addition of Nancy to Jez' life.

Thoughts:
- Nancy begins her long run on the show here, to give Jez a woman to pine for, a la Mark's Sophie. The main problem here is that Nancy is never at any point a nice person, so you don't particularly want Jez to end up with her; consequently, I'm not really fond of any Nancy-centric episodes.

- Jez (about Toni and Tony): “There's only so much happiness in the world, and they're hoarding it.”
Mark: “That's not how it works.” (It completely is.)

- In this episode, Johnson is finally named Mark's new boss at JLB. I had a feeling he wasn't in his first appearance. Oddly, the scene in which this happens is rather short, and has no bearing on the rest of the episode. It's as if the producers want to quickly set it up early on in the episode for the rest of the season, so they can move on to the rest of the show. Clearly they noticed the unlimited potential of Alan Johnson last season and intend on making use of it later.

- In celebration of Johnson's hiring, JLB takes the afternoon off for a party with drinks. The UK Office often took part of the work day off to drink. Is this sort of thing common in the UK?

- Tony shows up in this one, too. I'm surprised to see him in the background of so many episodes.

- Jez passionately tells Toni that he loves her. He does the same thing to Elena in the sixth season, at the party.

- While watching weirdos prance about at Rainbow Rhythms, Mark asks, "is this what my granddad died for?", implying, perhaps, that his grandfather fought and died in WW2.

- In explaining why he didn't entirely embrace Rainbow Rhythms, Mark says he "doesn't necessarily think money... and Tony Blair are a bad thing." This is the first instance in which Mark sets himself up as the defender of the status quo. The most memorable example would be his speech to the guys on E who stay over after Sophie drags them to the gay club. Here, he might be considered a blue Liberal. Or a red Tory. Either or.

- Nancy's Jesus bit isn't particularly funny. In fact, quite a lot of what she says isn't particularly funny. Why, you might go so far as to say that I hate this character, for a few reasons. First, she's self-absorbed, and not very kind to Jez. There's very little room to warm up to her, and she doesn't bring the laughs to compensate for that. Remember the Australian girl, Saz, in the fifth season, who takes Mark for a ride? Nancy is a bit like that, only she's in two seasons.

Second, she seems, to me, to be too much like an actress playing a part. Nobody actually acts like Nancy. And, yes, while Jez and Mark are exaggerated, there's a kernel of reality to them. I can relate to how they act and what they think. It's very difficult to find common ground with Nancy. Finally, the whole Jesus bit never really goes anywhere, anyway.

- In this one, the "sex all over the place" bit is a tad too sophomoric. Jez getting done up in blackface, in particular, seems unrealistic. Even in a show like this, I can buy that they'd really do most of the things they do, but that one is pushing it. A later example of a pretty over-the-top incident I have trouble accepting is Jez eating the charred remains of the dead dog.

- Mark pretending to enjoy Rainbow Rhythms is like his pretending to be on E later on. In both cases, he thinks he's pulled one over on everyone, and acts the way he thinks people doing such things might act.

"Definitely not a tranny!"

- The douchebag who steals Nancy is perfect casting. I genuinely hate not only the character, but the actor. His wardrobe, particularly the rolled-up jeans, is fantastic.

- Good Mark line: "Tell you what, I'm going off to the bog - for a wee!"

- Jez looks down upon hippies. This is amusing, since there's a very thin line between them and him. In fact, when they're not stealing his girlfriend, he's pretty happy to embrace their lifestyle.

- I enjoy how the game of brinksmanship - neither Mark nor Jez wanting to seem sexually closed-minded in front of their dates - leads to Mark and Jez kissing.

- The bit with Mark and Sophie together at the water's edge at the end is kind of touching.

- Mark pushing Sophie's face away from his computer at the end is one of the show's funniest moments.

- In this one, Mark gets one foot forward, two feet back with Sophie. This is the norm with their relationship at this stage of the show.

UK References:
- Louis Theroux: Hosts a series in which he explores the crazier side of the United States, from a foreigner's perspective. Spends time with racists, religious extremists, compulsive gamblers, competitive weightlifters, swingers and other bizarre groups of people. Highly recommended if you want to track it down online. In some ways, Louis Theroux is sort of like a more successful, charming version of Mark; no wonder he pretends to be him in times of stress.
- RAF Duxford: One of the sites Jez hopes to visit, rather than the douchebag's cottage. The Internet tells me that it was an important Battle of Britain aerodrome, and has since been turned into a notable museum.
- Todsford Stone Circle: A tricky reference. It doesn't actually exist, but, according to my quick research, is a reference to Mitchell and Webb's radio show, That Mitchell and Webb Sound. Obviously you should all be downloading that illegally, or watching its TV spinoff.
- Tollesbury: A seaside village to the east of London.

Season 2, Episode 4: "University Challenge"

2010-07-08T09:38:00.000-07:00

The El Dude Brothers, on the road!

Mark and Jez take a trip back to their alma mater, Dartmouth University.

- The actress who plays April is another Peep Show person who shows up in the film “Magicians.” She has a small role as a person on a plane, if I remember.

- April’s one of the more memorable characters to appear on the show. I don’t think I’m alone in saying that I really, really wish Mark had been able to work something with her.

- In the commentary for the fourth season’s wedding episode, the writers say that the woman Mark desperately proposes to in the coffee shop was originally intended to be either April, or Sally (Mark’s highschool friend he nearly hooks up with after the class reunion). They dropped the idea because they felt it would be too coincidental.

- Jez and Super Hans’ band is now called “Coming up for Blair,” a play on “Coming up for Air,” a George Orwell novel.

- Dartmouth University is first mentioned and seen here. This would be, of course, Jez and Mark’s fictional university. They evidently met for the first time at the school’s student union in the mid-90s.

