Post by rhort on Jul 13, 2012 8:08:58 GMT -5
Back to a Gary-and-Yvonne-at-home opening scene, which is the first we’ve had for quite a while, and here we see a new element of stress introduced into their relationship, as the news Yvonne has drops in to form the secondary plot for this episode. Yvonne is showing signs of stress, but for a different reason to her usual attempts to turn Gary into her perfect vision of a husband, and Gary’s reaction to this is of his usual uncaring blasé kind.
On to the printer’s, and Ron is on good form with his reaction to the news. Small amount of character development here, with Ron presenting himself as the more sensible one rather than the wide-eyed dreamer he often portrays, whilst Gary on the other hand, shows himself to merely be concerned with the issue purely from his own perspective, and indeed, in general throughout this episode, we see much of the self-centred nature of Gary’s personality.
Back to the 40s, and the stark contrast in the value of money both from the 40s to the 90s, and from the 90s to today, shown during Gary’s conversation with the erstwhile Constable Deadman, complaining about footballers being paid about four times the average weekly wage (which would be about £2,000 a week in today’s terms), highlighted by his utter incredulity at Gary’s suggestion of £10,000 a week, which by 2012 standards seems to us like peanuts. I’m sure Reg would be stunned into submission at the thought of footballers earning more in a week than the Prime Minister does in a year.
The scene showing Gary’s return to his 90s home always impresses me, simply with the amount of effort that he puts into making it look like he’s been watching the football match, with nice little touches like opening the beers and distributing crisps abroad and about his person. We are shown here a graphic indication as to the gulf between Gary and Yvonne in their differing reactions to the issue of their impending parenthood, which is very telling in the grand scheme of things, particularly for anyone who has been paying attention to the rather inevitable breakdown of their relationship in general.
The interjection of the plot element of Yvonne’s weekend away thus conveniently affords Gary the opportunity to do just what he likes, and he’s back to Phoebe in the blink of an eye. Once again, here we are shown a disparity between Gary and his partner, as Phoebe is clearly more excited about their break in the countryside than Gary is. Classic bit of writing with the M25 mistake, always makes me chuckle. Gary is then shown, not for the first time, to be totally jealous when any man shows any interest in Phoebe, as the handsome and affable US airman engages her on several occasions, but, unbeknownst to Gary, she rebuffs him and shows where her loyalties lie. I always enjoy the foam beard joke, particularly the “weird” line, which is still funny after all these years and who knows how many times I’ve watched it?
The culmination of the countryside holiday plot leads up to the realisation that Gary seems to have overlooked just how much Phoebe actually loves him. He catches up with her in the end, but to me it’s always seemed to have been a little bit contrived, essentially tying it all down to sex. I’ve always felt that Gary is attracted to Phoebe because she represents many of the things he feels are lacking in his marriage to Yvonne, but from this part of the story, we seem to be shown that it’s all down to the physical side, as are most of the up strokes of Gary and Yvonne’s relationship. I’ve though in the past that there seems to be something missing at this point, but I’ve never quite been able to put my finger on what it is.
Back to the 90s for the final scene, and there’s a typically cool reaction between Gary and Yvonne when she returns from her own weekend away. This takes a more serious turn with Yvonne’s revelation, and we see here an issue that would shake the bedrock of any relationship, so we are left wondering what will happen to a marriage as shaky as this one. This is something I’ve always found to be evident of the great writing of this show, as by now the question of why Gary stays with Yvonne has been asked on many occasions, and introducing an element of this magnitude opens up the question in the viewer’s mind once more, and certainly, for me any type of art should stimulate questions rather than try to answer them, so I especially enjoy this.
I’d give this episode an 85% rating. For some reason, the time away with Phoebe makes this particularly pleasing to me, leading this to be a high rating for a relatively Ron-free episode.
On to the printer’s, and Ron is on good form with his reaction to the news. Small amount of character development here, with Ron presenting himself as the more sensible one rather than the wide-eyed dreamer he often portrays, whilst Gary on the other hand, shows himself to merely be concerned with the issue purely from his own perspective, and indeed, in general throughout this episode, we see much of the self-centred nature of Gary’s personality.
Back to the 40s, and the stark contrast in the value of money both from the 40s to the 90s, and from the 90s to today, shown during Gary’s conversation with the erstwhile Constable Deadman, complaining about footballers being paid about four times the average weekly wage (which would be about £2,000 a week in today’s terms), highlighted by his utter incredulity at Gary’s suggestion of £10,000 a week, which by 2012 standards seems to us like peanuts. I’m sure Reg would be stunned into submission at the thought of footballers earning more in a week than the Prime Minister does in a year.
The scene showing Gary’s return to his 90s home always impresses me, simply with the amount of effort that he puts into making it look like he’s been watching the football match, with nice little touches like opening the beers and distributing crisps abroad and about his person. We are shown here a graphic indication as to the gulf between Gary and Yvonne in their differing reactions to the issue of their impending parenthood, which is very telling in the grand scheme of things, particularly for anyone who has been paying attention to the rather inevitable breakdown of their relationship in general.
The interjection of the plot element of Yvonne’s weekend away thus conveniently affords Gary the opportunity to do just what he likes, and he’s back to Phoebe in the blink of an eye. Once again, here we are shown a disparity between Gary and his partner, as Phoebe is clearly more excited about their break in the countryside than Gary is. Classic bit of writing with the M25 mistake, always makes me chuckle. Gary is then shown, not for the first time, to be totally jealous when any man shows any interest in Phoebe, as the handsome and affable US airman engages her on several occasions, but, unbeknownst to Gary, she rebuffs him and shows where her loyalties lie. I always enjoy the foam beard joke, particularly the “weird” line, which is still funny after all these years and who knows how many times I’ve watched it?
The culmination of the countryside holiday plot leads up to the realisation that Gary seems to have overlooked just how much Phoebe actually loves him. He catches up with her in the end, but to me it’s always seemed to have been a little bit contrived, essentially tying it all down to sex. I’ve always felt that Gary is attracted to Phoebe because she represents many of the things he feels are lacking in his marriage to Yvonne, but from this part of the story, we seem to be shown that it’s all down to the physical side, as are most of the up strokes of Gary and Yvonne’s relationship. I’ve though in the past that there seems to be something missing at this point, but I’ve never quite been able to put my finger on what it is.
Back to the 90s for the final scene, and there’s a typically cool reaction between Gary and Yvonne when she returns from her own weekend away. This takes a more serious turn with Yvonne’s revelation, and we see here an issue that would shake the bedrock of any relationship, so we are left wondering what will happen to a marriage as shaky as this one. This is something I’ve always found to be evident of the great writing of this show, as by now the question of why Gary stays with Yvonne has been asked on many occasions, and introducing an element of this magnitude opens up the question in the viewer’s mind once more, and certainly, for me any type of art should stimulate questions rather than try to answer them, so I especially enjoy this.
I’d give this episode an 85% rating. For some reason, the time away with Phoebe makes this particularly pleasing to me, leading this to be a high rating for a relatively Ron-free episode.
