'Nashville' Might Sound Very Different Next Season ...
Fight for Your Right To Party
Extras: Episode 5
by Martin Conaghan, posted Oct 13th 2006 6:30PM
(S02E05) When I said last week that things couldn't get any worse for Andy Millman, I was clearly wrong. The only other show I can think of that spirals so badly out of control for the lead character is Fawlty Towers, where Basil Fawlty, a victim of his own pomposity and bizarre circumstances ends up neck-deep in catastrophe upon disaster, finalising with a conclusion that often resembles the aftermath of a small war.
And this week, it was no different for Andy, in yet another classic episode of this genius comedy from Ricky Gervais.
Where do you begin to describe the nerve-crushingly painful circumstances Andy finds himself in this week's Extras?
Well, it all starts when he requests for his agent to find him more serious work beyond the confines of his over-popular, low-brow sitcom, and an old homophobic 'ladies-man' friend pays him a visit at BBC Television Centre in London to bask in the glory of his fame.
The 'serious' work Andy ends up initially sounding promising; the opportunity to work with Sir Ian McKellen -- which turns into a lead role in a play about a homosexual relationship, and the unplanned requirement for Andy to kiss another man in the final scene on opening night, while his gay-bashing friends look on in disgust.
The parallel story revolves around Andy's Agent, Darren Lamb, managing to convince Andy's friend, Maggie Jacobs, to go on a date, which starts off surprisingly well, only to end in disaster when Darren uses a dessert whisk from the kitchen to unblock the toilet in his apartment, right in the middle of a candle-lit meal.
And it gets worse.
Not only does Andy face the prospect of having to embrace another man on stage, but a former colleague (played by a brilliantly over-the-top and thoroughly camp Gerard Kelly) turns up at the foyer of the theatre as Andy's friends are arriving and publicly spills the beans on his coming out.
As ever, the scenario progressively descends into a horrible, uncomfortable chaos, with Andy refusing to kiss his acting colleague live on stage out of sheer embarrassment, ruining the opening night of the play for everyone. However, for once in this current series, I suspect the viewers would have felt genuinely sorry for Andy and his predicament.
Of course, McKellan was superb as the actor's actor with no 'method' (other than simply pretending to portray the character he's cast as), and Stephen Merchant superbly acts the obliviously foolish Darren, while his blossoming relationship with Maggie takes a turn for the worse.
I'm fairly sure the majority of the audience will continue to find Extras far too difficult to watch, but Gervais manages to cover so much ground in such a politically-incorrect way during each episode, with homophobia and ignorance just two of the subtle subtexts encountered in this penultimate episode.
I'm really not looking forward to next week, mostly because I know we'll never see another episode of Extras again (unless there's a Christmas Special planned) -- but I'd honestly watch this utter genius every week of the year, if they'd only make more.
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