Friday, July 18, 2014

Mr. Sloane

This past month, I've been watching a lot of British TV and being a huge fan of Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, I came across this just stumbling about on the net. The first season (series as they're called in the UK) just finished a month or two ago, and while it's rather short (only 6 episodes) it's.fucking.awesome.

It takes place in December 1969 in a town about 20 miles north of London called 'Watford'. Starring Nick Frost (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, The Worlds End, Paul) as Jeremy Sloane, you see a lonely man with perpetually bad luck work his way through the Xmas season leading up to New Years 1970. You know he's been having a rough go of things when the first time you see him in Episode 1, he's attempting suicide, however the ceiling can't hold his weight and he crashes to the floor, hears the phone ring and casually accepts an offer from his friends to go to the pub. It's full of dark humor and ridiculous events, but Jeremy is charming throughout and rarely appears to dwell on his comical misfortune.

Recently separated from his wife of 10 years (as well as fired from his job on the same day), you get to follow Mr. Sloane as he tries to put his life back together e.g finding new love, finding steady employment (he's a substitute elementary teacher), dealing with his crude, juvenile friends, and a very annoying albeit kind hearted neighbor. As events happen, you'll notice that his life is living example in Murphy's law, everything that can go wrong, pretty much does, but as he's such a lovable guy, all you do is root for him. He's a character you can associate with, all the stuff he goes through feels so organic and genuine as ridiculous as it gets sometimes. 

With life as he knew it in shambles, you get to see him transform from a rigid, conservative, by the numbers (literally he's an accountant) predictable man, into a free spirited, open minded person whose life is in dire need of a reformat. It's an awesome ride and I hope they do a season 2 because 6 episodes of this just isn't enough. Fucking A....

                                      






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