Friday, February 06, 2015

Cucumber/Banana/Tofu - Episode 3 Recap/Review

Okay, some of a dividing week this week with the main series have one or two moments even I found a little off putting while the spin-off shows continue to strengthen.


Cucumber: Something of a strange episode for me. First of all, let's get the awful elephant in the room out of the way, shall we? Why did RTD think this show needed a scene where Henry was directing his 15 year old nephew and friends in a shirtless/partially pornographic video with terrible lip syncing as well? Even if Henry is desperate to make money that was one sleazy step too far with the character for my liking, even though I sort of predicted that Adam and Beenie (and later Tomasz) were web camming of sorts last week.

Keeping with the awkward factor, this week we got a bit more insight into Freddie's sexuality and prowess by having it revealed that he was having an affair with a closeted teacher five years ago and when he decided to get (rightly) even with said teacher, it also led to an awkward scene with the two of them and Henry as well as Lance, who certainly knew how to pick his moments. I do think this episode did more to flesh out Freddie as a character but I am kind of hoping that Henry's obsession to bed him begins to wear off as the remaining episodes proceed.

That being said, the episode wasn't completely great either - Dean as a character is beginning to increasingly annoy me and Lance continues to make a pillock out of himself the more he fixates on Daniel. Also, while Cleo gave her brother some sensible advice, I think she should probably be more concerned about what her own son is getting up to rather than Henry at the moment. Then again, perhaps she should be looking more at Henry too.


Banana: Not quite as strong as last's week's amazing episode focusing on Scotty but certainly better than Dean's episode, this episode focused on the slightly stressed Sian (Georgia Henshaw) and the little more relaxed Violet (Hannah John-Kamen) as they went from meeting over six pairs of shoes in the former's workplace to falling out over their different approaches to life to getting back together at the last moment thanks to the former's mother giving her child the metaphorical kick up the backside she needed.

Written by Sue Perkins, this episode was the first one to properly focus on a relationship and Violet and Sian's was certainly interesting to see played out as Henshaw and Kamen worked extremely well with each other. The scene where they played curling in the supermarket was amusing and I liked that the show also tackled having a gay character with a gay parent as well (we'll be seeing more of Vanessa later in the series).


Tofu: Probably the most interesting episode we've had so far. We've already seen the show at lengths discussing both good and bad sex and now we have an episode dedicated to discussing both asexuality and people who are also not having sex as well. I certainly found this episode relatable in some parts (mainly the celibate parts) and it's great that this web series continues to tackle all spectrums of sexuality as frankly and amusingly as it does. The song sequence in this episode was pretty delightful as well.

Next week, it's date night for everyone in the main show while Helen becomes the victim of a scorned ex-boyfriend.

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