- Dartie pops up numerous times after this; my favourite is Mark’s “Dartmouth University Lacrosse Team” t-shirt in a later episode. That would be a nice item to get one’s hands on, along with one of the posters in this episode.

- We discover that Jez never got his degree, whatever it was, while Mark got his 3-year Business Studies. I wonder, is the 3-year degree in the UK common? I would say most people here have at least a four year undergrad, on top of whatever else they picked up.

- Super Hans hanging up on Jez while Jez watches from the bus is one of the show’s funnier moments.

- Jez and Mark have an extended scene on the bus. So that it’s not just a series of shots of one looking at the other’s face, the director sets up a kid in the seat in front looking back at both of them. Very clever.

- The guy memorably playing Prof. MacLeish is also in “Magicians.” Everyone is in Magicians. Maybe you are too.

- Mr. Rashid, the owner of the convenience store from Mark and Jez’ university days, shows up. Maybe I am getting him mixed up with Mr. Patel where they live in London, but I think Mr. Rashid gets mentioned again sometime. Maybe.

- Speaking of Mr. Rashid, just how exactly did he lock the two of them up in the back of the store? Did he physically force them into the room?

- Mark mentions his “scrotal scar,” implying that he did end up getting the procedure at the end of the first season.

- The actress who plays April isn't quite the right age to be a first-year university student, but I guess she has the right look and can pull it off. On that note, she would be another teenage character Mark pursues. For a straight-laced, anal guy like him, it’s interesting how many teenagers he goes for.

She was almost definitely The One.

Good lines:

- Mark: “Shoes, the boringest purchase.”

- Mark, picking out a wine to bring to the party: “How cheap dare I go?”

- Mark, drinking the cheap wine he purchased: “Ooh, that’s rough.” (works best in action)

- Jez, amazed by the changes wrought by the passage of time: “Our bloody bus stop’s been moved!”

- Mark, on April (one of the show’s better lines, period): “She’s got the magical combo of beauty and low self-esteem.”

UK Stuff:

- Spiv: Slick guy who sells black-market goods.

- There’s a saying about Dartmouth, “There’s no quim likes to party like the quim down in Darty!”. Quim seems to be a UK term for a vagina.

- “Moment of madness”/Clapham Common: In the late-90s, a Labour politician named Ron Davies got beat up while cruising for gay sex in south London’s Clapham Common. In referring to the incident (without providing too many details), he called it his “moment of madness.” Alastair Campbell (see last episode) told him to use the term, incidentally.

- Hindly: Myra Hindly was a young woman who, along with Ian Brady, committed the “Moors Murders” in the early-60s. The argument in her unsuccessful defense was that she had been taken in by his sexual charisma and such.

- Simon Schama: A British popular historian, noted, in part, for hosting “A History of Britain.” Mark is a fan.

- Bravo Two Zero: A supposedly-true tale of the first Gulf War of questionable veracity.

- Thunderbird: Cheap fortified wine. One imagines Mark enjoyed this in his youth, along with Hofmeister.

- University Challenge: A quiz show for university students.

War references:

- Mark says that he had just been visiting “Coventry. Very lovely. Totally destroyed in the War, obviously.”

I must say, this is, again, one of the show’s better outings. The change of locale really helps give this one a unique feeling, along with a memorable love interest for Mark. Plus, very little Nancy.

Season 2, Episode 3: "Local Zero"

2010-07-02T19:57:00.000-07:00

Why didn't they show the crisps?!

Nancy and Jez break the ultimate taboo, while Mark faces his lifelong battle with alcoholism.

- This episode establishes that Sophie and Nancy are friends. I guess the time at the boat house wasn't so bad for Sophie after all.

- Mark is quite often seen sitting in that Ikea-like chair by the window, while Jez lies across the couch. This isn't unique to this episode, but it's nice how details like this are adhered to throughout the series' run.

- Mark's mother had an affair, possibly with a lumberjack - or Michael Palin. ("You can't laugh at someone you don't trust - like mom singing 'The Lumberjack Song' after her affair.")

- On the phone, Mark's father uses "that voice." They really need to have him featured in an episode.

- It's funny how much time Mark's pursuit of Sophie takes up in these earlier seasons, considering how that relationship eventually ends up.

- We find out in this one that Johnson is a recovering alcoholic of 15 years. As I said in a previous post, this contradicts his drinking in his first season appearance.

- Jez is doing (unintentional) horrible drawings of Nancy. Now and again, Jez is seen doodling women in his room, or has his sketches tacked up to the walls. Jez is a lot softer than he makes out. This goes along with the poetry he writes in the sixth season.

- The story Mark gives about being an alcoholic ("You remember? The bear with the pork pie hat ... not even a proper cocktail...") is one of his best moments.

- Could this be the first appearance of Johnson's irresistible catchphrase, "this is bullshit, Mark!"?

- A deleted scene from this episode (which I saw because I got the first six seasons off Amazon UK for a paltry $40 - and you can too!) has Jez nonchalantly encountering Sophie and Jeff playing minigolf. Under directions from Mark via cell phone, Jez tries to get Jeff to admit in front of Sophie that terrorists and paedos should get the death penalty. It's quite funny.

WW2 References:
- Working late, Mark feels that he is "one of the few" in his Spitfire. However, upon further reflection, he figures it's more likely he'd crash his training plane during the Phony War (that period of relative calm between the invasion of Poland and the Battle of France).

