Season 4, Episode 3: "Gym"

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"

“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"

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"

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"

"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"

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"

"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"

"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"

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"

"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"

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"

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.