The final episode of series 3 of ‘The IT Crowd’, ‘Calendar Geeks’, upholds the high quality that this series has produced – as Roy takes pictures of almost-naked men, in some of the most incriminating poses you have ever seen!
With Roy always ready to chance his arm with a lady, with never any luck, he sees a great opportunity when he learns that one of lovely girls on the 7th floor has a brother who is ‘boss-eyed’. So he decides to come up with a money-making idea for charity – taking photos of the 7th floor girls, without much clothes on!
Although the girls seem keen, Jen gives Roy the usual crap about equality for women, so Roy is shocked when the girls come up with a new plan – to take naked photos of their Grannies! With there being not enough of the old dears to go around, Roy hits the streets in the name of charity and gets hit himself! Sick is not the word!
With nothing left to impress his lady-friend, Roy reluctantly turns to Moss and his scientific friends, telling them the calendar is a ‘celebration of scientific achievement’. Cue hilarious scenes as Roy hints to the geeks to take their clothes off and bend over in awkward positions! Now that is sick!
Sadly the calendar is a flop but Roy’s lady-friend is impressed that Roy actually went through with it and invites him back. After a minute of fumbling, Roy keeps getting flashbacks of the geeks he photographed and realises he can’t go through with it! Awww poor Roy!
It was a fine episode to round off the series, even if it was Moss-lite! It hasn’t been confirmed but surely this can’t be the last series of The IT Crowd? I believe the writer, Graham Linehan, has hinted at a fourth series. Hopefully there will be – there’s a lot more left in the tank with more of Douglas and the return of Richmond to come!
Overall, this series is up there with the first, as the best. I feel that episode-by-episode, this series is the better but as a series, the introduction if you will, series 1 fits together perfectly.
8/10
Showing posts with label richard ayoade. Show all posts
Showing posts with label richard ayoade. Show all posts
Friday, 9 January 2009
Saturday, 20 December 2008
The IT Crowd Series 3 Episode 5 - Friendface
The IT Crowd lampoons social networking sites in episode 5 of series 3 –‘Friendface’.
With the majority of people, who are connected to the internet, having ‘profiles’ on sites such as MySpace, Facebook and Bebo, the episode does a great job of taking the mickey not just out of the people but the sites themselves!
Jen is hooked on the website ‘Friendface’, where she is ‘talking’ to friends from school. She ropes in Moss and Roy, who are only interested in the games! \it isn’t long though before Roy is stalked by an ex-lover – a girl who wears too much makeup or ‘The Joker’ as she is referred to!
Later, Jen feels a little put out when she hears what her school friends have achieved, so she first tries to ask Roy to be her ‘pretend husband’ at a school reunion but he’s seeing The Joker, thanks to Jen’s advice, so Moss steps in!
This is when the episode really gets funny as Moss, complete with cardigan and pipe, really gets into the part! He goes way OTT with talking about Jen’s achievements, their sex life and even says he’s a professional tennis player!
Roy isn’t having a great time while trying to let The Joker down gently. She’s clearly a bit insane so Roy pretends he already as a girlfriend – Jen! Roy and The Joker head down to the school reunion, where Douglas makes a cameo appearance and with Moss pretending to be her husband, a love triangle argument happens! It all ends up with Moss slapping Roy and then the pair go outside and run off!
It was another great episode that really compliments this series well. I really enjoyed the whole ‘social networking’ plot and channel 4 have even claimed the domain name, which you can visit here: http://www.friendface.co.uk/
With only 1 episode left, I do hope Graham Linehan has another series planned – I don’t know what I would do if I couldn’t see things like Jen’ bad dancing, again!
8/10
With the majority of people, who are connected to the internet, having ‘profiles’ on sites such as MySpace, Facebook and Bebo, the episode does a great job of taking the mickey not just out of the people but the sites themselves!
Jen is hooked on the website ‘Friendface’, where she is ‘talking’ to friends from school. She ropes in Moss and Roy, who are only interested in the games! \it isn’t long though before Roy is stalked by an ex-lover – a girl who wears too much makeup or ‘The Joker’ as she is referred to!
Later, Jen feels a little put out when she hears what her school friends have achieved, so she first tries to ask Roy to be her ‘pretend husband’ at a school reunion but he’s seeing The Joker, thanks to Jen’s advice, so Moss steps in!
This is when the episode really gets funny as Moss, complete with cardigan and pipe, really gets into the part! He goes way OTT with talking about Jen’s achievements, their sex life and even says he’s a professional tennis player!