UK References:
- Costcutter: According to Wikipedia, Costcutters "are supermarkets and local and urban convenience stores." That's pretty obvious from the dialogue.
- OfCom: Mark wants to call the Office of Communications after he's seen drinking beer on TV. From what I can understand, it's the CRTC of the UK.
- Alastair Campbell: A member of Tony Blair's staff, and a notable alcoholic.
- Hofmeister: On Mark's introductory beer, Wikipedia says it best: "Hofmeister was a 3.2% abv pale lager produced by Scottish Courage (later Scottish & Newcastle) from the 1980s to 2003. The brand was marketed in the 1980s with a series of advertisements featuring a bear, George, with a shiny, yellow jacket and a pork pie hat."
- Royal National Lifeboat Institution: A charity that saves lives at sea. Mark notes his membership in it as an example of why he's not so bad a guy after kicking Nim out.
- Kaliber: Guinness' non-alcoholic beer. Perhaps this is what Johnson was drinking in his first appearance?
- Scouser/Native wit: Mark calls Jeff a "Scouser," which is an unflattering term for a Liverpudlian. I guess anyone with half an ear and an idea of what the world is like would know that Jeff was from Liverpool, but it was news to me. Mark also mentions Jeff's "native wit," which all Liverpudlians are supposed to possess.

Season 2, Episode 2: "Jeremy Makes It"

2010-06-25T19:12:00.000-07:00

Mark is one uncomfortable Nazi

Jez almost gets paid for his work, while Mark makes friends with a racist.

Thoughts:

- I don't want to say this definitively, but this could be the best episode. Mark's racist friend, the lengths to which Jez goes to get his commission, the positive interplay between Mark and Jez, Sophie and Jeff shenanigans - even Super Hans - it all comes together for a very solid show.

- I think this is Tony's last appearance. It's a thankless, minor role, but in his own, understated way, the actor squeezed the most out of the material and made it work. I mean, so far as he could with a few background walk-bys and a line or two.

- Super Hans felt that sex with Toni was "spicy," whereas Jez found it "clinical, more like."

- Super Hans' doing crack shocks Mark and Jez. I'd always thought that he did crack (and more) anyway.

- Gog and his success thus-far (such as it is) underlines just how pathetic Jez is. The actor is good at playing a loser with a chip on his shoulder who's made it big; in spite of his successful business, he's still just a loser punching above his weight.

- The actor who plays Daryl is also in the Mitchell/Webb film, "Magicians." There are a few Peep Show guest actors who show up in that film - which I don't exactly recommend, I should say.

- Daryl is one of the more memorable guest characters. We really need to see more of him.

- Jez' first song that Gog listens to is awful. This continues the subtle running gag that Jez and Super Hans' band is unsuccessful because it's just terrible.

- This is the first episode where Johnson really does something as a boss, in this case investigating the "racial incident" with the sausage.

- Both Jez and Mark call Super Hans simply "Hans." One supposes that must be his real name after all.

- Jez' behaviour while placed in a position of authority (in the recording studio) is very amusing, particularly the way he loses it when it starts to go bad. This is a side of him we rarely see, as he never seems to have any real responsibility.

- The recording studio has the same blue "Fire door, keep closed" stickers found on all the doors at JLB, which leads one to wonder if they're not using the same location for both buildings.

- If even Jez thinks racism is wrong, it must be; though he is careful to allow an exception for "racist horseplay."

- It's interesting Mark knows the word for the pieces in Tetris, tetriminoes. A quick web search reveals that this is an actual mathematical term for them, rather than a jazzy, made-up marketing word, as I'd thought.

- "Political correctness gone mad" makes another appearance.

- How, exactly, does the Gog story end up? When we leave it, Jez and Super Hans are about to beat him up for money.

- One feels a bit sorry for Daryl as he's kicked out of JLB. Hopefully he finds some way to come back in the future.

WW2 references:
- Messing around at work, Mark pretends to be Barnes Wallis, while Daryl is the Ruhr. Sir Barnes Wallis invented the bouncing bomb that destroyed the Mohne and Eder dams, flooding the Ruhr valley. Mark is delighted that nobody has actually mentioned the film "The Dam Busters," which chronicles this event. A bit too on-the-nose for a man who wishes such information was common knowledge.
- Mark and Daryl being in-costume as Nazis at the WW2 re-enactment, of course.

UK references:
- Before smoking crack, Super Hans tells Jeremy to relax because it's not "Blue Peter," a children's show on the BBC.
- Daryl is a big fan of Jeremy Clarkson. Clarkson seems to be a right-wing, almost libertarian, anti-EU, anti-government sort of fellow who hosts Top Gear, a TV show about cars, and seems to appeal to the common man. The closest analogue I can think of might be Don Cherry, yet I don't think that's entirely accurate or fair to Cherry. He's mentioned earlier, in the first season.
- A "cash point" seems to be the UK term for an ATM.
- Thierry Henry plays for the French national football (soccer?) team.
- "Savage" may be David Savage, an English footballer (as they say).
- Mark thinks that Daryl must play his cor anglais in the "BNP jazz combo." The British National Party, I take it, is sort of like the old Reform Party, only more honest about being racists.

Just a couple'a lads playin' baseball

Lines:
There are way too many great lines and exchanges in this one to catalogue, but here are a few (remember, I transcribe them because I love you):

- Jeremy: What have you got in there?
Superhans: It’s a bit of crack.
Jeremy: Crack? Crack, Superhans?
Superhans: Relax, it’s not Blue Peter. Just having a nice little relaxing smoke of crack.

- Mark, on having to work the phones for a weekend at JLB: "Saturday shift. I thought we had people in Ireland to do this for us."

- Mark: What’s Hans doing?
Jeremy: He’s honking on his crack pipe.
Mark: Crack?! I’ve got company.
Jeremy: Oh relax. “Oh I’m Mark, I’m in the 80s, I’m dying of heroin in a puddle in the corner in an advert.” Drugs are fine Mark, everyone agrees now. Drugs are what happen to people. Shut up.

