Right just for a change than the usual reviews of games or movies I thought I would do a review on a TV show and in specific, an episode of the show in question, The thick of it, starring Peter Capaldi as an aggressive, foul mouthed spin doctor called Malcolm Tucker. This episode was the second of two specials, the first being "The Rise of the Nutters" although it is considered part of the show's second series.
So let's give this one a look.....
Oh and two warnings apply: 1st....There will be plenty of explicit language ahead throughout this review (but purely quoted from the show not from me, honest!) and second....
SPOILERS WILL BE AHEAD!!!!
STORY
Right so the story kicks off not long after the events of the previous special (as stated above) where the Prime Minister makes a shock announcement that he has resigned. And what follows as a result of this is a sleepless night for the Department of Social Affairs and Citizenship (DoSAC) as the staff featuring the wisened and middle aged advisor, Glen Cullen (James Smith), the cocky and younger, Ollie Reader (Chris Addison), the prudish but professional Teri Coverley (Joanna Scanlan) and the mousey senior press officer, Robyn Murdoch (Polly Kemp) all work overtime to try and plug leaks and other issues.
Meanwhile the director of communications for the government, the foul mouthed and feared Malcolm Tucker (Capaldi) comes under threat from a rival, Nick Hanway (Martin Savage) a junior minister who supports a strong candidate as the PM's replacement, Tom Davis (who is never seen on screen). As a result of this Malcolm tries to hatch a plot to discredit Nick by secretly suggesting to Ollie (who has placed in a meeting with the "nutters" i.e. Tom's supporters) that they suggest another MP, Clare Ballentine (Eve Matheson) when news breaks that Tom is losing support due to a story being leaked about his mental health issues with depression.
Ballentine however turns the offer of the leadership bid (which Malcolm knew she would) and Malcolm instead suggests to Nick another Minister, Ben Swain (Justin Edwards) who previously embarrassed himself on TV when interviewed by Jeremy Paxman he blinked excessively during the interview.
Also while this has been going on Malcolm's second in command, Jamie (Paul Higgins) backs another candidate, Cliff Lawton (Tim Bentinck) who Malcolm formerly forced to resign from cabinet. However Jamie's candidate is leaked to Malcolm, who slags him off for picking Lawton, which causes Jamie to instantly ditch him. Jamie plays his part in trying to bring down Tom by leaking the story about his depression but meanwhile another leak is taking place with immigration figures being leaked by the PM advisor, Julius Nicholson (Alex MacQueen) which causes more havoc at DoSAC.
And another subplot involves Ollie betraying his boss, Hugh Abbot (Chris Langham who doesn't appear in this episode due to the controversy of his court case at that time) in favour of going over to join Ben as an advisor, much to the chagrin of Glen who eventually finds out. Not only this Glen is sidelined by everyone during the night that even includes Hugh who at one point asks to speak to Ollie rather him which causes Glen to go ballistic at his being ignored.
And the episode culminates with all the plot stands coming together as Malcolm's and everyone else's career who is affected by the transition is soon decided....
THOUGHTS
This episode easily has to be my favourite episode of the entire series as it is a prime example of mixing in political satire along with hilarious comedy. The characters however are all pretty much mostly obnoxious and self serving with the possible exception of Glen Cullen who is the only character who has any kind of dignity. And the main character of Malcolm Tucker is a genius character in himself as he is the master of "spin" and has the ability to think several moves ahead of his opponents in the game of political chess. And the writing throughout is brilliant, witty and very profane as the characters are bubbling up at fever pitch where things soon go over the edge as the emotions run very high throughout.
PERFORMANCES AND NOTABLE SCENES (Warning: this section contains explicit language!)
As for the performances well they are all great and everyone is perfectly cast in their roles starting off with Peter Capaldi who is superb as the foul mouthed and aggressive spin doctor, Malcolm Tucker who plots to keep himself afloat during the transition of power.
