The group is splintered in “Mettle” until they’re all brought back together in a fun cap, providing one of the few fantastic episodes where the cast isn’t all working together. It’s also an instant great for the series, incorporating all of what makes Spaced so much fun in one episode with clever homages, fun pairings, and intelligently-shot humor.
That was my flowery way of saying “OMG, I love this show.”
There are three main storylines, all of which are lovely; all of which are shot with a particular level of enthusiasm, bringing the right type of mood to the storyline; and all of which had me laughing. That’s pretty important in a comedy.
Daisy continues her line of career woes, and is told by her preteen job helper that she’s been reported as having a problem with authority after she’s been fired from a few jobs. I enjoy the serialized nature of the show, which isn’t always present in comedies. It’s here where we get one of the first of many pop culture references in this episode, when Daisy talks about how there are two sides of her, the rebel and the good girl, which is accompanied by a Grease sequence of her dolled in leather.
Each version of Daisy is the best version of Daisy.
Daisy’s plot is the most on-the-nose with its references, but it’s still fun to watch as she’s assigned to work in a kitchen that takes after One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, and the Nurse Ratched character is just fantastic. The actress has such a peculiar screen presence, and while she’s playing a lighter version of the original character, this doesn’t take away any of the eerie nature she exudes.
Aside from the fun play on the film, there’s not much more to it than that, but there are some very game performers, and a great payoff when Daisy tries to skirt on her work by telling her boss that she’s not meant for manual labor because she’s a writer. She’s quickly shut down when she’s told that everyone she’s working with is from a similar world. “They’re all creative, not just you.” It’s a line and moment that speaks to my soul as a temp who’s been in the same temp position for six months while writing on the side. Daisy’s pridefully ignorant to the idea that writers have to do more than write to get by, and it’s almost sweet.
Brian gets the slightest C-plot storyline, where he finally finds gallery space – only to be knocked out before the show opens to the public. Luckily for him, it’s a success; not so lucky for him, he’s out cold for the entirety of it. I do enjoy how all of his scenes in “Mettle” are shown as if they were a part of an entirely different show, with stage lighting and shadows. “He shot himself in the foot. Terrible mess. It was very moving though.” There’s that deadpan humor I love.
Tim and Daisy are easily my favorite pairing that this show has to offer, and Simon Pegg and Jessica Hynes had a tangible chemistry from the get-go, to the point where they never appear like they’re “playing friends” – it’s just assumed that they must be in real life, too. It’s a comfortable feeling of good friends who know the best and worst the other has to offer. This is showcased further in a sexually-charged scene where Daisy pretends to be his interviewer for a job, and things get heavy with innuendo, only to be broken up by Mike.
That being said, any episode that puts Pegg and Nick Frost together in a storyline geared towards their characters is going to be a winner in my book, because Pegg and Frost might be my favorite pairing in films, period. After seeing films where they’re separated, I’m convinced they bring out the best in one another (under watchful and meticulous eye of Edgar Wright, of course). Even in Spaced, their first project together, it was clear that their dynamic clicked instantly. Their plot for this episode follows them building a robot for Robot Wars – one comedically awkward-looking, with plenty of mishaps along the way. “I like your face.” “Let’s keep the axe.”
Dexter, a fellow Territorial Army member, sabotages their robot after his team is beaten by Mike and Tim, and the two of them refuse to take part in a rematch. Mike and Dexter have some sort of rivalry, and to instigate further, Dexter breaks their robot, taking them out of the Robot Wars. Mike isn’t ready to give in, despite his initial panic, and he and Tim get to working on their bot in time for the competition. “Timmy, fetch me my tools,” may be my favorite line reading Nick Frost has ever done.
We are then gifted with a montage of them making their repairs intercut with Daisy’s ongoing grief at work, and Brian working to get his gallery set up. It’s all shot in a grandiose manner which plays nicely against the fact that the tasks they’re all doing are rather mundane. I’d like to think that the ending shot of the mugs with Tim and Mike helped inspired a key moment in Shaun of the Dead, but that’s likely me grasping at straws.
The ending fight between Mike and Dexter is another pretty obvious homage to Fight Club, as they look to settle their differences through a good old-fashioned underground robotics fight. Tim and Mike win, and all’s right with the world as the cast gathers together at the local pub, with their new comrades in tow for a drink, all wearing the evidence of the day they’ve had.
The show may split up its cast every once in a while, but if it always brings them back together in such a playful manner by the episode’s end, it’s worth it. I mentioned last week that there hadn’t been episode that touched season one’s highs yet – well, here it is.
Allyson Johnson is a twenty something writer and a lover of film and all things pop-culture. She’s a film and television enthusiast and critic over at TheYoungFolks.com who spends too much of her free time on Netflix. Her idols are Jo March, Illana Glazer, and Amy Poehler. Check her out at her twitter @AllysonAJ or at The Young Folks.
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