Reviews

Season one was a TV show based on a play, it was very witty and pushed boundaries and I enjoyed it immensely. However my 10-star rating is for season two.

Season two aired three years later and, while it followed on and built from season one it was so much more. It was made for TV rather than being an adaptation of a play and as such seemed less contrived, more immediate. Also it was the work of a more mature and nuanced writer. It made me laugh, it made me think, it made me laugh some more and it even choked me up at times (and I'm a man in my 50s not prone to such things while watching TV).

The writing and acting transcended 'writing and acting' so that it was as if I was watching real people living real, interesting, funny and difficult lives. This was in part due to Phoebe Waller-Bridge "breaking the fourth wall" and talking directly to the viewer but was mainly due to how real everything felt. Phoebe Waller-Bridge is a genius and I am very much looking forward to seeing more of her writing and acting.

(This is my first ever review. I honestly didn't think I'd ever write one but I've just finished watching the final episode and had to share...)

This started really quite well, quirky and entertaining. Then the dubbed-out swearing started to really annoy me. However by three-quarters of the way through episode 5 they weren't just blanking swear words they were over-dubbing multiple minutes of dialouge! This is really insulting, like we weren't going to notice? Script changes need to be made BEFORE the final edit, not over-dubbed afterwards. As a lot of the story is narrated by the main character it makes me wonder how much of that was changed and now those few strange moments I've noticed are explained. It could easilly have been a 9 if they'd bothered to re-shoot instead of over-dub so blatently.