Inside No 9......

[littlebabyjesus]

Very good one this week.

Great acting and a great script. The interplay between Jessica Stephenson and her kid was quite brilliant.

 

[Knotted]

So: seems 12 Days Of Christine and A Quiet Night In come highly recommended.

Any others?

Just looking on IPlayer and there are way more episodes than I expected.

I hopped on board with Cold Comfort and that's as good a place to start as any. It's just brilliant IMO.

I'll put what I think are the best episodes in spoiler

Spoiler

12 Days of Christine
A Quiet Night In
Bernie Clifton's Dressing Room
The Devil of Christmas
Once Removed
Zanzibar
Love's Great Adventure
Diddle Diddle Dumpling
Cold Comfort
Tom and Gerri
Merrily Merrily
Last Night at the Proms (which is usually poorly received but I thought it was just great)

Haven't seen the latest one yet.

 

[Voley]

The 12 Days of Christine absolutely broke me.
It was so simple but so unexpected and I wept at the end. Propper sobbing.

I watched that one for the first time last night. Thanks to everyone that gave the heads up about it. Absolutely brilliant, totally floored me.

I'm going to work my way through a few more that I've missed - it's great that the whole lot's up there on IPlayer.

 

[Knotted]

Thought last night's was absolutely fantastic. Relentless 70's disaster infomercial vibe throughout.

 

[quiet guy]

Last night's as back to the original dark story lines with just enough humour to keep it going

 

[littlebabyjesus]

That was fucking brilliant. Just about a perfect episode.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

Need to let it settle a bit, but that might just be my favourite ever.

Revealing a story backwards like that is perfect for a 30-minute format.

 

[8ball]

Good to know the pool of great episodes I’ve seen isn’t getting smaller.

Am early on in series 2…

 

[Knotted]

Just rewatched Wise Owl. It reminds me of the film Possum and its about as bleak. I also thought the humour in it was very much tied in with the darkness but I think its proper laugh out loud funny but at the same a real tough watch. Director Louise Hooper deserves a lot of credit for creating this horrible atmosphere. Absolutely outstanding.

 

[Knotted]

The incidental music by Christian Henson for A Random Act of Kindness was really interesting I thought. Good episode as well.

 

[Mrs Miggins]

I've been catching up on these this week. The first few are OK but Kid/Nap is the first one that's really good! Absolutely loved it.

...Next!

 

[Mrs Miggins]

Wow, the Wise Owl is dark..

 

[littlebabyjesus]

Just rewatched Wise Owl. It reminds me of the film Possum and its about as bleak. I also thought the humour in it was very much tied in with the darkness but I think its proper laugh out loud funny but at the same a real tough watch. Director Louise Hooper deserves a lot of credit for creating this horrible atmosphere. Absolutely outstanding.

Yep. The funniest and darkest moments are the same moment - Wise Owl slumped in the chair, pissed.

 

[Mrs Miggins]

Just rewatched Wise Owl. It reminds me of the film Possum and its about as bleak. I also thought the humour in it was very much tied in with the darkness but I think its proper laugh out loud funny but at the same a real tough watch. Director Louise Hooper deserves a lot of credit for creating this horrible atmosphere. Absolutely outstanding.

Now you say it yes - Possum.

 

[Knotted]

Should say that in Wise Owl there's a big autism angle on it. Not sure if everyone picked up on it, but its there right from the start.

 

[surreybrowncap]

I didn't think that there was an autism angle there.
As we discover the trauma that was inflicted on Ronnie - it explains his behaviour as an adult.

 

[Knotted]

I didn't think that there was an autism angle there.
As we discover the trauma that was inflicted on Ronnie - it explains his behaviour as an adult.

There's a literalism to his character and a mental rigidity expressed as rule following. He has a childlike nature and is easily manipulated. He's high support autistic.

The conversation with his mother underscores that his autism is a conscious decision on behalf of the writers. "Cats don't where shoes". Failure to understand metaphor. Leaning towards cliché if anything. But its the writers communicating his mental set up not his trauma. Trauma and vulnerability to abuse go hand in hand with that level of autism. Many die young, many suicide.

Part of the story and where the biggest emotional impact (for me) is Ronnie learning to be independent. Not so much leaving his trauma behind but learning to live in a world with abusers.

 

[Knotted]

Theory - every character played by Reece Sheersmith in series 7 is autistic. Almost certainly, arguably, explicitly, arguably, OK probably not, screamingly.

 

[8ball]

Ooh - Cold Comfort is good.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

Theory - every character played by Reece Sheersmith in series 7 is autistic. Almost certainly, arguably, explicitly, arguably, OK probably not, screamingly.