Roy isn’t having a great time while trying to let The Joker down gently. She’s clearly a bit insane so Roy pretends he already as a girlfriend – Jen! Roy and The Joker head down to the school reunion, where Douglas makes a cameo appearance and with Moss pretending to be her husband, a love triangle argument happens! It all ends up with Moss slapping Roy and then the pair go outside and run off!
It was another great episode that really compliments this series well. I really enjoyed the whole ‘social networking’ plot and channel 4 have even claimed the domain name, which you can visit here: http://www.friendface.co.uk/
With only 1 episode left, I do hope Graham Linehan has another series planned – I don’t know what I would do if I couldn’t see things like Jen’ bad dancing, again!
8/10
Monday, 15 December 2008
The IT Crowd Series 3 Episode 4 - The Speech
The IT Crowd continues to be brilliant as Douglas falls in love with a ‘He/She’ and Moss and Roy take a golden opportunity to wind up Jen, in episode 4 of series 3 – ‘The Speech’.
Jen is given employee of the month (and this time – she’s alive!) and lords it over the lads, who can’t believe how someone who knows so little about her job is given employee of the month!
Meanwhile Douglas is being interviewed by a pretty magazine reporter (guest star Lucy Montgomery) and asks her out. While on this date, the two get on well and Douglas offers her a place in his bed, as you do. His lady-friend agrees but tells him her dark secret – she was a man! Douglas doesn’t seem too bothered by this and they start a passionate but manly relationship!
Back at the office, Jen is told that she must give a speech to the shareholders about IT. What with Jen knowing nothing about the subject, she tries to hint to Moss and Roy to do it for her. Roy sees this as a perfect opportunity to get his own back and he and Moss agree. The speech is based on a black box, which Moss and Roy say is the whole internet! Jen believes them and it’s really funny to see their reactions in the meeting when all the shareholders believe her!
It seems Douglas had actually misheard his new lady-friend and thought she had said that she was ‘from Iran’! It’s actually an heartbreaking scene which culminates in a manly brawl, which just put the icing on the cake! The pair crash through a panel, where Jen is giving her speech and the ‘Internet’ is broken! Panic ensures, as people think that the world is going to end!
It’s another wonderful episode that sees the IT Crowd go back to what it does best – IT jokes! I also keep being impressed by Matt Berry’s (Douglas) performances, in this series. He is a lot calmer than he was in series 2 and he’s able to use that voice better, in the more comic moments. And for once, I also noticed what a good actress Katherine Parkinson is – surely she knew that the black box wasn’t the Internet!
9/10
Jen is given employee of the month (and this time – she’s alive!) and lords it over the lads, who can’t believe how someone who knows so little about her job is given employee of the month!
Meanwhile Douglas is being interviewed by a pretty magazine reporter (guest star Lucy Montgomery) and asks her out. While on this date, the two get on well and Douglas offers her a place in his bed, as you do. His lady-friend agrees but tells him her dark secret – she was a man! Douglas doesn’t seem too bothered by this and they start a passionate but manly relationship!
Back at the office, Jen is told that she must give a speech to the shareholders about IT. What with Jen knowing nothing about the subject, she tries to hint to Moss and Roy to do it for her. Roy sees this as a perfect opportunity to get his own back and he and Moss agree. The speech is based on a black box, which Moss and Roy say is the whole internet! Jen believes them and it’s really funny to see their reactions in the meeting when all the shareholders believe her!
It seems Douglas had actually misheard his new lady-friend and thought she had said that she was ‘from Iran’! It’s actually an heartbreaking scene which culminates in a manly brawl, which just put the icing on the cake! The pair crash through a panel, where Jen is giving her speech and the ‘Internet’ is broken! Panic ensures, as people think that the world is going to end!
It’s another wonderful episode that sees the IT Crowd go back to what it does best – IT jokes! I also keep being impressed by Matt Berry’s (Douglas) performances, in this series. He is a lot calmer than he was in series 2 and he’s able to use that voice better, in the more comic moments. And for once, I also noticed what a good actress Katherine Parkinson is – surely she knew that the black box wasn’t the Internet!
9/10
Wednesday, 10 December 2008
The IT Crowd Series 3 Episode 3 - Tramps Like Us
The IT Crowd continues to pull out the hilarious gags and set pieces in episode 3 of series 3 – ‘Tramps Like Us’.
The episode picks up from where series 2 left off, with Jen locking the door on Moss, Roy and a randy and drugged Douglas, who had tried to drug Jen. After being offered pitiful compensation and feeling unwanted by Moss and Roy, Jen applies for another job.
