Rushing for the train last week, I accidentally dropped my wallet as I struggled to get it out of my coat pocket, spilling its load of loose change on the floor. For some reason, my brain immediately selected the Episodes theme from its playlist to accompany this moment of mild humiliation. Worse still, I have to try to come up with different ways of describing Episodes week after week, a sitcom that slides drunkenly, like the boozy tones of a trombone, from mildly amusing to desperately unfunny. One highly amusing spike of inspiration aside, Episodes‘ other instalments have all been broadly the same: uneven. Attempting to review each episode is like reporting the UK weather. It’s dull, with the occasional sunny spell. At first, Episodes episode five (there’s another problem, incidentally. The sheer number of times the word “episode” can appear in a review of a show called “Episodes”) trundles along at the show’s now well established pace. British writer couple Beverly and Sean’s sitcom is making its slow, seemingly irrevocable descent into mediocrity, and all they can do is stand and stare as their dreams deflate like undercooked Yorkshire puddings. In a more conventional sitcom, this would be the moment where the canned laughter kicks in. But this being a modern, sophisticated take on an ageing format, Episodes replaces a tittering audience with interminable bickering. Later events are just as signposted. Matt LeBlanc, who’s now slipping comfortably into the villain of the piece, invites both shapely actress and Sean to a charity benefit, and as the wine is imbibed, Sean’s faithfulness to his wife is stretched like a banjo string. Is LeBlanc deliberately trying to destroy Beverly and Sean’s relationship for his own cruel, obscure reasons? Whatever his motives, they fail to make the series any funnier. And then, just as Episodes lets you warm to it again (a little bit, at least), it concludes with an implausibly daft scene that involves Sean enthusiastically masturbating over Internet porn. Once again, the series totters from the sublime to the ridiculous, like its infuriating signature theme. Toodle parp. Read our review of episode 4 here. Follow Den Of Geek on Twitter right here.
