Post by rhort on May 10, 2013 2:45:25 GMT -5
We begin in the Mayfair flat, with Ron planning to redecorate, which very subtly introduces a major plot element for later on in the episode. Gary comes in, looking for some money from Ron for the rent on the flat, which Ron questions briefly, until Gary simply steamrolls him with his own issues, as is normal. As Ron gets out his chequebook, he points out that Gary is coming to the end of his easy excuses about nipping off to do war work whenever he needs to return to the 90s, but it seems that Gary has already considered this, and lists the ancillary issues that he’ll need to go away to deal with which should work for him for the foreseeable future at least, which leads Ron to highlight the fact that he’ll be using these major historical events to make sure that he can continue seeing two women at the same time.
After singing at the Blue Door Club, Phoebe is keen to let Gary know how her plans for the VE night celebration are proceeding, even though nobody actually knows when it will be, and it’s as the prospect of the war ending is discussed that we find Gary already having to make excuses about continuing his clandestine work in various exotic locations, not all of which are familiar to Phoebe. A moment of distraction is then provided by Reg, who is quite excited about the impending visit to the area by Clement Atlee, who at the time was on the cusp of becoming the UK’s first post-war Prime Minister.
Back at Ron’s flat, the development of the redecoration continues, however he is interrupted by a phonecall from a worried Yvonne who has seen on the news that a car similar to Gary’s has been involved in a collision up near Wigan, which is where Gary had told her he had gone on this occasion. As Ron takes a moment to try and get his story straight as to where Gary said he was going, Gary turns up and Yvonne is relieved to see him. Problems then arise for Gary when, cocky as ever, he makes a quip about Wigan Pier, which is actually an area of canal basin in Wigan, and not a seaside pier as the name suggests (Wigan is about 25 miles/40km from the sea), all of which raises Yvonne’s suspicions. Deflecting her further questions, Gary goes off to have a shower, leaving Yvonne alone in the front room, and giving her time to go through his wallet, where she comes across a picture of him and Phoebe. When Gary leaves and makes his way to the shop, Yvonne follows him to see what he does. When she finds he’s locked the front door to the shop, she goes around to the back, and persuades a nearby workman to lift her up in his cherry picker to allow her to see over the fence into the yard. When she witnesses Gary emerge from the portal, and then re-enter it a moment after, she is naturally shocked.
When Gary returns home later, he finds Yvonne still in a state of shock, which is then partly transferred to him when she confronts him with what she saw. Gary, presumably having rehearsed this moment many times, is quick to meet her questions with a number of obfuscating comments, mainly focussing on the stress she’s clearly under, given the recent events in her life, and when she shows him the picture of himself and Phoebe, he manages to convince her that it’s his grandfather and a women he used to know during the war. Obviously needing his usual source of support when such things occur, Gary runs to Ron and talks it over with him. Ron, who as the episode develops seems to be offering more and more salient advice, hypothesises that this is all leading up to a good place for him to make his final decision about which side of the portal he really needs to be on.
Given the importance Gary placed earlier on making sure he wore the right watch back to the 40s, it seems slightly incongruous that he’s then seen showing Michael a handheld video game, however, Phoebe’s arrival heralds a pivotal moment in the series, as it looks (once again), as if Gary is going to tell her the truth about his activities, however, he chooses instead to deliver some other news of great import, which she finds no less interesting.
Moving on to the Stepney Boys Club, and everyone is assembled awaiting the speech from Clement Atlee, who it seems thinks of himself as a local MP, despite being betrayed by his accent as being far from ‘local’. When Reg distracts him with a game of table tennis, in an effort to recapture a moment from his youth where they had played once before, an opportunity is taken by nefarious hands to interfere with Mr Atlee’s pipe, introducing a quantity of cyanide for the purpose of his assassination, however, Gary spots that something is amiss and intervenes, saving the future PM’s life in the process. Failing to stand in the limelight once again, Gary scurries off in the direction of Duckett’s Passage.