- Mark, unable to believe Jez' order: "Four naan, Jeremy? Four?! That's insane."

- Super Hans' idea for the Honda track: "What we have to do is create a powerful sense of dread."

- Jeremy (after his “band” has recorded an awful song for a commercial): Look, no, alright? That’s… not shit, but just… no. (Superhans lights up his pipe) Hans, you realize we’ve only got 39 minutes left.
Superhans: Oh, right, now we’re “working” it’s not okay for me to smoke my crack.
Jeremy: Yes, exactly. Exactly.
Superhans: What, so next you’re going to boot me out for not wearing a jacket and tie?

- (Mark and Daryl are posing as German troops at a War re-enactment)
Daryl: I mean, democracy’s all very well, but it’s weak and it’s decadent. You need a strong leader.
Mark: Uhh…
Daryl: I’m in character.
Mark: Oh, yes. Yes right. The… Fatherland needs the… Fuhrer. Oh god, I’m even boring when I’m a Nazi.
Daryl (after someone inspects their little War setup): Jesus. Classic rubbernecker. Absolutely no interest in military history. Might as well be checking out fucking sea drills down at farm museum (or something to that effect).
Mark: Still, it’s nice to get out of the city, isn’t it?
Daryl: Oh yes. It’s nice to get away from it all, isn’t it? The work, the smog, the graffiti.
Mark: Yeah, the traffic, the noise, the hassle.
Daryl: The car alarms, the cash points, the Blacks, the Pakis, the Jews.
Mark: Oh… yeah, yeah… I mean, that’s what we all want, a racially pure nation.
Daryl: Exactly. I mean, all we’re saying is "England for the English," right?
Mark: You mean… Germany for the Germans? You mean… this is a… are we…
Daryl: Rights for Whites. That’s not too much to ask, is it?
Mark: Is this… real now?
Daryl: We’re on the same wavelength, right? Everyone thinks it; the difference is we’re not afraid to say it.
Mark: Oh shit, oh bollocks, of course. I can’t just make a nice, normal friend. Oh no, that would be far too simple.
Daryl (to a guy who, presumably, runs the War re-enactment): Heil Hitler!
Mark: Uh, heil?
Guy: You’re not supposed to do that, Daryl. You know you’re not supposed to do that!

- Mark: Listen, I might just… pop down to the Chinky. You want anything?
Jeremy: From… uh… no, I’m alright, thanks.
Mark: What about from the Paki shop? You want anything from in there?
Jeremy: The Paki shop?
Mark: Yeah, I don’t normally go there. They’ve always got the Wop box on.
Jeremy: Mark, what the hell are you talking about?
Mark: Yeah… that’s not on, is it? What I said, it’s not alright, is it?
Jeremy: Well, no.
Mark: And, obviously you don’t think there’s a global Jewish conspiracy controlling everything.
Jeremy: What, you mean am I a racist?
Mark: Yeah. If you think that, and say those things, you’re a racist, aren’t you?
Jeremy: Well, yeah.
Mark: As it turns out, Daryl is a racist.
Jeremy: You sure he’s a proper… you know, it wasn’t just racist… horseplay?
Mark: No, because I was in the tent with him for ages and we talked for a long time and it was mostly on racial classifications; head measurements and so on.

- Jez, coming to Mark for a favour after blowing his commission: "I've basically been very, very foolish and have spent all of our advance on drugs and shoes, and I really need to borrow quite a lot of money..."

- Super Hans, feeling the shakes: "Crack, gimme crack... I'll suck for crack!"

- Says Super Hans in his shakedown of Gog, "Nice packet of Crunchy Nut you've got here. Pretty expensive, as I recall," before he pours it out on the floor.

Season 1, Episode 6: "Funeral"

2010-06-24T11:00:00.000-07:00

Jez' finest hour

In this, the first season finale, Jez deals with his own mortality while Mark gets some traction with Sophie.

- There's a shot of Jez on Toni's bed while she speaks to him, reversed as she's looking at him from her mirror. Very clever. Jez is wearing a t-shirt with numerals (which show up clearly in reverse) to highlight this.

- Uncle Ray's favourite book, an excerpt from which was read at his funeral, is "Scorpio Patrol." Peep Show has always had a very interesting outlook on the working class.

- Jez' aunt Liz officiates at Ray's funeral, but his parents (one would expect his mother to be there, at least) are nowhere to be found. Obviously the producers felt that adding Jeremy's parents in an episode that didn't really deal with them would detract from the story they wanted to tell. This is perhaps why we don't really see Mark's parents at his wedding, too.

- Liz gives Jez a disappointing look when he begins his Enya speech (surely one of the best Jez moments). One gets the impression that she expected him to make a spectacle of himself at the funeral. Perhaps Jez is the black sheep of his family? Not hard to believe.

- Awaiting the results of his test (to see if he has the same genetic disorder that condemned his uncle to an early death), Jez becomes fatalistic and takes up smoking, just like Mark in the previous episode. In the fifth season finale, Jez similarly takes stock of his life and adopts uncharacteristic personality traits in response.

- Mark refers to his penis as "Captain Corrigan" for the first time.

- After many episodes, Mark's irregular testicles are dealt with. As it turns out, he has a "large hydrocele," which seems to be an accumulation of fluid in his balls. It's implied that he has this dealt with ("I intend to have an operation"), and I can't remember one way or another whether it's ever mentioned again in the show.

- Big Suze's dildo is mentioned, which Jeremy evidently still owns. The Big Suze that we eventually meet in the third season doesn't strike me as someone who, necessarily, owns a dildo. But maybe that says more about me than anything else. I'll have more on this next episode.

- Jez tells Sophie that Mark calls her a "sausage muncher." This is the same lie that he tells Kallie in the fifth season's "crystal skull" episode.