Capaldi has plenty of great scenes in the episode that include the scene when Malcolm warns Ollie of talking ill of a potential PM candidate, Dan Miller and how has no chance. And Malc says to Ollie "Hey hey, don't leat him hear you doing that sort of stuff! What happens if he does stand a chance, eh? He'll fuck you harder than Ron Jeremy and with less warmth!".
Then there is the scene where Malcolm tells Robyn that he wants her to work with Jamie to firefight the Watford walkout story:
"I want you to bury this Watford arse-ache tonight, because tomorrow morning - from broadsheets to wank rags - I want pages one, two and three to be a profile of Tom looking like a fucking political colossus, you know - Tom meeting the Pope, Tom in a NHS hospital chatting to little baldie kiddies. I want pages four and five to be a timeline of the last years of British politics with ME at the center, looking fucking indispensable and fucking benign, and I want page six to be fucking Israel or some bullshit, not a fucking DoSAC dipshit legacy-distracting COCKUP!".
Then there is the scene where Malcolm calls Jamie, having just learned that he has Cliff Lawton as his rival candidate. And Malcolm teases Jamie by saying to him on the phone "Jamie... What's that sort of droning noise in the background there? What, kind of boring, kind of low, sort of droning, boring, kind of miserable, whining, kind of, sort of boring noise going on?!". And as Jamie tries to bluff, Malcolm says to him "Cliff fuckin Lawton! Hey, nice! What's the matter? Was the Cillit Bang guy not available?!".
Another good scene from Capaldi is when Malcolm goes in and tells Ben that he has a chance to replace the prime minister, which Ben accepts, overwhelmed. And as Ben tells the good news to Ollie, Malcolm talks to Ollie and notices Ben blinking nervously and he says to him "Stop fucking blinking - or I will take your optic nerve and strangle you with it!". And Malcolm says to Ollie "Look at this man, he's very important" and points at Ben saying "cock like a caber!".
Another moment worthy of mentioning is when Malcolm, who takes a moment to think goes and pays a visit to Nicholson and Glen, who are listening to a cricket match on the radio. And as Glen comments on a bad patch in the match, Malcolm sighs and wearily says "Shut up! They're just a pair of twats talking about a pile of bullshit!" and Julius says "Its not bullshit, Malcolm, its the cricket" and Malc says "What's that, cricket, that's the English equivalent of sport isn't it? No actual physical contact, just glaring!".
And lastly there is the moment where Malcolm asks Ollie to go and get him some cheese and he says to him "Here take this and get some cheese for me and Dr Strangelove (Julius!) over there, go on". However Ollie smugly sits in his seat nonchalantly and says to him "I'm a bit busy just now to be going for cheese, Malcolm" which prompts Malcolm to burn Ollie a look and say "If you don't go and get me some cheese, I'm gonna rip your head off, and give you a spinedectomy!".
Paul Higgins next up is great as Malcolm's second in command, the highly aggressive and profane, Jamie (who is named as Jamie MacDonald in the spin-off film of the series, In the loop, but never in the TV show). And throughout Higgins plays the part of the volatile Glaswegian to perfection and he quote often steals the show here so naturally he has his fair share of highlights.
And as a few examples to kick off there is the scene where Jamie walks in on a meeting between Malcolm and Nick and says to them "Oh, Trinny and Susannah! I'm sorry to burst into your little fucking boutique, but you've got a fight on your hands! That's all I'm saying, I'm backing a rival candidate, so fuck you and fuck you and your Nutter coronation 'cause it ain't happening!". And as Jamie is reluctant to mention the name of his candidate, Nick mentions Dan Miller, whereas Malcolm says is it Geoff Holhurst, who is reputed to have a small head. And Jamie rebuffs both of them, particularly Geoff by saying "What, Mister Baby New Potato-Head? Fuck off!".
