Post by rhort on Jan 25, 2013 4:22:47 GMT -5
Bookclub: S5E05 - Pennies From Heaven
This episode starts in the Printer’s office, which is a slightly surprising opening location, however, Ron’s mood is much less surprising; he’s annoyed with Gary for stopping him time travelling. Ron’s verbal assault on Gary is interrupted however, by Kate, Ron’s extremely flirty boss, who it seems has taken a shine to Gary, and proceeds to barrage him with suggestive remarks while he basically tries to duck for cover. As with most times that Gary comes to see Ron, he wants something from him, and on this occasion, it’s wartime currency, however, given Ron’s mood, he’s going to take some persuading, which it seems is going to centre on the provision of large quantities of alcohol over a protracted period, which may even last for the rest of Ron’s life. The two men leave together, each for their own reasons.
Arriving at the shop, an unspecified amount of time later, Ron is still in vocal form, spotlighting his lack of enthusiasm for the pub they have just visited. As Gary turns the conversation back to his own problem, Ron reveals that printing cash for him is not as simple as it once was, in light of the fact that Kate keeps a most vigilant eye on the goings on in the print shop, making it difficult, if not impossible for any of the staff to do their own thing, which has lead to a certain amount of concern among the workforce, however, Ron has come up with a plan, which will take full advantage of Kate’s attraction to Gary, in order to get her out of the way for the “three hours” they need to complete their illicit activities, which includes the printing of Gary’s currency.
Yvonne’s entrance creates a break in the two men’s discussion, as she arrives with a cast iron racing tip, and then goes on to ask Gary to place a £100 bet on her behalf. Whilst seeming relatively insignificant in the moment, this prompts Ron to concoct a plan for Gary to be able to make some cash back in the 40s, without the need for him to print it. Ron points out that all Gary needs to do is take the racing results from a future newspaper back, and bet on the winners in each case, meaning he’ll be able to make money far quicker than Ron could ever forge it for him. Gary appears sceptical at first, perhaps because this version of the plan means that he’ll have to do some work himself for a change, however, in light of the alternative of getting Kate out of the office for three hours, this seems to him to be the lesser of two evils.
Moving on to the first scene in the Royal Oak this episode, and we find Gary chatting with Reg about the logistics of placing a bet, with Gary then trying to persuade Reg to come along to the races as he seems to know plenty about it. Gary experiences several moments of difficulty here, as talking to ‘Clever Reg’ is something of an uphill struggle at times. Phoebe interjects, concerned at the fact that Gary is gambling, and revealing that this was Eric’s vice. Gary’s responses to her views simply make him sound like a typical gambling addict, however, getting a further moment or two with Reg, he manages to convince him that he should come along, to gather reconnaissance for a raid at a later date.
At the shady, backstreet bookmaker’s, Gary finds it quite easy to put a bet on the races he’s got the results for, however, when the wrong winner is announced, Gary cannot understand what has gone wrong. As he tries to work our what has happened, however, Phoebe arrives and proceed to argue with him about what he’s doing. After the bookie announces further ‘winners’, none of which are on Gary’s listing, Gary finally works out that the man is simply saying that runners that nobody has bet on are winning, and pocketing the cash for himself. After a brief confrontation, the bookie realises that he’s been discovered, and panics, escaping after punching Gary and having Reg beaten by his minder.
Back briefly to the Oak, where Reg’s bash on the head has essentially brought him back to his usual self. After attending to Reg’s injury, Phoebe proceeds to lecture Gary about the dangers of gambling, eventually asking him to give her money for the bills, meaning he has to hand over his last ten quid.
Heading back to the printers, Gary finds that Ron is still of a mind to press him into taking Kate out, so that he can print Gary’s money, and the others can get on with their own ‘projects’. Just as Gary mentions that it’s been a long time since he’s had to ask anyone out, Kate appears and asks him out instead. The two leave, giving the printers much cause for celebration. Skipping over the pub scene (for the second time this episode), Gary takes Kate back to the shop, which causes a moment of embarrassment for him when Kate gets the wrong idea and thinks that Gary is into ‘dressing up’, offering various scenarios about what he wants to do with her. Gary, however, has other things on his mind, and really doesn’t take full advantage of the situation, which should have given him a very easy opportunity to create regular ‘breaks’ for the guys at the printers to get on with all the printing they wanted, which obviously would have included more wartime cash then he could ever spend in two lifetimes.
Despite his obvious disinterest, Kate takes one last chance to throw herself at him when he takes her to the back yard, suggesting that he might be into stepping things up a gear outside, but Gary, quite cleverly, takes a moment to hide in the portal, and then using Kate’s confusion to convince her that she’s stressed out, and working too hard, and that she should take some time to rest. She agrees quite readily, however, after a moment’s thought, she changes her mind, deciding instead that she needs to pick something up from the printers, a situation that’s not ideal for Gary, but he really is clutching at straws for things to do with her now, so he just goes along with it.
Arriving at the printers finds the police in situ, having raided the building looking for pornography and counterfeiting (of various types), leading to Ron’s arrest. Once everything is sorted out, however, Ron still isn’t very happy with Gary, and Yvonne’s arrival gives him a great opportunity to stitch him up, by telling Yvonne that not only did Gary bet on the races (which he’d entirely forgotten to do), but that he got better odds than had originally been advertised, thus leaving Gary needing to find the £600 ‘winnings’ to give to her. The silver lining on the cloud that is Gary’s day is then revealed, as Ron has the wartime money he was in the process of printing when the police arrived, which ironically totals £600, leading to the last big laugh right before the credits.
I’d give this episode a 85% rating. I remember seeing this episode at random on TV about 6/7 years ago, and it rekindled my interest in this series. I did wonder recently, however, if the writers were running out of names, as this episode has the second incidental character called Kate.
