|
Dramatic, sinister, interesting and amusing, with some nice performances and writing. Such an improvement to recent episodes like the embarrassingly artificial (and relatively pointless) "flashbacks" programme.
Myra's doped-up state was a hot topic of conversation, with Ann particularly annoyed that the drugs had got into the prison in the first place. I suppose she was angry after tightening up on discipline and security. (Though, with officers forgetting to ask visitors to sign out, then signing the book in their place, it doesn't exactly give you a lot of faith in the reliability of the system.)
Nora thought the suggestion of Myra taking the drugs to feed a secret "habit" was so outrageous she almost forgot to stand with her arms crossed or on her hips. "About as much chance of that as Ferguson going straight!" she declared. What a fabulous line to say about a lesbian.
Meanwhile, Myra was having enough problems of her own, with more strange and highly amusing dreams involving bizarre not-so-special effects. I still can't fathom out what someone so insignificant in her thoughts as Dennis, was doing in her nightmare, let alone melting all over the place.
Best bits of this episode had to be the scenes with Joycie and Mervin, which were so much funnier than the usual intentional humour (which sometimes feels uncomfortable and forced) and which I guess is largely down to excellent performances. I loved the sequence where Mervin accidentally sprayed breath freshener in his eye, then unnerved Joyce by repeatedly "winking" at her as a result. And I loved the scene where Joyce's hair got caught in his cufflink. Excellent stuff. Not sure about his choice of romantic music to set the mood, though - strumming folk-type music?
Couldn't help wondering whether there wasn't a whole batch of sexual metaphors with the Joycie/Mervin scenes. First of all, Mervin was so nervous and excited, his champagne bottle prematurely and unexpectedly exploded all over Joycie's hair. Things did sound more promising a little later, when Joyce complimented him on his souffle, which I seem to remember he rarely has any problem getting to rise appropriately. But later on, he turned up at Meg's flat, desperate to apologise to Joyce, holding out a bunch of limp, tired-looking roses. Hmm..
Thankfully Joyce was willing to talk to him. But if she hadn't wanted to, it was good to see she could effectively camouflage herself against Meg's settee. Perhaps there'd been enough upholstery fabric left over to make a frock for her out of it.
Most interesting line of the episode was from Ruth, on her private telephone line. "Sometimes it's like a soap opera in here!" Proving the writers weren't afraid of a little self-mockery sometimes. Ruth continued to get even more sinister and therefore more interesting. Child pornography, child prostitution, slave trade.. wow. Even more interesting was Joan's reaction - feeling so strongly about it as to bash Ruth, and to stand up for her actions by being prepared to sacrifice her job for them. Blimey.
Most irritating character of the episode...? Hmm, that's a hard one - Jenny Hartley, continuing to be as wet and limp as an old dishcloth; or Pippa Reynolds swanning around in her kimonos and Max Factor..? I don’t know if Pippa's "English" boyfriend was really English, but to me he sounded half way between a South African and someone doing an impression of a public school accent. Admittedly not as bad an English accent as Dennis' wife, but still one that would probably make people look at him in a funny way if he were over here.
Strange how Jenny Hartley's "Nana" was not only wearing a frilly peach-coloured nightie that matched perfectly her frilly peach-coloured bed linen, but she also appearsed to live and sleep in cameo earrings and pearl necklaces. The doctor informed Jenny, and the strangers claiming to be friends (and no doubt anyone else if they'd happen to be passing, obviously forgetting the bit about patient confidentiality) that "Nana" was "in remarkable shape" and nothing was wrong with her other than normal things associated with her age. If that was the case, I'm not sure why he had to sedate her. If that's what he did to his healthy patients, I hate to think what he'd do to the ones that were ill.
At this realisation that her whole life had been wasted because of a cruel and selfish old woman, and how she'd missed out on going to music college, and so on, Jenny was so enraged with anger and fury she went over and played a tune on the piano. Just as you would do.
By the way, doesn't her "Dad" in the picture look like Will Carling..?
|
