Another Review

So, what did I make of it?
First thing to note is that the episode was written by Amy Jenkins. Even though she created This Life and her writing isn’t particularly bad, she was never my favourite writer on the series (that would be the fantastic Richard Zajdlic). Her writing sometimes strays into territory she isn’t comfortable with (e.g. Egg’s love for football in series 1) and usually touches uncomfortably on ‘issues’. This Life works best when it is about the characters, when it touches on a political issue such as the war in Iraq then it grates; if there isn’t enough time to look at a subject in depth, then adding a few soundbites about it just comes across as rather trite and clichéd.
But barring the fact that Jenkins often tries to cram too many ideas into a script, when it should be allowed to breathe and flow – the plot jarred a bit with the jump from person to person, unresolved conflict to unresolved conflict -, it was okay.
My expectations weren’t ludicrously high, because I did take into account how hard it would be to bring people up to date in 80 minutes with characters who had evolved over 33, 50 minute episodes. It was inevitable that some things would be rushed. And there were so many unanswered questions. What happened to Ferdy? How did Miles first marriage end? How did Egg and Milly get over her infidelity? None of these were touched upon, and it felt like it may have been better to commission 3 or 4 specials, instead of just the one. It may also have been better to get one of the writers from the awesome second series to contribute. I wonder what Zajdlic is doing these days.
I think it says something about me and the effect This Life has had on my life (first series coincided with me finishing uni, second series as I started work) that the apparent break-up of Milly and Egg always bothered me. I ended up caring too much about a pair of fictional characters, and made various rants of “How could you do that to Egg?” on bulletin boards. And even though I wanted more information about what had happened to the couple in the last nine years, I still found myself rooting for a happy ending. Early reports show that many fans weren’t particularly pleased that the special ended up with Milly and Egg reunited and hopefully stable, but I really needed that to happen. Even though I loved the downbeat tone of series 2 of This Life (another reason why I love it), sometimes a happy ending is what is needed. I’m just glad I watched it on my own is all I can say.
There were some nice touches, the descent of Warren into pill-popping psychobabble did seem a continuation of the self-analysing therapy seeker he was in the series; Miles was also still resoundingly twattish and Anna was still staggeringly erratic. As a thirtysomething myself, I also recognised some of that restlessness of hitting an age were your life should be sorted out, and wondering what the hell to do. It rang true, as I said yesterday for the original and being in your twenties.
A few years ago I think I would have expected more and this would have led to disappointment. Indeed, my initial euphoria at the happiness of Milly and Egg (I’m such a soft twat) lessened a bit as I watched the first few episodes of series 1 and the holes in the special episode started to grow bigger. But, covering all bases for characters that people love in 80 minutes would be impossible, so the weaknesses had to be taken with a pinch of salt. Yeah, it was contrived and bound to frustrate obsessives, but was it ever going to fully please anyone?

Apocalypse Wow

I get addicted easily, be it to TV programmes, a particular album, person, comedian or whatever. I’ve always been like that and hopefully will forever. It can be maddening when the addiction is over a person, sickening when it concerns gambling or monumentally time-wasting when it centres around comedians or TV programmes. Yet it feels fantastic to be passionate about something.
The one TV programme that has addicted me more than any other returns to the TV tonight for a one-off show. This Life had such an impact on me that I can still remember things that happened in my life, based solely on their happening coinciding with various episodes of the programme.
Indeed, I think that is partly why it struck such a chord with me. Shown in 1996 and 1997, the story of twentysomethings leaving university and trying to find some sort of direction in life struck a chord with me, as that was just what I was doing. Yeah, of course my life wasn’t as fucking glamorous as being a high-flying lawyer in London, but the fecklessness and cack-handed approach the characters took to facing the new challenges in life rang true. Even if you’d never been a lawyer, a gay man with self-esteem problems, a confused bisexual or a bolshie Glaswegian, it still seemed utterly convincing in its writing.
The characters aren’t even particularly likeable; Egg is the nicest but also frustratingly capricious; Miles is a self-centred snob; Anna’s belligerence doesn’t fully hide her self-absorption; Milly is a borderline control-freak who cheats on Egg; and so on. But this is the main strength of the series; the characters are presented with a depth and are all given the sort of complexity that people in real life have. Most TV drama series have characters easily labelled as Mr.GoodGuy or Mr.NastyBastard, but This Life was happy to say that some times these people are nice and sometimes they’re bastards. Just like you and just like me. So you forgive them their faults and generally root for them. This shows itself in the fact that Rachel (played by the lovely Natasha Little) is seen as the villain when she really shows no greater personality flaws than any of the other main characters.
I used to watch This Life about once a month in the late nineties, in lieu of actually sorting my own life out and doing something with it. Addiction can be a bad thing. The videos were almost worn out, and I’d choose This Life as my mastermind specialist subject. Fuck, I have the DVDs now, I know that as soon as I hear the theme tune tonight that I’ll be falling back into that world where a whole weekend goes in a This Life marathon.
So, I’ve been largely excited about tonight’s show. But it is also mixed with a bit of trepidation. Can it ever match up to what I want? What do I want? Is it ever wise to tinker with something that was perfect?
I’ll let you know tomorrow.