Like a virus, FriendFace creeps up on everyone in this episode, first of all infecting Jen and then taking Moss and Roy in its addictive networking claws, eating away at their time like some rabid digital locust. Yes, this is really how much I don’t like the Facebook crowd and all the junk that goes with it, and for Graham Lineham to base an episode purely around this is my own private hell. Joking apart (or Joker apart…who we will get to later) the episode is still superb, with everyone completely hooked to this new way of being all ‘social’. From personalising their own Friendface site to the superb advert at the beginning, full of happy smiley people slowly losing their personality to the site (not to mention all their rights and copy-written material); but hey, it’s fun to make new friends, catch up with old ones and to look for companionship! Things go too far, of course, and naturally take a turn for the worse as both Jen and Roy succumb to their addiction, with dangerous consequences when Jen meets up with some old friends and spreads a carpet of lies about her job and social standing; meantime Roy is hounded by an old flame who wears a little too much make-up. The lies and fake stories pile up into into the farcical and – taking a page or two from the Alan Ayckbourn book of mistaken identity – the episode veers off into what looks like an episode of a 1970s sit-com, with Jen ‘married’ to Moss to impress her old friends whilst having an affair with Roy, who – in turn – is trying to get rid of his date…the usual stuff that makes up 101 lesser comedies. Check out all Rob’s reviews of season 3: Season 3 episode 1 review From Hell Season 3 episode 2 review Are We Not Men? 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