A lot of them, for sure. Hedge funder, no I don't think so. Narcissistic wanker spectrum yes, autism spectrum no.

I've let Wise Owl settle now, and it still stands up. In fact, it gets better with reflection.

 

[Knotted]

A lot of them, for sure. Hedge funder, no I don't think so. Narcissistic wanker spectrum yes, autism spectrum no.

I've let Wise Owl settle now, and it still stands up. In fact, it gets better with reflection.

That was my take on him too. But maybe they were going for "unable to communicate his feelings and only knowing how to interact in a business like manner." But if they were going for that they didn't do a good job.

Reflecting on Wise Owl, I've spent my long weekend reflecting on autism and suicide. Thanks Reece and Steve.

 

[surreybrowncap]

The good news is that the BBC have commissioned two more series.
It will indeed end on Series 9...

 

[belboid]

Theory - every character played by Reece Sheersmith in series 7 is autistic. Almost certainly, arguably, explicitly, arguably, OK probably not, screamingly.

Hmm I can see there is a case to be made, at least six theses worth. But I suspect it is more that Sheersmith is just a crap actor.

 

[hitmouse]

Have now fully caught up to date with it. Thinking about it, could make the case that there's interesting parallels between Wise Owl and Sardines?

 

[8ball]

I got totally distracted by The Boys - thanks for the reminder.

 

[Thistlewaite]

Inside No.9 (Favourite Episodes)

Series 1, Episode 1 - Sardines
Series 1, Episode 2 - A Quiet Night In
Series 1, Episode 4 - Last Gasp

Series 2, Episode 1 - La Couchette
Series 2, Episode 4 - Cold Comfort
Series 2, Episode 5 - Nana's Party

Series 3, Episode 2 - The Bill

Series 5, Episode 6 - Wise Owl

 

[T & P]

Inside No.9 (Favourite Episodes)

Series 1, Episode 1 - Sardines
Series 1, Episode 2 - A Quiet Night In
Series 1, Episode 4 - Last Gasp
Series 1, Episode 1 - Sardines

Series 2, Episode 1 - La Couchette
Series 2, Episode 4 - Cold Comfort
Series 2, Episode 5 - Nana's Party

Series 3, Episode 2 - The Bill

Series 5, Episode 6 - Wise Owl

View attachment 336735

Good selection. My personal list would also include 12 Days of Christine, arguably top three at least if devastatingly sad at the same time, and The Riddle of the Sphinx, fucked up in the best possible way, narrative-wise.

ETA: Also Once Removed, the episode told backwards in 10-minute segments.

 

[Thistlewaite]

Good selection. My personal list would also include 12 Days of Christine, arguably top three at least if devastatingly sad at the same time, and The Riddle of the Sphinx, fucked up in the best possible way, narrative-wise.

ETA: Also Once Removed, the episode told backwards in 10-minute segments.

Thank you!

I honestly just think I am too stupid to understand or appreciate those episodes for what they are. The last episode I really enjoyed was The Bill. 3 series later and I get more confused as time goes on. I actually watched series 4 and series 5 late because i felt they did these episodes so you had no choice but to tune into their explanations of every episode.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

My top three might be 12 Days of Christine, Wise Owl and Love's Great Adventure. Honourable mentions for The Trial of Elizabeth Gadge, Misdirection and The Riddle of the Sphinx. I like the sad ones and the clever ones, I think.

 

[hitmouse]

There's a lot of good ones, I'd say Sardines, Wise Owl, Zanzibar, Wuthering Heist and Bernie Clifton's Dressing Room are all up there for me. I think I like the funny ones, although it's a tricky thing where part of what I enjoy is being wrongfooted so it wouldn't really work if they were all like that. Going to nominate Empty Orchestra as maybe the most underrated? And yeah, Riddle of the Sphinx and the Bill are great plotwise. Interesting how after series 5 or maybe 6 they dropped the convention of having the last one always being full horror?

Inside No.9 (Favourite Episodes)

Series 1, Episode 1 - Sardines
Series 1, Episode 2 - A Quiet Night In
Series 1, Episode 4 - Last Gasp
Series 1, Episode 1 - Sardines

Series 2, Episode 1 - La Couchette
Series 2, Episode 4 - Cold Comfort
Series 2, Episode 5 - Nana's Party

Series 3, Episode 2 - The Bill

Series 5, Episode 6 - Wise Owl

I like Sardines too but probably not enough to include it on a list twice? Also sounds like you might've lost two series somewhere.