Meanwhile Roy gets himself into trouble when Moss throws coffee all over him and later, with no shirt on, he is asked to give his coat to the old tea lady who has collapsed. Then follows a hilarious run of events, which had Roy being thrown out of building, finding some scurfy clothes and begging for 50p for a phone call!
After accidently concussing himself, Moss is as strange as ever and when Jen asks him to help her answer a question for her job interview (What does IT mean?) he continues to act bizarrely.
Douglas has been given some ‘electric pants’ to help him quell those sexual urges but when they go haywire, he asks the concussed Moss for help. Well you can imagine what happened when a tour guide of the building took some religious persons into the IT office to see Moss, kneeled down, fiddling with Douglas’ undercarriage!
With Jen somehow being offered the job, she finds Roy on her way home and realises that the pair need her as she has ‘become one of them’. I wonder if she’ll regret it?
Another great episode, which I would have liked to have seen as the opening episode, as I didn’t really like this year’s opener! I loved Roy going topless and shouting around the building, the scene with Douglas and Moss and the ‘Windows Start-Up’ chime sounding when Moss regained his mind!
The writer, Graham Linehan seems to have a firm grasp on his characters and knows what to do with them – put them in strange and daft situations! Hopefully this won’t be the last series, as it can get even better.
10/10
The episode picks up from where series 2 left off, with Jen locking the door on Moss, Roy and a randy and drugged Douglas, who had tried to drug Jen. After being offered pitiful compensation and feeling unwanted by Moss and Roy, Jen applies for another job.
Meanwhile Roy gets himself into trouble when Moss throws coffee all over him and later, with no shirt on, he is asked to give his coat to the old tea lady who has collapsed. Then follows a hilarious run of events, which had Roy being thrown out of building, finding some scurfy clothes and begging for 50p for a phone call!
After accidently concussing himself, Moss is as strange as ever and when Jen asks him to help her answer a question for her job interview (What does IT mean?) he continues to act bizarrely.
Douglas has been given some ‘electric pants’ to help him quell those sexual urges but when they go haywire, he asks the concussed Moss for help. Well you can imagine what happened when a tour guide of the building took some religious persons into the IT office to see Moss, kneeled down, fiddling with Douglas’ undercarriage!
With Jen somehow being offered the job, she finds Roy on her way home and realises that the pair need her as she has ‘become one of them’. I wonder if she’ll regret it?
Another great episode, which I would have liked to have seen as the opening episode, as I didn’t really like this year’s opener! I loved Roy going topless and shouting around the building, the scene with Douglas and Moss and the ‘Windows Start-Up’ chime sounding when Moss regained his mind!
The writer, Graham Linehan seems to have a firm grasp on his characters and knows what to do with them – put them in strange and daft situations! Hopefully this won’t be the last series, as it can get even better.
10/10
Wednesday, 3 December 2008
The IT Crowd Series 3 Episode 2 - Are We Not Men?
After being slightly disappointed with last week’s effort, I needn’t have worried this week, as the guys over at the IT Crowd delivered one of the best episodes yet! ‘Are We Not Men?’ saw Moss and Roy make friends with armed robbers, who like to watch a bit of footy! Meanwhile Jen has a date with a man who looked like a magician – which probably took less than half a day to film!
With the lads longing to be ‘real men’, Moss surprises Roy when he engages the office’s postman in ‘football talk’ - complete with an OTT cockney accent! Roy is interested, so Moss shows him a website from which you can download a number of sounds to help you to learn ‘football talk’. So while at a pub later, Roy and Moss make friends with a couple of ‘real men’ and the line ‘Did you see that diabolical display last night?’ (check?) never sounded more funny!
Meanwhile Jen, forewarned by Moss and Roy about the fact that her date looks ‘like a Magician’, is on a date with a man – who looks like a magician! Not one of your classic ones, who dresses well and wore top hats, no it was one of these Darren Brown-types who just looked weird and did things with their hands. Still pretty amusing though.
After a nice day out watching West Ham with their new friends, Moss and Roy are back at work, with Roy feeling the affects of a rather heavy night of playing poker. Because he has built up such a debt with the lads, Roy agrees to do some driving for them. But he doesn’t realise that they are armed robbers and he is the getaway driver! His moment of realisation is brilliant, as he tries to phone the police and says ‘Oh no, they’re coming this way’!