- Jez making a pass at Sophie foreshadows his "snogging" her in Kettering, which itself precedes their having sex at the start of the sixth season.

- Just what is JLB's logo? I get the globe thing, but what is that blob that sort of surrounds it?

Robert Webb puts in a convincing performance as a man who doesn't want his stomach pumped

Some choice quotes, all from Jez this time:
- Jez, while trying to come up with a topic to talk about with his dying uncle: "Uncle Ray. Football... ciggies..."
- Jez, trying to use Ray's death to his advantage, with Toni: "Nothing could make me feel better about Ray's death, except maybe... one thing..."
- Jez: "Well, Mr. Dalai Lama, I suppose you've got to be a suck up if you haven't got your own country."
- While Jez is getting a hand job off Toni, after telling her he's got six months to live, he thinks to himself, "I am going to feel so low just as soon as this is over."

UK Stuff:
- Biro: Evidently, this is just what they call ballpoint pens.

Season 1, Episode 5: "Dream Job"

2010-06-21T13:17:00.000-07:00

Mark is not in a good place

Mark takes a turn for the worse when he's passed over for a promotion at work. Meanwhile, Hans has a go at Toni.

Thoughts:

- Mark's line, "Why didn't I iron my fucking tie?!" reminds us all that casual swearing on UK TV is hilarious.

- This might be an obvious point, but Jez' clothing is often very fun.

- Barbara at JLB shows up again, I think, for the last time.

- Mark has a Silver Surfer figurine on his computer at work. Might he be a Marvel man?

- Super Hans introducing himself to Toni: "Hans. Super Hans." Aside from that being a hilarious line, it raises the potential that that Hans is actually his first name. In the sixth season, we discover that Hans has two children in Germany. This could all make sense.

- Jez and Super Hans wrote a song called "Bum Dog."

- Jez on Mark: "The human time-bomb."

- Mark going nuts and pissing on Barbara's stuff is incredibly over-the-top. I'm not sure if this sort of thing would fly in a later season.

- Mark mentions his "so-called childhood." This is a common refrain from him over the years, yet details are scant.

- Super Hans threatens to walk when he finds out Jez is going to be fired from his receptionist job. Naturally, he doesn't. He makes the exact same empty threat when Jez gets kicked out of the band in the fifth season's "crystal skull" episode.

- This isn't the last time that Super Hans steals Jez' woman.

- Toni's total lack of commitment to or real respect for Jez matches that of Nancy in the second season and beyond. The difference, of course, is that Toni is actually a funny character.

- The boys again watch Bob Ross on TV. This time, they're painting along with him.

- The line, "it's political correctness gone mad!" is something of a catch-phrase on this show. I don't know if it originates here, but Mark occasionally says it, usually when he's not allowed to do something he wants to.

- The "this was definitely a great idea" bit also shows up. Mark and Jeremy are often heard convincing themselves of this in later episodes.

- As Mark spirals into depression, he takes up smoking. Jez does the exact same thing in the next episode, as he faces the possibility of an early death.

- Sophie lives in quite a large home. I wonder what the situation is there. Perhaps she has roommates.

- As Mark and Jez are being chased away from Sophie's backyard, we have a shot from a dog's POV. A dog, incidentally, that Mark kicks to death.

- "Cock muncher" shows up here. I know this isn't Peep Show-specific, but this is the first place I was exposed to this extremely fine insult, and it gets thrown around a few more times over the years.

World War 2 references:
- Mark mentions Stalingrad.
- In therapy, Mark instinctively likens his father to the Fuhrer.

This episode is quite good, perhaps because Mark and Jez have two similar plotlines (troubles with women) that eventually become intertwined. I find the show works best when Jez and Mark are working together, rather than at-odds.

Season 1, Episode 4: "Mark Makes a Friend"

2010-06-20T17:35:00.000-07:00

Mark finds someone to care about, for once

In this one, Mark develops an unhealthy interest in Johnson.

Thoughts:

- This is the episode with the series of great "the bad thing" flashbacks. "Floss is boss!" etc. Again, these flashbacks are largely from a third-person perspective, and have an odd blue tint to them. So while they quickly moved away from using these, at least they were consistent the few times they showed up!

- The flashback also has this weird, non-diegetic music. Again, these little stylistic things don't make it too far past the first season.

- The boys are watching Morse on TV. This comes up a few times as a pedestrian sort of show that Mark unapologetically enjoys watching, sometimes with his mother. Additionally, when Mark gets the best of the burglar in the fifth season's first episode, he thinks "I'm wrestling with the white working class. Morse never did this. I'm better than Morse!"

Incidentally, my parents enjoy Morse.

- As Jez cleans the apartment, we get a POV shot from the vacuum cleaner. This is the only POV shot from an inanimate object that I can think of.

- Mark and Johnson seem only recently acquainted in this episode.

- Jez: "Mark likes Israel, I'm Palestine. Makes it more interesting when you pick it."

- Bizarrely, Jez can drive yet Mark can't. This little quirk comes up a few times throughout the series, particularly during the last act of the sixth season's sixth episode.

Is this sort of thing normal in the London area? Are otherwise accomplished men in their late-20s living lives without their drivers licenses? From my perspective it's amusing that Jez can manage a vehicle while Mark has no idea.

- Mark growing a moustache in emulation of Johnson is a really great gag. Subtle at first, and then just embarrassing. And nobody says a word about it.

- Whenever this show needs some 2nd party to look at the main characters talking (so that a scene doesn't become a series of bland shots of one character looking at the other), they're pretty clever to subtly set it up, like a pedestrian walking by, or a guy sitting at the next table or something. The show is pretty good about sticking to its POV rules.

