Les fantômes
Oct. 28th, 2023 02:09 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shallownessGhosts 5.4: En Francais
The makers of the version of Blankety Blank that is currently on air are allowed to be miffed by this episode (and the people doing Mastermind, for that matter). Otherwise the affectionate re-enactment of 80s quiz shows by our bored ghosts and the ending returning to the beginning were good.
But obviously, the emotional hit came from revisiting Humphrey and Sophie’s life, with the bombshell that Robin can speak French (better than English) thanks to Sophie, and the way they played it, with Robin knowing it was one-sided and mostly platonic, while Humphrey got miffed and jealous because she had been his wife (his property) and by his lights he had tried, yet Robin had got to know her. But that truth that he could have listened more, and Robin, having lost another (?) ghost just then were lovely. I love how we are occasionally reminded of how he’s been around the longest and the weight of that. I also love that they found more to say about that era. And of course, given that it’s the same actor who plays Robin and Humphrey, there was an added meta layer.
Meanwhile, sneaky!Mike made a reappearance – he meant for the interpreter to have to go to the loo. Confirmed from their battle of wills that Alison is the more humane one! I was on her side because Mike was behaving terribly around the interpreter and did once default to talking English really loudly and slowly. Also, don’t you have to sort out licensing and a lot of faff to run a bar? It’s really not the sort of thing you should be coming up with overnight. The ghosts both making Alison look mad and saving the Frenchwoman’s life was typical!
In brief: lovely.
The makers of the version of Blankety Blank that is currently on air are allowed to be miffed by this episode (and the people doing Mastermind, for that matter). Otherwise the affectionate re-enactment of 80s quiz shows by our bored ghosts and the ending returning to the beginning were good.
But obviously, the emotional hit came from revisiting Humphrey and Sophie’s life, with the bombshell that Robin can speak French (better than English) thanks to Sophie, and the way they played it, with Robin knowing it was one-sided and mostly platonic, while Humphrey got miffed and jealous because she had been his wife (his property) and by his lights he had tried, yet Robin had got to know her. But that truth that he could have listened more, and Robin, having lost another (?) ghost just then were lovely. I love how we are occasionally reminded of how he’s been around the longest and the weight of that. I also love that they found more to say about that era. And of course, given that it’s the same actor who plays Robin and Humphrey, there was an added meta layer.
Meanwhile, sneaky!Mike made a reappearance – he meant for the interpreter to have to go to the loo. Confirmed from their battle of wills that Alison is the more humane one! I was on her side because Mike was behaving terribly around the interpreter and did once default to talking English really loudly and slowly. Also, don’t you have to sort out licensing and a lot of faff to run a bar? It’s really not the sort of thing you should be coming up with overnight. The ghosts both making Alison look mad and saving the Frenchwoman’s life was typical!
In brief: lovely.
