matty_b
Posts: 12850
Joined: 19/10/2005
From: Outpost 31 calling McMurtle.
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Derek (pilot and series one)
I don't erupt into a volcanic hatred at the mere mention of Gervais, but I also don't think he's produced anything of worth since The Office, so when I say this is comfortably the best thing he's done since then, it's a backhanded compliment at best. Thing is, I don't find the concept of fame particularly interesting which is why I found Extras and Life's Too Short cold and mainly execrable respectively, whereas Derek is undeniably heartfelt but also obvious to the point of extreme mawkishness - old people are nice and Derek is nice because he doesn't even understand the concept of thinking bad about someone. Gervais has always been a sentimental writer, but it's worked in the best of his past work because he's balanced it out with a lot of harshness that various characters have had to struggle through to get to that point. The eventual get together of Tim and Dawn in The Office is such a tremendous emotional high point because the entire two series and Christmas specials tortured us and them by permanently keeping them at arms length. Here, it's all very nice and comfy from the get go. No-one is tripped up by their own ego, their own flaws or is the show's version of Chris Finch or Andy Millman's acting nemesis (can't be arsed to look that up) - even the boorish Kev is pitiable rather than genuinely unpleasant.
Most of the best bits, unexpectedly, come from Karl Pilkington as Dougie. Granted, it's just an extension of his own persona, but there was still no guarantee that would work and he fits onto the drama model with ease. The very best bit of Derek comes at the end of the first episode proper where Dougie loses his rag with the penpusher and hounds him out of the home. It's an obvious scene, but Pilkington plays it very nicely. Other than that, there's an unexpectedly perceptive line about the potential of Derek having autism - "Don't worry about it then" - which really resonates (and I have personal reasons for that line working) but not a whole lot else, other than a lot of montages and Coldplay which you could almost swear has been written as a satire of touchy-feely dramas, but it's not. Gervais means it, and while I prefer it when he's heartfelt in his writing as opposed to being cruel or bitter, it still doesn't really work.
It should be said that Kerry Godliman is pretty brilliant as Hannah, the nurse who runs the home Derek works in, but you do wish that Gervais had actually scaled Derek the character back considerably, or even excised him completely, as it's with Hannah that the nugget of something really interesting and good lies. She's both funny - her delivery of "She hasn't changed. She was always a cunt." is deadpan brilliance - and affecting without being obvious about it. I've always found Gervais' mainly sympathetic writing of women (Dawn, Maggie and now Hannah) one of his strengths, and with what I think is a genuine interest in the situation here, then it should be called Hannah and not Derek, really. I'd like to think that the second series would go down that road, but I don't hold out much hope. (2.5)
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