Episode 2 of this superbly skuzzy comedy often limped in the first half, but managed to pull itself together for a ribald climax that gave me a seriously hearty laugh as the credits rolled. The performances are great, the grubbiness is intoxicating (kudos to the production designers), and while it's definitely not to everyone's taste, I think Him & Her has enough wit and verve to pull you through its slower, queasier moments.
As usual, Steve (Russell Tovey) and Becky (Sarah Solemani) are in bed together, this time watching an Inspector Morse DVD box-set Becky's scammed from their local HMV. The difference this week is that Steve's bedridden for a valid reason because he's unwell, and thus having to refuse offers of sex. The spurned Becky instead has to play the role of nursemaid, which includes fishing bogies out of her boyfriend's nose... only to wipe them on their sheets. It must be true love.
"The Birthday" also introduced more characters into the fold: Steve's fussy mother Janet (Joanna Bacon), who arrived trailing dog shit into their apartment, before giving her son a multitude of gifts that included a personalized sweatshirt and kitsch badger calendar; and a middle-aged friend called Shelly (Camille Coduri), who didn't really get much to do, but I assume is intended to be a tragic figure (as a fortysomething single woman hanging around with people half her age). Hopefully we'll get to know more about Shelly in future episodes, as Coduri's too good to waste in that kind of role.
The basic formula of Him & Her is that Steve and Becky just want to be left alone beneath their filthy duvet -- to have sex, watch TV, and play computer games... but they're inexplicably still popular enough to keep being interrupted by people they know. In this episode, Becky's sister Laura (Kerry Howard) and her boyfriend Paul (Ricky Champ) did their best to drag the sickly Steve down the pub for a celebratory piss-up, but Steve actually had other plans: an evening to himself involving a hardcore sex chat-room, an inflatable armchair, headphones, and moisturizing cream.
Overall, I'm enjoying this new comedy a great deal. It's not crammed wit laugh-out-loud zingers every minute, but thank goodness for that. I like its grubby style and the accuracy of its central relationship. I've heard it said that there's no appeal in watching lethargic unemployed people lounging around a dingy flat, but so many great sitcoms have focused on lazy/jobless characters that I can't readily accept that complaint. But I understand Him & Her won't strike a chord with viewers who like their comedy to have an upbeat flavour, dynamic leads or big laughs all the way through. Personally, it helps that I've always loved sitcoms with a restricted location and skeleton cast -- it always seems to focus the writing and performances.
Asides
- I loved the irony of Steve being given a coffee table book about London (which he genuinely seemed to appreciate), considering how he never appears to leave his apartment and (assumedly) actually lives in London.
- Camille Coduri is, of course, best known for playing single mum Jackie Tyler in the revamped Doctor Who.
- This notion of Inspector Morse being fantastically appealing to people in their 20s, is that accurate? I know from experience that bad/tacky/mature TV shows are often embraced by the youth/student demographic, but Inspector Morse? Really? I'm not sure what an alternative could have been, admittedly. Midsomer Murders? More plausible was their love of quiz show Eggheads.
- Last week it was Becky audible on the toilet, this week it was Becky wiping snot on her bed sheets. Is there going to be one truly repulsive scene in every episode? And is a good thing that Becky's been the focus of them so far? Is Solemani given these scenes for the added shock value, or does it demonstrate gross-out equality with the sexes?
WRITER: Stefan GolaszewskiDIRECTOR: Richard LaxtonGUEST CAST: Ricky Champ, Kerry Howard, Joe Wilkinson, Joanna Bacon & Camille CoduriTRANSMISSION: 13 September 2010 - BBC3/HD, 10.30PM
