Director: Yann Demange
In the penultimate episode of this zombie drama, writer Charlie Brooker finally delivers the TV horror-comedy I had been expecting; blood, guts, satire, thrills and death…It helps that Patrick (Andy Nyman) and Pippa (Kathleen McDermott) finally escape from their small office, by trapping Zombie Davina (Davina McCall) between the opened door and spearing her through the head with a lamp stand. Freed from his confines at last, Nyman dominates the rest of the episode with his brash, dislikeable, arrogant TV producer cliché. What his character lacks in originality, he makes up for in sheer bravado and confidence. Indeed, he's so watchable that the stupidity in keeping him holed up with screechy Pippa for two episodes seems even more ridiculous.
There are also some good, thought-provoking moments inside the Big Brother House, too -- particularly when the housemates are gathered at the dinner table, listing the things a zombie apocalypse has effectively ended (Amazon, Doctor Who, YouTube, Lost). Some digs at BB also elicit giggles (Patrick trying to inspire the housemates into making an escape plan by comparing it to "a task"), or Joplin (Kevin Eldon) mulling over the idea that the zombie holocaust is God's punishment for the decline of modern culture. Or how about producer Patrick physically eviscerating dead Grayson with callous determination, essentially exploiting a housemate for his own purposes? It's even surmised that the zombie crowds gathering at the compound gates are drawn to the "church" of Big Brother. I wonder how many Burberry-wearing zombies are at the Jeremy Kyle studio?
Perhaps because the end is in sight, part 4 seemed more focused and precise in its intentions. At the country house, Riq (Riz Ahmed) talks Alex (Liz May Brice) into leaving their safehouse, to travel down a river that passes by the BB House so he can be reunited with his girlfriend Kelly (Jaime Winstone). Dead Set has been particularly good at developing mood, and I enjoy the many uneasy silences -- usually broken by a screech and stampede of nearby zombies catching sight of fresh meat. The lonely, empty river is a particularly unsettling visual and keeps you on the edge of your seat as Alex and Riq go on their journey.
The shaky-cam aesthetic is still too frenzied at times, which sometimes robs action sequences of clarity and makes them difficult to watch. I don't have a problem with similar filming techniques in the Bourne movies or 28 Days Later, but Dead Set's cameramen seem particularly jittery and it can be frustrating to concentrate on the mayhem, or even comprehend what's happening. A sense of delirium is fine, but not always at the total expense of lucidity.
Overall, this episode was far more indicative of how I imagined Dead Set would be from the start, so I'm glad we got there in the end. I still think the reality TV setting hasn't been utilized as imaginatively as it could have, but I suspect Dead Set's faults would be less obvious if this had been a feature-length special, or a more intense two-parter. Still, if tonight's finale can provide creative and intense closure, Charlie Brooker will have pulled this back from the brink.
30 October 2008
E4, 10pm
Cast: Jaime Winstone (Kelly), Andy Nyman (Patrick), Kathleen McDermott (Pippa), Kevin Eldon (Joplin), Riz Ahmed (Riq), Liz May Brice (Alex), Warren Brown (Marky), Shelley Conn (Claire), Beth Cordingly (Veronica), Adam Deacon (Space), Davina McCall (Herself) & Brian Belo (Himself)
