On Thickness

So to The Thick Of It, where yet more head-banging frustration is the order of the day. As I commented after last week's episode, this show is at it's best when the characters are exposed to pressure-cooker level intensity from all directions. So, this week we have the intensity of the party conference, where emotions are naturally running high. And how high! Nicola's magnificent breakdown was the first time we had seen her really lose control, performed wonderfully by Rebecca Front. Now, Front's previous high-profile role was in the wickedly dark Nighty Night as downtrodden (to put it lightly) Kathy. After years of seeing her calmly accept everything that was dished out to her, it was a real treat to see her explode with rage.
Similarly, we have waited years to see Malcolm Tucker finally go over the edge and become violent -- and this he did, with poor old Glen on the receiving end. This series served to somewhat humanise Tucker. Instead of raging constantly, we get to see what his job actually entails as we see him mopping up the messes of the assorted idiots that make up the cabinet. The genius of the writers has been to further explore this aspect of the character without softening his wonderfully hard edges.
What is also nice this series is to see Teri being utilised a bit more. Jo Scanlon is a fantastic comic actor but her character has always been put-upon, put-down and pushed around. However, in these recent episodes, probably due to the introduction of a female minister, she has had a more important role to play. We get the sense that Nicola has no faith in the apparently more qualified Glen and Ollie, and, perhaps being the only other woman around in an office full incompetent men, she is more inclined to trust Teri. What was also pointed out last week was that Teri has no official political alignment as she is simply a civil servant -- therefore has no secret agenda to fill. Yet....?

On to Medium, where their special Halloween episode was suitably creepy. I'm glad I watched this episode during the day, as watching a dead tarantula haunt Bridgette's dreams was particularly unpleasant. Allison's dreams were fantastic -- utilising footage from Night of the Living Dead in order to explain what was going on with the crime story of the episode was great fun. However, the procedural storyline of this episode was not outstanding, and if it wasn't for the sub-plots and dream sequences, it would have been very run of the mill compared to the strong standard set by this season's previous episodes. Though, not bad at all, I do hope this season won't slip back into more familiar and less exciting territory. Come on, CBS!

Peace xx