So series three kicked off with expectations higher than Moss’s trousers, and really I must admit it was all a little bit disappointing. Sort of like Windows ME; it didn’t really fit, and was all a touch underwhelming. Running three parallel stories in one episode, we got to see that at the beginning of every day Moss (Richard Ayoade) gets bullied by some hoodies on the way to work; Jen may (or may not) have a cowboy builder with a piddling problem fixing her flat; and series 2 newbie, Douglas, the long-lost son of series 1’s superb Denholm Reynholm (Chris Morris), gets the company into financial difficulty (not to mention shagging all the members of HR). Added to all this we have Roy (Chris O’Dowd) obsessively chasing money he lent Jen (Katherine Parkinson) and a superb cameo by Denholm…and Hitler! While it seems that all the comedy ingredients are there, something is missing… Even Moss’s revenge on his bullies was lazy, the resolution telegraphed a mile away, and having Moss chase people around a park with the revolver was breaking, rather than developing, his character. It would have been a lot funnier if his scientific prowess was put into action, and some sort of hoodie-destroying ray-gun had been built. Although not the comedy gold-mine of the first two seasons, it is early days and I will, of course, tune in every Friday night to catch the show (and review it). But it doesn’t bode well if the rest of the series is as lazily written as this. Still, at least it’s not Birds of a Feather, I suppose. Check out all Rob’s reviews of season 3: Season 3 episode 1 review From Hell Season 3 episode 3 review Tramps Like UsSeason 3 episode 4 review SpeechSeason 3 episode 5 review Friendface Season 3 episode 6 review Calendar Geeks Interview with IT Crowd writer Graham Linehan
