Writers: Chris Addison & Carl Cooper
Director: Adam Tandy
Cast: Chris Addison (Dr. Alex Beenyman), Geoffrey McGivern (Professor John Mycroft), Jo Enright (Cara McIlvenny), Daniel Tetsell (Brian Lalumaca), Selina Cadell (Dean Mieke Miedema), Margaret Cabourn-Smith (Secretary) & Mike McShane (Dr. Vaabit)
Director: Adam Tandy
Cast: Chris Addison (Dr. Alex Beenyman), Geoffrey McGivern (Professor John Mycroft), Jo Enright (Cara McIlvenny), Daniel Tetsell (Brian Lalumaca), Selina Cadell (Dean Mieke Miedema), Margaret Cabourn-Smith (Secretary) & Mike McShane (Dr. Vaabit)
Definitely the worst episode so far, "A Bee" contains a few delightfully nutty moments (like an intercom buzzer fortuitously censoring swear words), but the story's throughline wasn't handled very well. Lab Rats has also started splitting its characters into pairs to tackle the A and B plots -- but, while Alex (Chris Addison) and Cara (Jo Enright) can bank on a Father Ted/Father Dougal-style repartee, Mycroft (Geoffrey McGivern) and Brian (Dan Tetsell) are just a bit tiresome together..."A Bee" concerns Mycroft's rivalry with Dr. Vaabit (Mike McShane), who he believes has sabotaged his avocado plants. As Mycroft plots revenge with the help of Brian and a huge magnet, Alex and Cara discover Vaabit's precious bee collection and decide to create a hive in a filing cabinet. All they need is a bee costume and a book explaining how to "dance" to talk with the insects...
As ever, it's written with that "broad reach" style (where every turn of phrase and line of dialogue is potentially the jumping-off point for a strained joke). Sometimes it works, usually it doesn't. It's very difficult to believe the characters are scientists, too -- particularly Cara and Alex, who in this episode think dressing as a bee to talk to them isn't ridiculous. Super-idiot Cara might think this, but Alex? I thought he was the quiet voice of sanity?
Of course, likeminded shows like Father Ted and The IT Crowd get away with sticking idiotic characters in serious professions (the clergy, IT support) because we know both can be the domain of dimwits and social pariah's. The same is broadly true of science, but not to the same degree. I need a bit of belief that the lab rats aren't total retards. Or, failing that, a good reason for why a university would employ idiots.
Anyway, the performances remain on the same level. Addison's still the likeable backbone of the whole thing, Enright's amusing enough, Tetsell stands around waiting for a decent joke, McGivern's character isn't funny, and Selena Cadell scene-steals as the Dean (even if, admittedly, it's 90% down to her comedy Dutch accent). Guest star Mike McShane was almost unrecognisable, having lost half his body-weight since his Whose Line Is It Anyway? days, but his raucous voice was the giveaway. He should have been better utilized as Dr. Vaabit, though.
Overall, the story was very weak and most of the jokes fell a bit flat. I quite enjoyed the episode's obsession with cartoons (Wile E. Coyote and Roadrunner mentioned, Vaabit described as a Looney Tune, an ACME-style giant magnet featured, and in one scene Vaabit's literally blended into a background like a 'toon). Mind you, it once again begged the question: what is a sitcom that heavily-references cartoons doing on at half-nine at night? Everything about Lab Rats smells of a children's show, and the poor scheduling is partly to blame for its noble failure: as audiences approach it looking for a post-watershed bit of adult surrealism, only to find its humour's aimed at kids.
31 July 2008
BBC2, 9.30 pm
