Writers: Jesse Armstrong & Sam Bain
Director: Becky MartinCast: David Mitchell (Mark), Robert Webb (Jez), Olivia Coleman (Sophie), Matt King (Super Hans), Paterson Joseph (Alan Johnson), Neil Fitzmaurice (Jeff Heaney), Isy Suttie (Dobby), Zac Fox (Barney Chapman), Paul Clayton (Ian Chapman) & Endy McKay (Lisa)
Mark and Sophie return to work after their split, as Jez and Super Hans play their first gig...After last week's slightly irritating avoidance of season 4's fallout, this episode finds Mark (David Mitchell) and "jilted" bride Sophie (Olivia Coleman) squaring up to each other back at work. Mark's resigned to the fact that his work colleagues are going to hate him (and can you blame them?), but takes solace in another unlikely romance – this time with IT technician Dobby (Isy Suttie). Meanwhile, Jez (Robert Webb) is given a surprisingly good demo-tape by Sophie's teenage cousin Barney (Zac Fox), and decides to exploit Barney's talent for his own musical benefit...
Spin War was another excellent episode, typical of Peep Show firing on all cylinders. It's always a pleasure to see Mark interacting with Sophie and office characters like bully Jeff (Neil Fitzmaurice) and corporate shark Johnson (Paterson Joseph). It'll be interesting to see where things go, as Mark's pursuit of Sophie has informed his character's direction since day 1, but I don't see reconciliation as an option just yet. I'm guessing the show will use the Sophie/Mark relationship to chart a messy divorce for this season, and perhaps the next.
If so, I hope Mark finds someone new to obsess over. This episode once again finds Mark growing close to a woman; the weirdly-alluring and highly-sexed Dobby, who takes a shine to him during a dinner break and makes a bold step by seducing him in the store cupboard. Mark mentally dithers over what to do as she rubs herself into his crotch, before beating a hasty exit as he ejaculates in his trousers, later forced to agree with Jeff and Sophie that he's wet himself – and take comfort that the true nature of his trouser stain remained secret.
While Mark's character soars whenever he's in an office context grappling with his love-life, Jez is likewise at his best whenever partnered with Super Hans (Mark King), the other half of his crappy band. Here, Jez and Super Hans discover their "fan" Barney is actually very talented, so coerce him into joining their band before their first live gig. Hoping he'll write some decent material after hearing his excellent demo-tape, Super Hans unfortunately takes things too far by suggesting oral sex from the precocious yet naïve teen.
It all dovetails into discomfiture for everyone, as Mark takes Dobby to a club to see Jez play live – as Barney leaves Jez's gig in the lurch because Super Hans forced him to suck him off. Then, Mark discovers a drunken Sophie collapsed in a vomit-covered toilet cubicle after heading there for quickie sex with nymphomaniac Dobby, and feels duty-bound to help her...
The story wasn't water-tight, relying on coincidences at times, while the Barney plot became distasteful too quickly -- but that's kind of what you expect with Peep Show. There's an argument for saying the show follows familiar patterns, which I kind of agree with. In particular, Mark's ability to attract women (usually of the same generic personality) is getting a bit strained, although this episode benefited from involving Sophie and her squabbling with Mark.
As usual, the humour doesn't really come from the complexities of the narrative, but the barbed internal commentaries from Mark and Jez. These acidic thought-balloons we hear as viewers remain piercing and reflective of real thoughts. The only difference is that Mark's thought processes are ten times wittier than normal people.
Overall, this episode was an improvement over last week's, mainly because it returned to the ongoing story with Mark/Sophie and included the always-funny Super Hans. Jesse Armstrong and Sam Bain tend to fall back on established set-ups (particularly with Mark and the potential girlfriends he inevitably pushes away), but the quality of the written jokes and humorous situations rarely drops. Which is what really matters in comedy.
9 May 2008
Channel 4, 10.30 pm