Then there is the classic moment where Jamie rides in the back of a car with Cliff Lawton and he stares at him and asks "Are you a horse?" and as Cliff asks "What?", Jamie repeats the question "Are you a fucking horse?!". And as Cliff, irked says "No..." Jamie yells "EXACTLY! Exactly! You're no horse. And you are not a stocking horse. And we are going to ram you up Tom's arse SO hard, he has to shit out his lying mouth!".
And later on there is the scene where Robyn is sent to work with Jamie overnight while Jamie works secretly with Cliff Lawton. And Jamie tells off Robyn for listening in on Jamie's meeting with Cliff and he yells at her "HEY YOU!! VIRGIN WEST COAST, SHUT IT!! In fact get the fuck out of here this is an operations room so you don't even know he's here! So unless you want your tonsils removed by keyhole surgery with this key (producing a key from his pocket) PISS OFF!".
And later on as Malc calls up Jamie and slags him off for picking Cliff Lawton as his stalking horse for the PM job, Jamie angrily hangs up. And as Cliff finishes making up his rehearsed speech, Jamie says with disgust "Oh, fuck off, Cliff!" and Cliff asks "What?" and Jamie says "Fuck off! You're a busted flush, you're not gonna be prime minister, you not gonna be anything, so fuck off!". And Cliff angrily says to him "This is your thing isn't it, everything has to be in absolutes, everything has to be in black and white you know, I love you - Fuck off! There are lots of shades of grey you know!" and Jamie finishes up saying "Oh, I know that, I'm looking at 15 of them right now! So you later, no mark!" and he leaves an exasperated Cliff alone.
Then comes the great scene where Jamie tells Malcolm about the rumours concerning Tom's mental health will bump the Watford walkout story. So Jamie says to Malc "I think Watford will get bumped by the fact that we're about to hand the nuclear codes to a guy who, every now and then, loses it so bad he needs SatNav to find his own nipples!". And Malcolm asks suspicously "What are you talking about?" and Jamie says "I just thought it was fair to let everyone know about the Tom rumors, you know. How the guy who's about to become Prime Minister chuggs antidepressants like they're fucking Smints!! How the black dog humps his leg and shits in his duvet every four months!! I THINK that they'll bump the Watford walkout!".
Another great moment from Higgins also comes when Jamie asks Teri to uncover who has been leaking the immigration figures stats to the press. And as they stand in the men's toilets, Jamie says to her "The leaks are coming from in here" and Teri asks "What, in the gents?" and Jamie says "No, the leaks are coming from Richmond fucking Terrace, right? Now, I want you to find out who the mole is so we can play that game when the mole pops up and I smash it over the head with a fucking hammer!". And as Teri stares at the urinals in the gents room, Jamie says to her "Hey, don't stare at the urinals! That's rude!".
And later there is the scene where Jamie asks Teri and Robyn "Hey, desparate housewives, have you found out who's leaking yet?" and at that moment, Glenn arrives and says "I have, its Julius! He just told me". And this prompts Jamie to boil up in a rage as he barks "No, no, no...Julius??? NICHOLSON!! THAT BALDY PUSSY!! I tell you, if you think he's leaking now, wait till you see him when I'm finished with him! He'll look like fucking Mel Gibson's Jesus!" and Jamie goes beserk and hits the wall yelling "FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK!!!" as he goes into another room and slams the door.
And last of all is the classic moment where Jamie confronts Julius over the immigration stats leak and he yells at him "NICHOLSON! The immigration shit, that was you! You mimsy bastard quisling leak FUCK!!". And as Julius sheepishly says sorry, Jamie continues saying "Yeah, you will be sorry you inflatable cock!". And he continues his verbal assault on Julius by yelling "You, Julius Nicholson, being of a sound mind, with a body that looks like a giant sex toy, did knowingly do us up the shithole by passing confidential information to the enemy! And I am gonna have your guts as a skipping rope, then rip yor lungs out, sun-dry them and turn them into a little fucking waist-coat!".
