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.