As predicted, part two of Episodes is a huge improvement on the slightly awkward opening instalment, and it’s a shame the BBC didn’t show both episodes back to back. In episode two, Sean and Beverly’s anxieties appear, at first, to be unfounded. They meet LeBlanc at a dinner party hosted by Lapidus and are stunned to find that, far from the crass boor they were expecting, the Friends actor is charming and full of enthusiasm for their comedy, and Beverly’s smitten. “Oh, he’s totally wrong, but he has such nice hair,” she remarks. And then things start to go horribly wrong. While Sean’s busy admiring Merc Lapidus’ extensive art collection, Matt and Beverly’s initial friendship begins to disintegrate. Beverly is horrified by Matt’s admission that he found amusement in a documentary about sufferers of Tourette syndrome, and his suggestion that, instead of playing a verbose headmaster in Beverly’s sitcom, he could play a hockey coach, leads to outright animosity. An episode full of genuinely funny moments, LeBlanc is brilliant value, playing a brilliantly skewed, obnoxious version of himself. Stephen Mangan and Tamsin Greig are great, too, as the bickering couple whose work crumbles all around them, and Greig’s scenes with LeBlanc crackle with energy. In fact, this entire episode belongs to Greig, and her concluding, swear-filled rant ends the show on a genuine high. Read our review of the series premiere here. Follow Den Of Geek on Twitter right here.