James Smith next up is also great as Glenn Cullen, the special advisor to the Minister of DoSAC, who get's caught in the night's events and his patience becomes frayed as the night goes on.
And I will mention a couple of Smith's scenes and the first being when Glenn confronts Ollie over his betrayal of trust to Hugh. And in the scene Glenn says to Ollie "Oh, if it isn't the little turncoat in Richmond Terrace! Well I hope you get whatever it is you want, putting in charge of being the olive monitor!" and as Ollie pisses him off over his lack of support to Hugh, Glenn snaps saying "That's it, we're done! We're through, you fucking pond life!".
And later there is Smith's best moment in the episode and maybe his best moment in the series where Glenn finally has his meltdown when Hugh asks to speak to Ollie instead of him on the phone, making Glenn feel sickened by being sidelined and forgotten about all night.
And in the scene Glenn snaps out, yelling "Fucking hell!! FUCK!! I'm not a joke, hello?! I'm a man! I'm a man, you know?? You know???!!" and he angrily grabs papers from his desks and throws them around yelling "THIS... THIS IS MY LIFE!!! I'M A HUMAN BEING!! And its collapsing infront of me!". And he continues yelling "Tom's lot are not going to want me now and fucking Hugh...! Jesus! This is.... I AM A MAN!!!". And Glenn continues his meltdown as he yells "Fucking Hugh just wants to speak to Tinky Winky! WELL FUCK TINKY WINKY!!! FUCK YOU, TINKY WINKY!! Aufweidersen pet, THE PARTY'S OVER!!! GOODBYE, YELLOWBRICK ROAD!!! WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT HITLER???? WELL HE HAD A MOUSTACHE AND LIVED OVER THERE!!! FUCK IT ALL!!!".
And as Glenn calms down, Teri sits him down and tries to console him and he says dispairfully "I mean a whole career, gone just like that! One minute your indispensible and the next you're just landfill!". And as Teri repeatedly says "I know, I know" Glenn says to her "Well that's it, you DON'T know, you have a contract, you're a civil servant! You're on the last chopper out of Saigon and I'm having it up the arse with Ho-Chi-Mihn!!".
Chris Addison also is really good again as Ollie Reader, the cocky yet inexperienced junior policy advisor at DoSAC.
Addison has plenty of good moments that include the scene where Malcolm asks of Jamie's whereabouts and Ollie says "Oh, don't tell me he's gone feral, because he was fucking terrifying when you had him on the leash!". And as Malcolm "Let's not overreact" Ollie says "Easy for you to say, he threatened to shove an ipod up my cock!" and Malc sarcily replies "You get that alot, though, don't you?!".
the scene when Ollie has infiltrated a meeting with the "Nutters" and while speaking privately to Malcolm on the phone, Malcolm asks him "Right, what's the plan?" and Ollie says "They don't have a plan". And Malc says sarcily "Maybe you should give them one!" and Ollie says "Oh, yes, fantastic, actually, Malcolm, because I have a very suitable one attached to the underside of my scrotum, so why don't we... " and Malcolm spits back "Shut it, you're using up all the minutes on my talk-to-your-head-cancer tariff!".
And then there is the scene where Ollie argues with Glenn over his lack of committment to Hugh and more to Ben. And Ollie privately talks to Glenn saying "Well I don't know if you had noticed but its all gone a bit twitchy-eyed motherfucking crazy out there!". And Ollie continues to press why he should bother with Hugh "Why should I be looking after Eoyre on this of all nights?!" and Glenn angrily replies "Because he you're BOSS, you little prick!" and Ollie says "No, its all changed! Give me reasons!".
And as Glenn says they are finished, Ollie sarcastically says "Oh, Glenn's dumped me! I'm gonna have to gone home and gorge of Cava and chocolate!" and Glenn pushes him angrily saying "You little shit!" and Ollie to says "Don't fucking push me, Uncle Bulgaria!" and the two of them fight as Julius get's caught in the middle of them and drops his biscuits, which he reminds them cost him "4 pounds!".
