Review of episode 2 series 4 of 'The IT Crowd'

Beware! Here be spoilers for episode 2 series 4 of ‘The IT Crowd’.

If episode 1 paid homage to RPG enthusiasts then ‘The Final Countdown’ (episode 2) was a tribute to ‘Countdown’ fans everywhere.

This was Moss’s episode and audiences saw him manage to make it onto ‘Countdown’. As you would expect, he was a natural and never came up with less than an eight-letter word.

Meanwhile Jen was trying to get into the mysterious heads of departments’ meetings and Roy was attempting to convince an old school friend that he wasn’t a window cleaner.

Yet it was all about Moss’s foray into ‘Countdown’ which led the episode. It was surreal in the best way possible and brought to our screens the phenomenon of Street’ Countdown’. (It’s basically like ‘Countdown’ but played outside and with more letters. It can get cold.)

With writer-director Graham Linehan it’s all about the finer details and this instalment was no exception. The group singing the countdown clock music was simply an act of genius. There was also a portrait of His holiness, the late Richard Whiteley, complete with angel wings and bathed in a saintly glow that made me laugh.

Saying this, I was slightly miffed as to why Negative One (David Crow), Moss’s ‘Countdown’ rival, appeared to be speaking in street slang. He was using ungrammatical sentences rounded off with an obligatory “you get me”. My only theory for this is that Linehan was looking to avoid the cliché of a geek-off and this deviance from convention proved comically refreshing.

Then there is Moss’s sex appeal which sounds like a paradox but not in the world of ‘Countdown’.

In the ‘normal’ world Moss's experience of the fairer sex doesn’t extend beyond his mother. He is like Norman Bates but with computers instead of stuffed birds and shower killings.

However, give him a red beret and a glass of milk, and Moss is sex on legs. This week he’s sleeping around with ‘Countdown’ groupies who are “the most sexually voracious and the most beautiful of groupies”.

I think Moss is the heart of the show. Richard Ayoade manages to exude all his innocence and geekery to fantastic effect. Moreover, there is something about the character’s British reserve that makes Moss’s awkwardness plausible which unfortunately didn’t work so well in the U.S. version.

On a final note, I loved the references to ‘The Matrix’ and ‘Fight Club’ because of the cult status they have as well as familiarity in popular culture, which will satisfy nerds and non-nerds alike.


Quotes that will live in infamy:

“I just totally want to re-invent myself. From this moment on everything is going to be different.” PHONE RINGS “Hello I.T., have you tried turning it off and on again?” – Roy

“Good morning, that’s a nice TNETENNBA.” - Moss
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"This is London, Jen. It's not someone with cake unless that cake is made of dog poo and knives." - Moss from 'The IT Crowd' explaining why he doesn't open the door.

“If you call that mindless, animalistic rutting ‘sex’, then yes…I suppose we did.” - Moss (answering Roy's question of whether he has slept with a groupie.)

“I came here to drink milk and kick ass and I’ve just finished my milk.” – Moss

Review of episode 1 series 4 of 'The IT Crowd'

This post is about three weeks late due to academic commitments but here is my review of episode 1, series 4 of ‘The IT Crowd’.

After the third series I did worry whether the show had run its course but episode 1 soon put those thoughts to bed.

This instalment revolved around Jen (Katherine Parkinson) becoming Reynholm Industries’ resident pimp to visiting businessmen. But it was also about Roy (Chris O'Dowd) dealing with heartbreak and Moss (Richard Ayaode) helping his friend via a 20-sided dice and the medium of RPG (role-playing games for the uninitiated).

For the first time the audience was shown Roy’s sensitive side. He could barely make it through a sentence without breaking down which was hilarious to watch probably because it cut close to the bone.

As a recent casualty of heartache myself, I was welling up during the “goodbye” scene between Roy and Moss as Queen Eliza Eldridge of the Elves. I found it genuinely touching and was slightly frustrated by the canned laughter. Saying this, the scene worked well because of the swings between comedy and tragedy and I did find myself caught on a see-saw of laughter and tears.

