Having once been a teenage boy myself, I’m all too aware of how mates can be freeloaders at times. If sparing your time to sit with them on park benches and look intimidating to the middle classes isn’t enough to keep them loyal, then the promise of free food will have them positively swarming around your house. A piece of toast made from bread originating from your kitchen is far more attractive to the average youth than happy slapping a pensioner and providing the Daily Mail with something to cry about. On hearing this, Jay is particularly excited as it means he won’t be living under the slightly creepy watchful eye of his dog Benjy, so will be able to ‘relax’ in the total privacy of his mate’s place. That is, perhaps, not as worrying as Neil telling Will what he got up to with his mum’s Facebook pics. Adding to the creep factor is the news reaching Mr Gilbert, who also shows an interest in Will’s mum’s social networking and single status, compounding Will’s problems even more. With an house empty of all parental authority, Will spends his time cleaning up crumbs left by Neil’s toast habit and Jay invites himself round. The real skill of The Inbetweeners is making the more unlikeable sides of the boys somehow likeable. Kicking some flowers, eating toast as if it were made of heroin and ordering beer on someone else’s credit card would usually be grounds for a well deserved kicking. But here, it’s almost charming as Neil and Jay indulge themselves like two spoiled private schoolchildren. Animal lovers be warned, though. The end of the first half will have you raging, though there may well be a few guilty chuckles after. And Jay’s remorse at the end also treads that fine line between being heartbreaking and hilarious at the same time. Read our review of the episode 4, The Trip To Warwick, here.