Justin Edwards is also great in his role as the incompetent young minister, Ben Swain who is one of the "nutters" and a supporter of Tom.
Edwards also has some good moments that include the scene where he says to he talks to Nick while they are in toilets telling him that he overheard a conversation saying Tom might withdraw from the candidacy. And Ben says to Nick "So that's it, Tom goes down like the Belgrano and we all go down with him! If I knew it was going to end like this then I would have just stayed in a basement with Bjorn Borg, a bag of cocaine and some prozzers!".
And then there is the moment where Ben get's in trouble for yelling at an African cleaner, who testily wants to get into room where Julius, Glenn, Ollie and Malc were eating. And in the scene Ben tells "If you want to get in clean, then clean, yeah?" and the cleaner says "I WILL clean" and patronisingly says to her "Well, that is your job description I'd imagine so...." and the cleaner taken aback says "Don't be so rude! How dare you?! This is disgusting!". And Ben snaps saying "No just fucking get in there clean it all up! I've had a whole room of shitsacks giving me arseache already, I don't need you joining in aswell, Mrs fucking mop!!".
Joanna Scanlan who reprises her role as Terri Coverley is also excellent and she too has some good moments.
And one of Joanna's best moment comes when Terri walks up the stairs into the gents with Jamie and enroute walking up the stairs Jamie, Terri asks him "Could we have this conversation near some coffee, d'you think?" and Jamie says "No!" and Terri says "Thought not!". And Jamie says to Terri "No, what we're having here is a secret conversation and I'm hoping that this time you can keep the fucking secret, because normally you're about as secure as a hymen in a south London comprehensive!". And Terri responds by saying "Yep, well done. That's offensive on a number of levels in a very concise way!". And as they talk in the gents, Terri stares at the urinals and Jamie says to her "Don't stare at the urinals! That's rude!" and Terri says "I never seen them before, I'm just finding it fascinating!".
Polly Kemp is also really good in her role as the hapless and rather naive senior press officer at DoSAC.
Kemp's good scenes include where the moment where Jamie at DoSAC asks how did Malcolm find out about Cliff Lawton and he says to her "Have you been talking to Malcolm?" and Robyn says "No, should I have?" and Jamie asks "Who did you mention Cliff Lawton to then?" and Robyn says "Only Terri!". And Jamie angrily says "For fuck's sake woman! What is your fucking problem? No no no, don't answer that, we'll be here all fucking night!" and Robyn spits back "We ARE here all fucking night!".
And lastly there is the scene where Robyn at one point says to Glenn "I'm getting alot of calls" and Glenn dryly says to her "Well, you're communications, Robyn, that does tend to happen!" and Robyn says angrily back "Don't do jokes, Glenn, you're not a funny man, you're not that type!".
Alex MacQueen is also great in his reprising role as the posh hauty toity special adviser to the PM, Julius Nicholson.
Alex has some fun moments aswell and as a couple of examples there is the scene where Julius admits to Glenn that he has been leaking info to the press. And Julius says to a motivationally out of sorts Glenn "I'm having a bit of a Robinson Crusoe moment myself, but, between you and me, I'm beginning to piss myself with excitement because I've started to leak the immigration figures to the press!". And Glenn, almost amused says "That is funny. Julius Nicholson, the wild one" and Julius says "I'm the new Che Guevara. I just need a new moustache and some laser correction eye treatment!".
And lastly there is the scene where Julius literally caught up between an argument with Glenn and Ollie, which causes Julius to drop the packets of biscuits he was carrying. And Julius tells them off saying "You fools! These are good biscuits and they cost four pounds! Just take care, will you?! Honestly!".