This episode starts in the Printer’s office, which is a slightly surprising opening location, however, Ron’s mood is much less surprising; he’s annoyed with Gary for stopping him time travelling. Ron’s verbal assault on Gary is interrupted however, by Kate, Ron’s extremely flirty boss, who it seems has taken a shine to Gary, and proceeds to barrage him with suggestive remarks while he basically tries to duck for cover. As with most times that Gary comes to see Ron, he wants something from him, and on this occasion, it’s wartime currency, however, given Ron’s mood, he’s going to take some persuading, which it seems is going to centre on the provision of large quantities of alcohol over a protracted period, which may even last for the rest of Ron’s life. The two men leave together, each for their own reasons.
Arriving at the shop, an unspecified amount of time later, Ron is still in vocal form, spotlighting his lack of enthusiasm for the pub they have just visited. As Gary turns the conversation back to his own problem, Ron reveals that printing cash for him is not as simple as it once was, in light of the fact that Kate keeps a most vigilant eye on the goings on in the print shop, making it difficult, if not impossible for any of the staff to do their own thing, which has lead to a certain amount of concern among the workforce, however, Ron has come up with a plan, which will take full advantage of Kate’s attraction to Gary, in order to get her out of the way for the “three hours” they need to complete their illicit activities, which includes the printing of Gary’s currency.
Yvonne’s entrance creates a break in the two men’s discussion, as she arrives with a cast iron racing tip, and then goes on to ask Gary to place a £100 bet on her behalf. Whilst seeming relatively insignificant in the moment, this prompts Ron to concoct a plan for Gary to be able to make some cash back in the 40s, without the need for him to print it. Ron points out that all Gary needs to do is take the racing results from a future newspaper back, and bet on the winners in each case, meaning he’ll be able to make money far quicker than Ron could ever forge it for him. Gary appears sceptical at first, perhaps because this version of the plan means that he’ll have to do some work himself for a change, however, in light of the alternative of getting Kate out of the office for three hours, this seems to him to be the lesser of two evils.
Moving on to the first scene in the Royal Oak this episode, and we find Gary chatting with Reg about the logistics of placing a bet, with Gary then trying to persuade Reg to come along to the races as he seems to know plenty about it. Gary experiences several moments of difficulty here, as talking to ‘Clever Reg’ is something of an uphill struggle at times. Phoebe interjects, concerned at the fact that Gary is gambling, and revealing that this was Eric’s vice. Gary’s responses to her views simply make him sound like a typical gambling addict, however, getting a further moment or two with Reg, he manages to convince him that he should come along, to gather reconnaissance for a raid at a later date.
At the shady, backstreet bookmaker’s, Gary finds it quite easy to put a bet on the races he’s got the results for, however, when the wrong winner is announced, Gary cannot understand what has gone wrong. As he tries to work our what has happened, however, Phoebe arrives and proceed to argue with him about what he’s doing. After the bookie announces further ‘winners’, none of which are on Gary’s listing, Gary finally works out that the man is simply saying that runners that nobody has bet on are winning, and pocketing the cash for himself. After a brief confrontation, the bookie realises that he’s been discovered, and panics, escaping after punching Gary and having Reg beaten by his minder.
Back briefly to the Oak, where Reg’s bash on the head has essentially brought him back to his usual self. After attending to Reg’s injury, Phoebe proceeds to lecture Gary about the dangers of gambling, eventually asking him to give her money for the bills, meaning he has to hand over his last ten quid.
Heading back to the printers, Gary finds that Ron is still of a mind to press him into taking Kate out, so that he can print Gary’s money, and the others can get on with their own ‘projects’. Just as Gary mentions that it’s been a long time since he’s had to ask anyone out, Kate appears and asks him out instead. The two leave, giving the printers much cause for celebration. Skipping over the pub scene (for the second time this episode), Gary takes Kate back to the shop, which causes a moment of embarrassment for him when Kate gets the wrong idea and thinks that Gary is into ‘dressing up’, offering various scenarios about what he wants to do with her. Gary, however, has other things on his mind, and really doesn’t take full advantage of the situation, which should have given him a very easy opportunity to create regular ‘breaks’ for the guys at the printers to get on with all the printing they wanted, which obviously would have included more wartime cash then he could ever spend in two lifetimes.
Despite his obvious disinterest, Kate takes one last chance to throw herself at him when he takes her to the back yard, suggesting that he might be into stepping things up a gear outside, but Gary, quite cleverly, takes a moment to hide in the portal, and then using Kate’s confusion to convince her that she’s stressed out, and working too hard, and that she should take some time to rest. She agrees quite readily, however, after a moment’s thought, she changes her mind, deciding instead that she needs to pick something up from the printers, a situation that’s not ideal for Gary, but he really is clutching at straws for things to do with her now, so he just goes along with it.
Arriving at the printers finds the police in situ, having raided the building looking for pornography and counterfeiting (of various types), leading to Ron’s arrest. Once everything is sorted out, however, Ron still isn’t very happy with Gary, and Yvonne’s arrival gives him a great opportunity to stitch him up, by telling Yvonne that not only did Gary bet on the races (which he’d entirely forgotten to do), but that he got better odds than had originally been advertised, thus leaving Gary needing to find the £600 ‘winnings’ to give to her. The silver lining on the cloud that is Gary’s day is then revealed, as Ron has the wartime money he was in the process of printing when the police arrived, which ironically totals £600, leading to the last big laugh right before the credits.
I’d give this episode a 85% rating. I remember seeing this episode at random on TV about 6/7 years ago, and it rekindled my interest in this series. I did wonder recently, however, if the writers were running out of names, as this episode has the second incidental character called Kate.