Sunday, April 3, 2016

TV: Siblings

This weekend I've been watching Siblings. The first series is on Netflix and I'm onto the second thanks to good old watchseries. It's basically a British version of one of my favourite shows, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, which follows a gang of incredibly lazy, horrible people and has Danny DeVito in it for some reason.


Siblings stars Charlotte Ritchie, who I'm really loving at the moment. If you're a TV addict like myself, you'll have seen her as the pretentious Oregon in Fresh Meat and the new nurse who's going out with Trixie's boring priest ex in Call the Midwife. IMDb says she was in Goblet of Fire so I need to rewatch it and look out for that (I've seen GoF the least as it's the worst Harry Potter film).

Ritchie plays Hannah, a rude and lazy hedonist who is self-centred to the core, while some dude called Tom Stourton plays Dan, her kind-hearted but idiotic brother. Both of them ruin people's lives, and this is possible because they don't seem to have money problems. Dan is unemployed and Hannah is a PA though plays fast and loose with that position, so we can assume they are spoilt by their parents. Hannah voices everything I want to express in every day life - mostly 'fuck you' to everyone - but somehow resist (although not often enough, some might say).

In other words, Hannah and Dan are Sweet Dee and Charlie from IASIP, though less well-developed and siblings rather than friends/lovers(?). When Hannah's high hopes for a 'golden week' are shattered as she is utterly humiliated with some Peep Show-esque toilet humour in S2E2, her character is particularly Dee-like, though she also has more than a touch of the psychopath Dennis about her. The jarringly cheery music is also reminiscent of Always Sunny.


A few thoughts:

  • Hannah's wardrobe is really great and it definitely adds another level of enjoyment for me. Her preppy style calls for collared shirts under patterned dresses, a cute look that clashes wonderfully with her evil personality.
  • Hannah from Siblings and Dee from both eat plentifully and messily, though of course remain skinny. I can fully believe that both actresses are indeed those lucky naturally skinny types but whenever these characters love their food, it's like an achievement, a compliment. And I do enjoy that - seeing any woman enjoy eating without guilt or worry - but you'd never see a fat female character behave in the same way without constant derision. Come to think of it, I've probably just described the Cool Girl trope, as observed by Gillian Flynn in Gone Girl: "Being the Cool Girl means I am a hot, brilliant, funny woman who adores football, poker, dirty jokes, and burping, who plays video games, drinks cheap beer, loves threesomes and anal sex, and jams hot dogs and hamburgers into her mouth like she’s hosting the world’s biggest culinary gang bang while somehow maintaining a size 2".
  • The way everyone Hannah calls everyone she sleeps with her boyfriend immediately and they don't object. What's that about? Now, I'm particularly unlucky in love but sleeping with a guy once or dating for a week surely does not mean he classifies as a boyfriend and certainly doesn't mean he's on board for the relationship label being assigned to the situation. Right?
  • Just wanted to say, I'm absolutely devastated about Fresh Meat ending. I'm putting off watching the finale because I will definitely cry. What terrific characters they created.
My favourite Hannah dress/shirt combo