Well, maybe I articulated that wrongly and not because I was challenged! I think what I mean is the crude stuff (which I still enjoy on the whole) in particular. I'm maybe looking a little too deep and expecting too much but it's Jay mostly, I think he's great but could be greater with a little finesse and depth instead of constant 'balls deep, smelly finger stuff. I know there's a little attempt at justification with his Father obviously shaping him with his crass and shameful insensitivity and put downs but I think he could be even better a little more rounded. I think I should retract predictable....Dunno what to replace it with though, there's just a little undefinable thing that I think could make it even better. I can be culpable of over analysis though!

Good episode this week, but I thought it was a little weird, maybe because there was a lot of different stuff going on. Still some very funny bits -- the online chat, this scene:

"F**king John's in there. And he's with a girl."

"He's got his hand on her tit."

Quote: Lord Summerisle @ April 17 2009, 12:58 AM BST

Well, maybe I articulated that wrongly and not because I was challenged! I think what I mean is the crude stuff (which I still enjoy on the whole) in particular. I'm maybe looking a little too deep and expecting too much but it's Jay mostly, I think he's great but could be greater with a little finesse and depth instead of constant 'balls deep, smelly finger stuff. I know there's a little attempt at justification with his Father obviously shaping him with his crass and shameful insensitivity and put downs but I think he could be even better a little more rounded. I think I should retract predictable....Dunno what to replace it with though, there's just a little undefinable thing that I think could make it even better. I can be culpable of over analysis though!

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Absolutely spot on.

I thought it was another good episode, I was almost crying at the dead hand gag and the bit where they were ditching the French guy,

'what does he think we're doing?'

Roll on next week

Funny, funny stuff.

In regards to realism: I'm (sadly) on the side that thinks the show is fairly realistic. My teenage years really were pretty much like these guys.

Quote: Mark @ April 17 2009, 11:49 AM BST

Funny, funny stuff.

In regards to realism: I'm (sadly) on the side that thinks the show is fairly realistic. My teenage years really were pretty much like these guys.

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I'm not sure if that's magic or tragic.

Quote: Lord Summerisle @ April 17 2009, 12:58 AM BST

Well, maybe I articulated that wrongly and not because I was challenged! I think what I mean is the crude stuff (which I still enjoy on the whole) in particular. I'm maybe looking a little too deep and expecting too much but it's Jay mostly, I think he's great but could be greater with a little finesse and depth instead of constant 'balls deep, smelly finger stuff. I know there's a little attempt at justification with his Father obviously shaping him with his crass and shameful insensitivity and put downs but I think he could be even better a little more rounded.

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Ah I see. Yeah. Well, I disagree 100%.

Quote: Darren Pomroy @ April 17 2009, 1:35 PM BST

I'm not sure if that's magic or tragic.

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It's magic.

Gets better by the week... Jay being a tit for the sake of it...like me and my mates would just to ruin any chance you had with a girl.

'have you been eating cat food again'

'I can taste it'

desperate cries of 'it was just a wee'

Obviously the characters will be 'heightened' slightly - that's telly - but I think they all work really well.

Jay is very realistic I think. His dad puts him down and he over-compensates to his friends. But at the same time he knows he's full of it, and so do the group, but it just goes (almost) unmentioned and ignored. So he keeps doing it, and he carries on being a stud in his head.

Simon is a bit repressed because of his overtly sexual and honest parents. It's made him awkward and shy. In fact he's actually the shyest and most nervy of the four.

Will is very confident in his mental abilities, and therefore is always willing to speak up. He's probably the most confident of them all - he spoke up at the party, at the pub in episode 1, at Thorpe Park etc. It's not known WHY he's so confident though - maybe his private education made him that way?

Neil is the most content of the group, he lives in his own world and occasionally gets the girl. He's a nice enough guy, so he always gets through just fine. And he probably never gets embarrassed either. He's the only one who never cares what people think.

So there you go.

Quote: Seefacts @ April 17 2009, 2:40 PM BST

Obviously the characters will be 'heightened' slightly - that's telly - but I think they all work really well.

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Yes.

Quote: Seefacts @ April 17 2009, 2:40 PM BST

Obviously the characters will be 'heightened' slightly

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Slightly, perhaps. But so little it's unnoticeable to some of us.

I only realized this 2nd series was happening a few days back, rushed to watch the episodes and oh wow, as funny as ever. Last night's episode was not as fantastic as the first two were (I was literally holding my stomach laughing at the boat finale of 2x01) but good all the same.

I probably said this somewhere on the forum already but I sort of see this as the British Superbad; male teenagers trying hard to be cool and get with girls and failing with hilarious results, peppered with some crude language. Now, I'm not British and I'm a girl, but it does capture a lot of what I remember experiencing as a teenager - ending up being friends with some people who aren't similar to you but being close to them anyway, awkwardness and uncertainties galore.

The series has managed to come up with some great dynamics, like Will's witticisms against Jay's crass and empty boasts (the stark difference between the two always cracks me up) or the cute and yet pretty creepy fixation on certain girls (Simon with Carli, Will with Charlotte).

Another thing I probably said at some point but would be so cool to get a show of this sort about girls. It would be kind of a different show in terms of tone and content - girls run into embarrassing situations, too, but I've never heard of a girl getting into situations quite as mortifying as some of the boys in Inbetweeners experience - but I think with good writing, it would be great to have a look at the other side of the teenage human experience.

Yep, that would be great too. I am a girl though, and totally identify with Simon and Will's characters.
But yeah, the more shows like this the merrier.

Especially as the female characters in The Inbetweeners are hardly on screen and therefore very, erm, basic. All the ones I can think of have just been 'chav', 'pretty', 'snobby', 'bitchy' etc. As they should be, 'cos it's about the four main characters.

It's funny when you compare this to a show like Coming Of Age, both dealing with sex hungry kids of around the same age, both treating us to a lot of crude language and humour, but they could barely be further apart in terms of quality.

Quote: sanniberry @ April 17 2009, 4:25 PM BST

Another thing I probably said at some point but would be so cool to get a show of this sort about girls. It would be kind of a different show in terms of tone and content - girls run into embarrassing situations, too, but I've never heard of a girl getting into situations quite as mortifying as some of the boys in Inbetweeners experience - but I think with good writing, it would be great to have a look at the other side of the teenage human experience.

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By the time it got to our screens, they'd probably just come across as slags.

Quote: Matthew Stott @ April 17 2009, 4:31 PM BST

It's funny when you compare this to a show like Coming Of Age, both dealing with sex hungry kids of around the same age, both treating us to a lot of crude language and humour, but they could barely be further apart in terms of quality.

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The 'quality' is dictated by one's own sense of humour. The two shows are binary opposites in their tone and the situations (very real in TI, very cartoon-y in COA).