I think O’Dowd’s performance in that scene just goes to shows his versatility as an actor and it is probably the best audition for any straight roles he may want to pursue in the future.

The idea that Jen is a pimp was used cleverly during her pep talk with Roy. The key is in the reversal of the gender roles. Roy is vulnerable while Jen is the one with the power. The scene was played out brilliantly by Parkinson who flits between affection and aggression: it is all wonderfully sinister. One moment she is whispering to him and in the next she is grabbing his face, and in another she is stroking his head before sending him to face the Johns.

Keeping on the subject of role-playing, the innuendo surrounding RPG was another good touch. In my mind it reinforced the notion that ‘The IT Crowd’ is a tribute to nerds everywhere and that geek is chic.

I have no doubt that following this episode there will be a resurgence of popularity in ‘Dungeons and Dragons’ and RPG, the likes of which hasn’t been since ‘The Lord of the Rings’.

After watching ‘Jen the Fredo’ I have high hopes for the rest of series 4. It appears that the characters have developed and will continue to do so. Moss and Roy in particular have moved away from the stereotypical anti-socialites we first met. All in all, a great start to series 4.

On a side note, was it just me or did John 2 (Ed Weeks) look suspiciously like Steve Mangan from ‘Green Wing’? I had to do a double take just to make sure it wasn’t him.

Quotes that will live in infamy:

“It’s like someone broke up with Stalin” – Moss referring Roy photo-shopping his ex-girlfriend out of his pictures of them. The photos end up looking like Roy is by himself.

“Oh shut up Dumpo, the elephant that got dumped!” - Moss

“Eiffel Tower!” – Phil, John 1, John 2

“Goodbye.” – Moss as Queen Eliza Eldridge of the Elves

“No...there were rumours that there was a rumour but that was bull****.” – Douglas Reynholm

Haunted by "coconuts"

This week I heard a racist term that hadn’t violated my ears for a very long time.

It was the word “coconut” and it was used by Lib Dem councillor Shirley Brown to criticise her Conservative counterpart Jay Jethwa during a debate at Bristol City Council.

Last February Cllr Jethwa proposed cuts of £750,000 to funding for the city’s Legacy Commission which seeks to educate people about the history of slave trade. The derogatory remark was made by Cllr Brown in her response to the plans.

The story has re-surfaced because Cllr Brown is planning to appeal after she was convicted of racial harassment this week.

Despite my personal opposition to the cuts, Cllr Jethwa is simply doing what Conservatives do. There is nothing unusual or shocking about her suggestion given her political stance.

The term “coconut” refers to a person who has lost their culture and to put it crassly is brown on the outside and white on the inside.

It is generally used between those of the same race so Cllr Brown as an Afro-Caribbean insulting an Indian has caused confusion in some quarters.

I was also a recipient of this racist slight at secondary school. The snide little comment was as precise and as painful as a paper cut.

I had never heard it before but the crudity of the imagery left me in no doubt to its meaning and I felt inexplicably ashamed.

It is said that by naming something you can control it. In that moment my fragile teenage identity was stripped away and I was re-defined.

I will always wonder what my persecutor’s definition of “white” was. What was the reason that I wasn’t a true Asian?

Was it the fact that I was a second generation Bengali girl who spoke an (albeit) flawed version of her parents’ mother tongue? Or maybe it was because I went to Durga puja and Kali puja every year instead of celebrating Diwali. Or possibly it was because I never judged others by the colour of their skin but by the content of their character.

The word is a slur upon “being white”. I don’t understand what the social construct of “whiteness” is based on. How do you define a whole race? Like all racism it seems to be born out of ignorance.

As to Cllr Brown’s statement, yes a conviction may have been too harsh but it was racial harassment.

I am just glad to see that this remark has evoked a strong response because it is unacceptable to use such racist words.

This sort of name-calling is not the language of politics and has no place at the debating table.