I'm close to completing my overall reviews for this series and this was a series I think I enjoyed a bit more than others did. As usual all episodes are written by Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton and directed by Al Campbell, Louise Hooper and Kieron J. Walsh.
Episode 1: Merrily, Merrily
It took seven series to do but the show finally managed to get Mark Gatiss to appear and there's a sense of completion in that. The premise for this episode involved a reunion between former college friends. Laurence (Shearsmith), Darren (Pemberton) and Callum (Gatiss) are unexpectedly joined by Darren's new girlfriend Donna (Diane Morgan) and soon enough, all four of them are on an uncomfortable boat ride in the middle of nowhere where it became clear that Laurence had an ulterior motive for the reunion. It's a more tragic than sinister one when it's revealed that he wanted to be reunited with his dead wife. By the very end of this episode, it's clear that he got exactly what he wanted. 8/10
Episode 2: Mr King
Another thing I'm surprised about this series was that it also took this long to set a story in a school. It's also one of the most unsettling episodes with one scene involving new teacher Mr Curtis (Shearsmith) forced to have his privates photographed by Mr Edwards (Pemberton) with not so blind cleaner Winnie (Annette Badland) catching an eyeful. Then there's the "Mr King" aspect of it all. Technically there is no title character. At least there wasn't until the last act where the kids of the school decided a sacrifice needed to be made. Let's just say that things didn't end particularly well for Mr Curtis here. 8/10
Episode 3: Nine Lives Kat
Want a little spin on the detective novel genre? Well this one might be for you. We start off with hard boiled cliche of a detective named Katrina (Sophie Okonedo) is trying to solve the case of a missing boy. Only it's revealed that Kat's a fictional character from a burned out author named Ezra (Pemberton) who wanted to replace Kat with a different cliche type of detective - the more eccentric Barnabus (Shearsmith). Then it turned out the missing boy was his stepson after a miscommunication with his wife, Philippa (Robin Weaver). However the twist being that Ezra himself was a creation of an acclaimed writer named Matilda (Siobhan Redmond), whilst good, didn't quite land as well as it should've done. 7/10
Episode 4: Kid/Nap
And this one like the previous one had twists with twists but also like the previous, the landing didn't quite stick. Hedge fund manager Dominic (Shearsmith) found himself in a pickle. His wife Lara (Daisy Haggard) had been kidnapped by two men named Shane (Daniel Mays) and Clifford (Jason Isaac) and he had to pay 1.3 million to get her back. Except he didn't really want to do that and given the nature behind the kidnapping, he might have had a point. Needless to say, Lara wasn't in any real danger because she set up the whole thing, including playing both kidnappers off each other, fooling her own husband and even hostage negotiator DI Ellis (Pemberton). It's not actually a bad episode, just didn't really stick the landing though. 7/10
Episode 5: A Random Act Of Kindness
The best episode of this specific series and all because it involved time travel and the volatile relationship between a mother and son. Helen (Jessica Hynes) was at his wit's end with teenage son Zach (Noah Valentine) and then Bob (Pemberton) came into their lives and seemed to have a positive impact on Zach. When that was threatened, Bob had no choice but to reveal his real connection to Zach and it's a very well done reveal with a positive outcome for mother and son. Shearsmith appeared as a rival scientist named Rudolph, somewhat resentful of the advances that "Bob" had made in terms of curing cancer. I loved this episode. 9/10
Episode 6: Wise Owl
There have been a lot of dark episodes in the series but I genuinely think this might be the darkest thing that Shearsmith and Pemberton have ever written. Half the episode being in animation also didn't help lighten the mood either. The plot focused on a taxidermist named Ronnie (Shearsmith) who relived painful memories of his sister's birthday that ended in a house fire and her death. His mother Dinah (Georgie Glen) desperately wanted Ronnie to talk to a therapist while his father Wilf (Ron Cook) - the "Wise Owl" of the piece had a far more insidious relationship with the traumatised Ronnie. The ending's rather powerful too with Shearsmith giving one of his best performances in the series. Pemberton briefly appeared as Mr Blenkin who wanted to avail of Ronnie's services before changing his mind. 9/10
All episodes of Inside No. 9 are available on BBC iPlayer and Amazon.
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