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