From what I gather (off Wikipedia, of course), the actors and writers credit the POV conceit with the show's low-ish ratings. Maybe it's just me, but it's never really bothered me, and I didn't notice it until someone else pointed it out. But perhaps the common man just doesn't buy it.

- Johnson's drinking beer in this one. In the third season, he tells Mark that he's been sober 15 years. We could reason that he's drinking non-alcoholic beer, but I doubt any bars have that on tap. Maybe Johnson's just in denial about his alcoholism?

- Barbara is mentioned. The one who interviewed Jez in the second episode. She shows up again this season, but I don't know if she makes any appearances beyond that.

- The Stalingrad book is still on Mark's nightstand, where it was last episode. I really wish they'd kept hiding it throughout the series.

- There's a look right outside their apartment, from the living room window. In the first two seasons, they filmed in an actual apartment. Wikipedia tells us that starting in the third, it's a set in a carpet warehouse, making shots like that impossible. This is something I never noticed, and I doubt you could tell, either.

- Jeremy says that he's insured through his mom. First, if Jez is as old as Robert Webb, the actor, he'd be 31 here. Rather old to be on one's mom's insurance, no?

More interestingly, this suggests, perhaps, that Jez' parents are divorced. Indeed, when we finally meet his mom in the fifth season, they are. Maybe I'm reading too much into these little throwaway lines, but the show is fairly consistent about this sort of seemingly-minor stuff.

- This episode is the beginning of the antagonistic relationship between Jez and Johnson. It's pretty funny and begins to pay off later when Johnson steals Big Suze, among other things. It mirrors Super Hans' dislike of Mark.

- One of the main characters getting his dick sucked by a drugged-out male friend is one of those great, hilarious things you'd never see on an American sitcom. Obviously. It's part of Peep Show's appeal, but far from the only thing it brings to the table.

- One wonders if Mark's intense like of Johnson stems from a lack of a father figure he can love and care about. Perhaps his bizarre, almost homosexual attachment, is a reaction to his never having had a normal father-son relationship in his life. Perhaps.

"Floss is boss!"

UK References:
- Mention is made of "Clarkson," who I take to be Jeremy Clarkson, from Top Gear. I guess you can watch Top Gear on TV here, but I doubt you could go around talking about "Clarkson" and have people know who you're talking about. In the third season, Clarkson is mentioned approvingly by Mark's racist friend, Darryl.

- The VAT: Or "Value Added Tax." So far as I can tell, it's some tax in the EU.

Firsts:
- Johnson's first appearance. Oddly - unless I missed it - it's not really established here that Johnson is Mark's boss, necessarily. We get that he's a higher-up in JLB, but there's no indication by episode's end that we'll ever see Johnson again. Thankfully, we do.
- I think this is the first time Mark's last name, Corrigan, is mentioned.
- The truck horn noise that follows any mention of the El Dude Brothers, along with the arm pulling, makes its first, triumphant appearance.
- First mention of Mark's book, "Business Secrets of the Pharaohs." We never do get a good idea of what it might be about, but judging by the title, it seems, like Mark, too clever for its own good and destined to fail.

Season 1, Episode 3: "On the Pull"

2010-06-17T15:59:00.000-07:00

Mark, partying hard

In this one, Mark takes a teenage girl bowling and brings Jez and Toni along.

Thoughts:

- This episode opens with Mark and Jez shopping. This isn't the last time we see them in this grocery store.

- One of Jez' comments indicates he's gone the better part of the year without sex. I find this at-odds with later episodes, where Jez seems to do pretty well for himself with the ladies. Maybe this was a particularly bad 9 months for him.

- There's a very rare and very brief flashback in which Mark is hitting on Sophie in a supply closet. Not only that, the flashback is seen from a 3rd person perspective (with a blue filter over the lens, no less). This sort of thing only ever shows up in the first season.

- Mark mentions Das Boot. Not only is this more WW2 stuff from Mark, he also tries watching this film with her in a later episode.

- There's a quick establishing shot during the party that Mark and Jez go to, where the speed is cranked up as we go through the room. This seems to be another one of those weird first season quirks that never shows up again.

- One gets the sense that Valerie, the girl Mark picks up at the party, is one of the few females Mark could ever get along with.

- This show is absolutely perfect at capturing the feelings one has in the constant pursuit of women. Says Jez after some guy cuts in on him dancing with a girl, and begins to make out with her: "the dream is over. I am detritus."

- This episode is a nice reminder that even guys like Mark score now and again in the real world. I think a conventional sitcom would play up Mark's forced celibacy, but here he makes it sometimes, and sometimes he doesn't.

- Perfect Mark, after Jez proposes they do drugs: "What if I lose it? I'm not going to do a poo, am I?"

- Perfect Jez, as he tries to win it for Mark and himself: "I could say we've both got enormous cocks. Might be the clincher."

- Good Toni line: "I had a steward eat me out in the multi-faith area at Dubai airport. God, that was depressing."

- This episode is very strange, in the sense that Mark - a man at this point in his mid-late 20s - has sex with a teenager. It's very bizarre in retrospect that Mark ever had this opportunity, and, furthermore, that he went for it.

- Jeff is set up in this episode as a romantic foil for Mark. The actor is just a perfect pick. I really believe that he's a massive fucking douchebag in real life. I want to add, "... but he's probably not," but... no, I dunno, Jeff the character is such a total prick that I have a hard time believing the actor isn't, even a little bit. He's perfect for this role.

- Toni is so insecure. I love that she feels threatened even by Mark's teenage date.

- Lazer Bowl, where they eventually find themselves, is a real place in Piccadilly Circus. Someone really needs to arrange a Peep Show tour. Maybe see the sights of Kettering.