And the last few I will mention includes Lucinda Raikes as the journalist, Angela Heaney of the Daily mail who keeps trying to get insider information from her ex, Ollie on who is standing to be PM but they keep chopping and changing much to the chagrin of her boss, Adam.
Raikes has some good moments too although I will only mention one which is the scene at the start where Ollie is on the phone to Angela and he goes into the toilet and takes a piss. And in the scene Angela says to him "Ollie, are you pissing?!" and Ollie says "Ah, no, that's the flush of the automatic urinals in the gentelman's lavatory". And Angela says "I don't want to talk to you while you're holding your penis" and Ollie says "Well, that's not what you used to say, Angela" and Angela says teasingly "Yes it is!".
Ben Willbond also does pretty well as, Adam Kenyon, the night editor of the Daily Mail, who becomes increasingly frustrated at the chopping and changing of PM candidates during a very long night.
Willbond's good scenes include when Adam and Angela discuss running with the story of Clare Ballentine as the PM's replacement. And Adam says to Angela "Right, fuck it, let's do it, let's run with it. Let's go, Ballantine story, let's go. Better run with something, otherwise we're gonna have to re-print Hitler's fucking diaries again!".
And lastly near the end of the episode there is the moment where (SPOILER) Adam is about to run with Ben Swain at the current PM replacement when Ollie calls up and tells Angela its not happening so Ben takes the phone off her and has words with Ollie. And Adam says to Ollie "Do you know what I'm gonna change page 4 and 5 to now? It's gonna say "Junior government gimp wrecks ex-girlfriend's career." How about that?! Do you like that?! Do you know what I'm gonna do, Oliver Reeder?! I'm gonna spend the rest of my life dedicated to persecuting you in the most poisenous vendetta ever known in the British media, how about that? You have a great day, you have a smashing fucking day!".
And last of all there is Martin Savage as Nick Hanway, Malcolm's main rival and Tom's chief supporter, who Malc plots against in order to keep his jobs.
And Martin's best moment comes in the scene when Nick and Ben talk while they are in the gents about how Tom might withdraw from the race to being PM. And Ben says to Nick how one of their contacts, "Fat Pat" said that "She wasn't saying he should withdraw, she was just saying he should... consider it". And Nick angrily responds "Have you gone mad in your blinky head? That's senior Communications telling our boss "You know, we'll just leave that shotgun lying there, in case you wanna use it, mister Cobain!".
DIRECTOR
As for the show's director, Armando Ianucci, who is also the creator and co-writer, he does a great job here with this episode even though it is filled with some shaky, typically documentary styled camerawork, which might prove to be distracting at times to watch. The episode is also shot in a rather poor quality low resolution, which visually doesn't do it many favours but I guess it does reinforce the gritty quality of the show itself. Anyway Armando does very well overall with this episode despite any of the technical deficiencies on display in this episode.
MUSIC
Right as for music, well there is none, so that's the quickest paragraph ever! ;-)
FLAWS
As for the flaws of Spinners and Losers....well there isn't a great deal to whinge about as it is a great episode but perhaps one of the main criticisms that can be levelled at it is at times there are so many plot lines that they can become a bit difficult to follow.
And there are also so many leaks in the story with Malcolm leaking, Jamie leaking, Julius leaking and God knows who else that it get's itself a bit muddled and basically you feel you need a few watchings to get the gist of all the details in the story, so its not the easiest episode to get and watch in a oner.
And well that's it for flaws!
SUM UP
So to sum up Spinners and Losers is easily one of the very best episodes of The Thick of It, its funny, very well written and has plenty of classic Tucker and Jamie moments throughout (both are aka the Caledonian mafia!) and the rest of the cast also do very well with their roles. Its also quite a dense and complex episode that has many subplots, which might make it a bit confusing to watch at times but its also one which demands multiple viewings because it is that good.
Anyway so that's it for now and I will be back soon with yet another review or sorts.
Till the next one its bye for now!
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