Later, after being phoned earlier by Roy, Moss turns up at the lockup, where the lads are and after being distracted by his obsession of counting things, Moss starts to count all the stolen money! The strong language brought out the best Moss line of the series so far ‘Watch your ruddy language – my ears are not a toilet’! It may not sound as funny when reading it but when said by Moss, anything could be funny!
Our heroes get away just as the police come and in order to prevent suspicion – Moss grabs Roy and kisses him – twice! It’s something that you’ll never expect the characters to do and it was hilarious to watch – and I don’t often say that about kisses between men! Of course Roy had to point out that they could have hid behind some nearby bins, which made it all the more hilarious!
Overall it was an excellent episode, let down by the lack of Jen – but that’s not nessaically a bad thing! It’s interesting to note that the episodes only run for 24 minutes, which is just simply not enough – even an extra 3 minutes could make the episodes even better. I quite enjoyed another ‘fish out of water’ scene for the boys, as it does bring out the best in Moss. And I’m not sure but was it Milk or ‘A White Russian’ that he was drinking in the pub? Either way, it’s brilliant!
10/10
With the lads longing to be ‘real men’, Moss surprises Roy when he engages the office’s postman in ‘football talk’ - complete with an OTT cockney accent! Roy is interested, so Moss shows him a website from which you can download a number of sounds to help you to learn ‘football talk’. So while at a pub later, Roy and Moss make friends with a couple of ‘real men’ and the line ‘Did you see that diabolical display last night?’ (check?) never sounded more funny!
Meanwhile Jen, forewarned by Moss and Roy about the fact that her date looks ‘like a Magician’, is on a date with a man – who looks like a magician! Not one of your classic ones, who dresses well and wore top hats, no it was one of these Darren Brown-types who just looked weird and did things with their hands. Still pretty amusing though.
After a nice day out watching West Ham with their new friends, Moss and Roy are back at work, with Roy feeling the affects of a rather heavy night of playing poker. Because he has built up such a debt with the lads, Roy agrees to do some driving for them. But he doesn’t realise that they are armed robbers and he is the getaway driver! His moment of realisation is brilliant, as he tries to phone the police and says ‘Oh no, they’re coming this way’!
Later, after being phoned earlier by Roy, Moss turns up at the lockup, where the lads are and after being distracted by his obsession of counting things, Moss starts to count all the stolen money! The strong language brought out the best Moss line of the series so far ‘Watch your ruddy language – my ears are not a toilet’! It may not sound as funny when reading it but when said by Moss, anything could be funny!
Our heroes get away just as the police come and in order to prevent suspicion – Moss grabs Roy and kisses him – twice! It’s something that you’ll never expect the characters to do and it was hilarious to watch – and I don’t often say that about kisses between men! Of course Roy had to point out that they could have hid behind some nearby bins, which made it all the more hilarious!
Overall it was an excellent episode, let down by the lack of Jen – but that’s not nessaically a bad thing! It’s interesting to note that the episodes only run for 24 minutes, which is just simply not enough – even an extra 3 minutes could make the episodes even better. I quite enjoyed another ‘fish out of water’ scene for the boys, as it does bring out the best in Moss. And I’m not sure but was it Milk or ‘A White Russian’ that he was drinking in the pub? Either way, it’s brilliant!
10/10
Thursday, 27 November 2008
The IT Crowd Series 3 Episode 1 - From Hell
I was looking forward to the brand new series of ‘The IT Crowd’ but after the first viewing of episode 1 – ‘From Hell’, I wasn’t that impressed.So I went back and watched the episode again and I found it to be not as dull as I though it was! Jen was once again shown to be her usual naive self and I thought the whole ‘Builders From Hell’ worked really well but maybe would have been better with all of the main cast involved. It was also great to see a cameo from Chris Morris and his 'Hiltergram'!
I liked the plot with Roy, trying to get his £20 back and it was nice to see that Douglas seems to have ‘calmed down’ for this series. In fact I quite enjoyed Matt Berry’s performance - after watching Garth Marenghi's Darkplace, I knew he could be better from what he showed in the second series of The IT Crowd.
I did feel Moss was a little bit underused. I would have liked to have seen more detail about him being ‘bullied’ and I didn’t think the whole ‘I’ve got a gun!’ was as funny as the laughter track suggested. And what about that laughter track? I know The IT Crowd is filmed in front of a studio audience but the track sounded way OTT, like it was a yank ‘sitcom’, or something. Less of that please!
So after watching it again, I enjoyed it more but hopefully we’ll see an improvement in the episodes to come!
7/10
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