- Tony, Toni's ex, shows up here. I think this is one of two appearances for him, making him one of the rare minor characters to get more than one go. The previous episodes, Toni had been distraught over some ex-boyfriend who we can assume is Tony.

- Mark, on Jeff possibly having sex with Sophie: "Don't think about it. If you don't think about it, it won't happen."

- There's a bit of non-diegetic music between scenes (as we move from the bowling alley to Mark's bedroom) that I don't think ever shows up again. Like the little noises between other scenes, this one is derived from the theme song.

- Good UK slang: Toni says that Tony ran off with "a scrubber called Lyndsay!"

- Mark is pleased that Valerie hasn't said anything about his nuts.

- The Stalingrad book is underneath the box of kleenex Mark grabs at the end of the show.

This is a pretty good conventional episode. After establishing the characters in the first two, the show presents a typical sort of sit-commy situation and has Mark and Jez run through it. I hesitate to say that it's good since... well, they're all good. But it's good.

Season 1, Episode 2: "The Interview"

2010-06-15T15:20:00.000-07:00

Jez enjoys a drink in the tub

In this episode, Mark leaves an embarrassing message on Sophie's machine, while Jez deliberately tries to fudge an interview with JLB. Jez also takes a detour in the definitely not pyramid selling business.

- Mark tries to get Jez a job at JLB. This exact same setup recurs in the sixth season premiere, with different results (mainly, it works the second time).

Some firsts:
- Big Suze is first mentioned, though she won't show up till the third season premiere.
- First mention of the El Dude Brothers. Specifically, Mark refers to he and Jeremy as "Jez and Mez, the El Dude Brothers." This odd nickname for Mark never comes up again, so far as I can recall. Though I always understood that the "El Dude" moniker first came up while they were at the fictional Dartmouth University together, no mention of ole Dartie is made here.
- It's established here that Jez and Super Hans' "band" doesn't have a name. Or, it doesn't keep a name for any length of time. Names mentioned in this one include "The Hair Blair Bunch" and "Momma's Kumquat."
- During the JLB interview, we find out that Jez used to be a nurse. That's a very strange job for him to have had. This experience rarely ever gets mentioned again, though it does pop up once or twice after this.

- Quite often, Mark makes reference to the Second World War (and, more often than not, specifically, Germans and Nazis). Hitler also comes up regularly. In this episode, I counted five occasions on which Mark made some crack about WW2, or drew a swastika, or was reading a WW2-related book. If we include his bit about the Treaty of Versailles and its inevitable backlash, we have five and a half.

- Mark says that while brown toast is savoury, white is the treat. The joke is on everyone else, Mark thinks, as he, in fact, prefers brown. This is a perfect example of one of Mark's prosaic little thoughts that - in their own way - reveal a lot about us and how we deal with ourselves and social expectations. It's pretty much the meat and potatoes of the show. I mean, brown toast really is better, and you really do feel as though you're pulling one over on the universe for preferring it. Once Mark (or, less often, Jez) vocalizes thoughts like this for you and you realize you're not the only one who has them, the show begins to grow on you.

- Incidentally, Jez mentions the brown savoury/white treat dichotomy in a later episode. Mark's stag party, I think?

- Jez mentions his mom and dad. While his mother shows up in the fifth season's "Gunny" episode, his father has yet to be seen.

- Bob Ross - the guy with that giant head of hair who painted on PBS - shows up here. Well, his TV show does, at any rate. Mark and Jez watch it at least one other time, I think, in the fourth season's "Gym" episode.

- Mark's Stalingrad book from the previous episode is on his desk at JLB. I'm not certain if it ever shows up again.

- Mark has a fantasy magazine in his closet. This is one of the few instances - aside from an occasional Star Wars mention - where it's implied that Mark is an all-out nerd. Years later he plays a Wow-like MMO with Dobby and Gerard and goes Larping with them, but I suspect this was mostly to woo Dobby. Between the magazine and the MMO, I can't think of any particularly nerdy things Mark engages in, even though we might expect him to do such things often.

- This episode has one of two scenes (that I can think of) where we're inside Jez' head as he jerks off. In both cases, he's creating a bizarre fantasy based on whatever imagery he can get his hands on at the time. Here it's the fantasy elf girl in Mark's magazine, and years later it's the picture of the Queen on a bank note.

- Evidently, Mark has at this point not yet met Big Suze. This is bizarre, since a later episode establishes that Jez lived with her for a year and a half; if the El Dude Brothers have been such great pals since university, how did Mark not meet Jez' girlfriend and housemate during those eighteen months?

Obviously this is a case of writers inadvertently coming up with stuff that is at odds with previously-established other stuff. Still, if you run with it, it presents interesting possibilities. Did Mark and Jez have a falling-out sometime after Dartmouth? And how long have Mark and Jez been living together at this point, anyway?

- Another reference to Mark's strange balls.

- Says Mark of Jez' expectations in life: "Nothing you want is ever going to happen."

- Sophie is really nice and almost demure in these first two episodes. She's not quite the fun-loving, self-destructive Sophie she eventually becomes.

- Jeff himself shows up in this one, after being briefly mentioned in the first episode. He seems like just a normal guy in the office, until his last line (he sings the song Mark left on Sophie's machine), which hints at what a grade-A prick he's going to be throughout the series.

- At the end of the day, a pretty decent episode that does a good job of properly setting up the Mark/Jez relationship (after their odd dynamic in the first one), as well as the Mark/Sophie plot. There are quite a few clever lines in this one that I was surprised to find were from so early an episode.

Season 1, Episode 1: "Warring Factions"

2010-06-14T18:28:00.000-07:00

An unusually-confident Mark goes after Toni

Not that anyone blogs anymore (who has time to bother with more than 140 characters?), but for the record we begin today the first of a series of exhausting "reviews" of the television programme Peep Show - to be completed either when I run through all episodes, or just stop wanting to do this. I put "reviews" in quotes because I think this will degenerate more into me randomly mentioning things I think of when I watch, rather than any sort of critical analysis. It will only be of use to someone who has seen it.

