Mr. Jelly (Reece Shearsmith) is entertaining the elderly at the Sunnydale Rest Home, but is unnerved when Mr. Jolly (Adrian Scarborough) calls him during his act with a dire warning that his life's in danger -- now that he's figured out who the mysterious, psychotic blackmailer is. Jelly hotfoots it home to discuss the situation with his former-nemesis, unfortunately handcuffed to a senile old lady as part of an escapology trick gone wrong. At home, Jelly and the old dear find Mr. Jolly's suffocated dead body and are forced to hide behind a curtain when the blackmailer returns to saw off Jolly's head with an electric carving knife, in an attempt to frame Jelly for the deed...
Elsewhere, Joy (Dawn French) rushes to hospital with the decapitated body of her beloved doll Freddie, causing raised eyebrows in the operating theatre ("... I'll get you a needle and thread"), before exacting her revenge on her husband's fancy woman Nicola (Elizabeth Berrington) by kidnapping her, taking her to Ravenhill Hospital, and performing a sinister blood transfusion with ragdoll Freddie. Brilliantly creepy scenes with the doll's eyes crying blood as its body oozed with the red stuff.
Maureen Sowerbutts (Shearsmith) has developed a frightening passion for killing David's (Pemberton) friends, so goes out to buy an indoor barbecue set so they can eat their final victim as a special "treat". Their intended prey, Lorraine (Natalie Cassidy), is coincidentally the shopgirl selling Maureen her barbecue and, during a brief discussion with her at the checkout, the penny drops for Maureen when she realizes the "bad murder" David spoke of was part of the Murder & Chips murder-mystery performance, so they've been killing innocent people. Rushing home to end their torment by taking an overdose of pills herself and suffocating her son while he sleeps, Maureen's shocked when she realizes David has disappeared and is left to die on her own...
Sadly tainted by some iffy acting, the pantomime storyline with Robert (Jason Tompkins) and Debbie (Daisy Haggard) was more fun this week, too. Robert's diminutive friends are surprised when they hear Robert's got engaged to Debbie, but Kerry (Lisa Hammond) realizes he's tricked amnesiac Debbie into believing a lie. As Kerry's romantic feelings for Robert are so strong, Kerry confronts both of them on-stage after work and reveals that she's the one responsible for Robert's apparent powers of telekinesis (in a scene reminiscent of Carrie) and has just been trying to protect him all these years. With Robert unwilling to convinced Kerry he loves her to spare Debbie's life, Kerry is forced to frame Robert for attacking Debbie with a fire-axe when their friends arrive on the scene. This was decent way to continue this faltering plotline, particularly enjoyable for Daisy Haggard's wonderfully ditzy performance as bimbo Debbie ("I can remember all my lines and phone numbers and stuff. I just don't remember being engaged to Robert...")
The least interesting subplot again belonged to Oscar Lomax (Pemberton), with Michael (Daniel Kaluuya) having ran off with the Crabtree twins for the money the blackmailer gave them for Snappy. It turns out Michael isn't really in league with the sisters, as he soon gives them the slip to steal the cash for himself, only to wind up begging for Lomax's help over the phone after arriving at the Ravenhill Hospital and being locked in a room by Joy. Oscar's such a great character that it's a shame his storyline has been so limp and unfocused, really. Pemberton truly disappears into his roles.
So, the scene is set for a big showdown of sorts in next week's finale. I'm pretty sure the last-minute shot of David carrying something in a plastic bag, on his way to Ravenhill, wasn't Mr. Jolly's decapitated head, as some people think. David doesn't have the blackmailer's stature and isn't anywhere near as clever – but perhaps Psychoville will pull of a Scream-style climax and reveal that there are two blackmailers? If it is only one character, how about David's "dead" father? Or perhaps the supposedly murdered Nurse Kenchington herself, with the aide of a voice-changer? Or Mr. Jolly, having faked his own death?
Overall, my faith was restored by this episode's climax. All the storylines were developed properly, the pace was strong, and I found it a lot funnier than usual. I particularly love how the panto-based storyline appears to pay homage to that style of theatre with signposted groaners, and Shearmsith was particularly hilarious as prissy Scottish actor Brian this week ("I've seen Dora Bryan defecate into a hat-box, and her Dandini was without equal.") There were some unconvincing moments, and I'm a little disappointed in the general sweep of Jason and Oscar's storylines, but this was generally very engaging, funny and enjoyably unsettling. Even the throwaway lines were a treat, like Mr. Jelly's indignant "I'm paying for that" when he spotted the blackmailer (who had just strangled and decapitated a man), using his home phone.
23 July 2009
BBC2, 10pm
written by: Reece Shearsmith & Steve Pemberton directed by: Matt Lipsey starring: Reece Shearsmith (Mr. Jelly/Maureen Sowerbutts/Brian), Steve Pemberton (David Sowerbutts/Oscar Lomax), Dawn French (Joy Aston), Lisa Hammond (Kerry), Big Mick (Grumbly), Maxwell Laird (Snoozy), Jason Tompkins (Robert), Daisy Haggard (Debbie), Damian Asher (Doctor), Daniel Kaluuya (Michael Fry), Debbie Chazen (Kelly-Su Crabtree), Alison Lintott (Chelsea Crabtree), Elizabeth Berrington (Nicola), Al T. Kossy (Old Man), Amie Titterton (Nurse), Vilma Hollingbery (Mrs Wren), Adrian Scarborough (Mr. Jolly), Eileen Atkins (Nurse Kenchington), Natalie Cassidy (Lorraine) & Stacy Liu (Jennifer)
