Cuckoo’s naked meditation is causing Ken escalating problems.
Ken and Cuckoo are locked in battle over some books and a party leads to further problems for Ken.
It must have been genuinely hard for any of the actors to keep a straight face while filming this series as everything is so over the top. Andy Samberg is hilarious as the deluded Cuckoo, spouting ridiculous sound bites and claiming that Ken’s choice of reading material is spoiling the Feng Shui of the room for his meditation. Greg Davies spends a great deal of time rolling his eyes and it is easy to see how someone such as Cuckoo would cause such a stir in the life of someone like Ken. The funny thing is that, while Ken dislikes him and Dylan seems ambivalent towards him, Cuckoo seems to have won over the ladies of the household with even Lorna falling under his spell. This is a sitcom that shows that essentially respecting your children’s life choices may not be an easy task.
The episode began with Ken in the throes of a nightmare which seemed nothing in comparison to finding Cuckoo meditating naked on the kitchen countertops. The brilliant quote ‘we prepare food on that surface!’ as Ken attempted to get Cuckoo to sit on a tea towel was laugh out loud hilarious. After Cuckoo wandered into Ken and Lorna’s bedroom in the nude, Ken decided that a family meeting was in order to express his annoyance but Cuckoo had a surprise up his sleeve too. Cuckoo had decided that the best place for him to meditate was Ken’s study but Ken’s books on World War Two and the Nazi’s were spoiling the Feng Shui so he asked to have them removed. Ken’s protestations about being interested in history led to an unfortunate comparison with Hitler and a vote was proposed. In order to buy Dylan’s vote to win the right to keep his own books in his own study, Ken was forced to embarrass himself in front of family friends and invite further accusations of a serious nature. Rachel’s party didn’t quite go to plan and Cuckoo’s speech was something…well, it was just something!
Like every good sitcom there is a blend of madcap schemes and awkward situations and all in all the cast pull off these situations with aplomb. Although Greg Davies and Andy Samberg are clearly the front men in this amusing show, the other cast members are brilliant in their own right – Helen Baxendale is hilarious as the somewhat free spirited Lorna and Tyger Drew-Honey does a fine job as the mess of teen angst that is Dylan. Tamla Kari is also highly entertaining as love struck Rachel who sees literally no trace of pretension in her spaced out husband, although you get the distinct feeling that at some point she is going to wake up and wonder what on earth she is doing. With some great dialogue and the feeling that Ken is fighting a losing battle against Cuckoo, there is some real scope for this sitcom and long may it continue. An entertaining jewel in the crown of BBC Three.