As he approaches the portal, Gary rehearses his speech to Yvonne, hoping to explain a little about what he’s been up to, however, when he attempts to go through the portal, he finds it blocked. Recalling for a moment the times this has happened before, he takes some time to think, and it’s a while later when Reg stumbles drunkenly out of the Royal Oak and down Duckett’s Passage, that we find him still there. As Gary considers the issue, he wonder if the reason he was ‘sent’ here was to save Clement Atlee, and now that he’s accomplished that, the portal has closed permanently.
Three days later, in the Mayfair flat, and Ron is sitting amid the wallpaper stripping when Yvonne arrives, looking for Gary who’s obviously been absent for all this time. As Ron stands there attempting to explain things, some writing begins to take shape on the wall, and it’s apparently a message from Gary, telling Ron that the portal’s closed and that he should find Yvonne and tell her everything. Meanwhile, back the 40s, Gary is seen briefly, as he writes the message on the wall and then pastes the paper back up. When we return to the 90s, we see that Ron has told a stunned Yvonne everything. Given the nature of what she’s just found out, she seems to take it very well, and this always made me wonder if Phoebe would have taken it the same if she’d been the one to receive the message, although perhaps that explains something of why Gary has ended up with Phoebe instead of Yvonne. The final eagle-eyed viewer moment comes when Ron lets Yvonne out, and the number 36 can clearly be seen on the door of the flat (where we’re previously told that Gary and Phoebe lived in 15 and 27).
Back briefly to the Blue Door Club, and a rousing rendition of ‘We Are The Champions’ (words and music: Mercury/Sparrow
) brings what is for me certainly one of the most memorable laughs of the entire series.
Meanwhile, back at the shop, and Yvonne is standing in the back yard by the gates when Ron arrives, and, as we’ve seen building up for a while, he comes out with some of his more useful advice, particularly when he points out that maybe she’s been so busy lately that Gary hadn’t realised just how much she loved him. On the other side of the portal, Gary is in much the same mood, and perhaps the same realisation is dawning on him too. When Phoebe appears behind him, with Michael in tow, and tells him that she wants them to be a proper family now, Gary comes to the conclusion that he won’t be going away any more, as he is right where he belongs.
I’d give this episode an 95% rating. Unmissable.
After singing at the Blue Door Club, Phoebe is keen to let Gary know how her plans for the VE night celebration are proceeding, even though nobody actually knows when it will be, and it’s as the prospect of the war ending is discussed that we find Gary already having to make excuses about continuing his clandestine work in various exotic locations, not all of which are familiar to Phoebe. A moment of distraction is then provided by Reg, who is quite excited about the impending visit to the area by Clement Atlee, who at the time was on the cusp of becoming the UK’s first post-war Prime Minister.
Back at Ron’s flat, the development of the redecoration continues, however he is interrupted by a phonecall from a worried Yvonne who has seen on the news that a car similar to Gary’s has been involved in a collision up near Wigan, which is where Gary had told her he had gone on this occasion. As Ron takes a moment to try and get his story straight as to where Gary said he was going, Gary turns up and Yvonne is relieved to see him. Problems then arise for Gary when, cocky as ever, he makes a quip about Wigan Pier, which is actually an area of canal basin in Wigan, and not a seaside pier as the name suggests (Wigan is about 25 miles/40km from the sea), all of which raises Yvonne’s suspicions. Deflecting her further questions, Gary goes off to have a shower, leaving Yvonne alone in the front room, and giving her time to go through his wallet, where she comes across a picture of him and Phoebe. When Gary leaves and makes his way to the shop, Yvonne follows him to see what he does. When she finds he’s locked the front door to the shop, she goes around to the back, and persuades a nearby workman to lift her up in his cherry picker to allow her to see over the fence into the yard. When she witnesses Gary emerge from the portal, and then re-enter it a moment after, she is naturally shocked.