If you're reading this you are likely already familiar with this wonderful show; in the event that you're not yet hip to things, it's this sitcom from the UK about two oddly-matched friends living in the south end of London, in which we are constantly privy to the thoughts of the two protagonists. To give you a rough idea of their personalities, the actors play the Apple/PC guys in the UK versions of those ads. That doesn't really sound like much, but it's genuinely the best, funniest TV show ever made.

We begin our reviews, appropriately, with the first episode, "Warring Factions," which Wikipedia tells us was broadcast in September, 2003. From what I remember from the DVD commentary, this wasn't the first one filmed, but the network thought it would make the best premiere episode. Perhaps. I think Mark is a tad out-of-character in his pursuit of Toni, so I don't personally recommend it as a jumping-on point.

- Jeremy's introduction is fairly spot-on: he's dancing topless in front of a mirror while he listens to his own song. If this hadn't been intended to be the first episode, I wonder how such a perfect scene ended up at the start.

- Similarly, Mark's introductory scene - an awkward encounter with a female - perfectly sums up who he is and what he thinks about women and social conventions.

Some firsts:
- Jeremy's song shows up now and again in the background throughout the series. A music video for it is on the first season DVD, and floating out there on YouTube.
- Jeff is first mentioned in one of Sophie's first lines, "what do you make of Jeff's memo?". Very easy to miss, fellow Peepers!
- Mark mentions his lawyer sister, who shows up years later in two episodes years apart.
- Mark references the awful relationship he has with his father. This gets mentioned often, but we've yet to really meet Mark's dad. He's definitely a character I'm waiting patiently to see (he showed up for literally one second in the fourth season finale), and I'll feel cheated if we don't.
- Mark's weird testicles are mentioned for the first time. This is a recurring gag for quite a few episodes.
- Mark's interest in the Second World War (or is it an interest in Nazis?) comes up.

- The kids who harass Mark are perfect. There's no way some casting agent auditioned them. If they're actors, they each deserve a... Bafta? I guess? I imagine the producers just found some shitty little hooligans on the street and told them to do what they would normally do in front of the camera. The way they jump and spit on the wall - there's no way someone would script that. Just genius.

- One of the kids calls Mark a "clean shirt," which is one of the more memorable lines from the series (I use "series" in the proper, North American sense). One of the robbers in the fifth season premiere calls him the same thing. So far as I can tell, this put-down is a Peep Show original.

- Jez' half-painted orange room is perfect for the character.

- Super Hans is spot-on in his first appearance, with his rant about the logo in the foam and power brokers "getting their dicks sucked by big Alsatian dogs." With the possible exception of Johnson, Super Hans is word-for-word the funniest character on the show.

- More overtly than usual, Super Hans' dislike of Mark shows up in his scene. It's in the background in subsequent episodes, but there's always the implication that Mark and Super Hans don't particularly care for each other. Perhaps appropriate, as Super Hans and Mark stand in direct opposition to one another - much moreso than mismatched Mark and Jez.

-Come to think of it, Super Hans is sort of like Jez without any warmth or redeeming qualities.

- This one makes for an odd first episode, for two reasons. First, the way in which Mark aggressively pursues Toni is entirely out-of-character for someone who is normally a fairly awkward, introverted man. Second, Jez and Mark are in constant opposition to each other for almost the entirety of the episode. While it's pretty hip these days to have characters hate each other in sitcoms, the animosity in this episode is way off the charts for these guys.

- Mark tries to get the name of an acupuncturist for Toni's leukemia-stricken sister. In later episodes, I don't think even a lust-driven Mark would stoop to such a move, so devoted to Reason and the Scientific Method that he is. Oddly, it's Jez who eventually voices opposition to acupuncture.

- Toni's a pretty fun character. She eventually disappears after the second season, but it would be nice if she popped up at some point in a future episode, particularly since she played such a big role in these earlier seasons.

- Toni gets a pretty good line when she protests she's "not some kind of next-door fuck jar."

- Toni's sister, Paula, shows up again muuuch later, in the fifth season premiere. She's one of a tiny handful of tertiary characters who make more than one appearance (Mark's sister is the only other one I can think of, but surely there are others). Her role in that one is so small and unspecific to her character that I wonder why she came back at all.

Peep Show, naturally, mentions a few UK-specific things that I've never heard of. Among them:
- The Hampton Court Maze: A maze dating back to the 17th century, a bit to the west of where Mark and Jez live.
- Tim Henman: A tennis player that Mark evidently likes. This episode implies that Mark is a big tennis fan (or at least a big Tim Henman fan), yet this interest is never mentioned again.
- Rizla: A weed-based party game whose popularity is, from my research, confined entirely to the UK.
- The offy: The off-license, or place outside of a pub where you can grab booze.

- The fellow who does eventually get Toni (and Paula?) is very Jeff-like in his alpha male put-downs of Mark and Jez. Perhaps he's a sort of proto-Jeff.

- This episode has a rare fade-out near the end, clashing with the point-of-view rules the show eventually rigidly adheres to. I think there are very few incidents like this outside of the first season (another example would be the omniscient third-person perspective during the flashback when Jez and Super Hans do the "bad thing").

- This season has the quirky, almost off-putting minimalist theme song. It eventually gets dropped for some out-of-place rock tune. I'm not saying the original is brilliant, but it's interesting how much at-odds it is with the song they eventually settle on. Surely the change was forced on them by Channel 4. The original song lives on, of course, in the little beeps and boops around the episodes' ad breaks.