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.