When Gary returns home later, he finds Yvonne still in a state of shock, which is then partly transferred to him when she confronts him with what she saw. Gary, presumably having rehearsed this moment many times, is quick to meet her questions with a number of obfuscating comments, mainly focussing on the stress she’s clearly under, given the recent events in her life, and when she shows him the picture of himself and Phoebe, he manages to convince her that it’s his grandfather and a women he used to know during the war. Obviously needing his usual source of support when such things occur, Gary runs to Ron and talks it over with him. Ron, who as the episode develops seems to be offering more and more salient advice, hypothesises that this is all leading up to a good place for him to make his final decision about which side of the portal he really needs to be on.
Given the importance Gary placed earlier on making sure he wore the right watch back to the 40s, it seems slightly incongruous that he’s then seen showing Michael a handheld video game, however, Phoebe’s arrival heralds a pivotal moment in the series, as it looks (once again), as if Gary is going to tell her the truth about his activities, however, he chooses instead to deliver some other news of great import, which she finds no less interesting.
Moving on to the Stepney Boys Club, and everyone is assembled awaiting the speech from Clement Atlee, who it seems thinks of himself as a local MP, despite being betrayed by his accent as being far from ‘local’. When Reg distracts him with a game of table tennis, in an effort to recapture a moment from his youth where they had played once before, an opportunity is taken by nefarious hands to interfere with Mr Atlee’s pipe, introducing a quantity of cyanide for the purpose of his assassination, however, Gary spots that something is amiss and intervenes, saving the future PM’s life in the process. Failing to stand in the limelight once again, Gary scurries off in the direction of Duckett’s Passage.
As he approaches the portal, Gary rehearses his speech to Yvonne, hoping to explain a little about what he’s been up to, however, when he attempts to go through the portal, he finds it blocked. Recalling for a moment the times this has happened before, he takes some time to think, and it’s a while later when Reg stumbles drunkenly out of the Royal Oak and down Duckett’s Passage, that we find him still there. As Gary considers the issue, he wonder if the reason he was ‘sent’ here was to save Clement Atlee, and now that he’s accomplished that, the portal has closed permanently.
Three days later, in the Mayfair flat, and Ron is sitting amid the wallpaper stripping when Yvonne arrives, looking for Gary who’s obviously been absent for all this time. As Ron stands there attempting to explain things, some writing begins to take shape on the wall, and it’s apparently a message from Gary, telling Ron that the portal’s closed and that he should find Yvonne and tell her everything. Meanwhile, back the 40s, Gary is seen briefly, as he writes the message on the wall and then pastes the paper back up. When we return to the 90s, we see that Ron has told a stunned Yvonne everything. Given the nature of what she’s just found out, she seems to take it very well, and this always made me wonder if Phoebe would have taken it the same if she’d been the one to receive the message, although perhaps that explains something of why Gary has ended up with Phoebe instead of Yvonne. The final eagle-eyed viewer moment comes when Ron lets Yvonne out, and the number 36 can clearly be seen on the door of the flat (where we’re previously told that Gary and Phoebe lived in 15 and 27).
Back briefly to the Blue Door Club, and a rousing rendition of ‘We Are The Champions’ (words and music: Mercury/Sparrow
) brings what is for me certainly one of the most memorable laughs of the entire series.Meanwhile, back at the shop, and Yvonne is standing in the back yard by the gates when Ron arrives, and, as we’ve seen building up for a while, he comes out with some of his more useful advice, particularly when he points out that maybe she’s been so busy lately that Gary hadn’t realised just how much she loved him. On the other side of the portal, Gary is in much the same mood, and perhaps the same realisation is dawning on him too. When Phoebe appears behind him, with Michael in tow, and tells him that she wants them to be a proper family now, Gary comes to the conclusion that he won’t be going away any more, as he is right where he belongs.
I’d give this episode an 95% rating. Unmissable.