Cuckoo and Ken are bonding, with a little help…
After mistaking an ecstasy tablet for a painkiller, Ken is off on a dangerous trip.
I’m not altogether sure how to feel about this particular episode of Cuckoo. Although I am certainly no prude, I’m not entirely sure that the lighter side of hard drugs is really sitcom fare. I suppose that with an air time of 10pm, the probability of impressionable children viewing it and running off to find a drug dealer is slim but still there is that uncomfortable feeling that the show should not have gone down that road. Admittedly, the result of Greg Davies pretending to be frankly high as a kite was actually astonishingly hilarious and the projectile vomitting scene was reminiscent of the awkward vomiting scene in ‘The Inbetweeners’ and did make me laugh, so while the method of illegal intoxication was distasteful, the result was pretty funny. While the episode was highly entertaining, the usual ‘say no to drugs’ message where the person sees the ill effects of the drug weren’t really hammered home, all that happened with Ken was a socially embarrassing situation and a slight injury. To be fair he also didn’t know he was taking ecstasy so it may just about be salvageable.
All that aside, the episode achieved the highest amount of laughs from me for the series so far. Desperate to be a Lib Dem councillor, Ken was on his best behaviour in an interview with someone who had a great deal of sway over the board that could appoint him with the role. All went well and he was all but offered the role until his son Dylan’s scuffle at school with the very same lady’s son led to a cringeworthy exchange where the job was slipping through his fingers.
Dylan had his own angst to go through as a girl he was attracted to invited him to a party but only on the condition that he obtain some ecstasy tablets from her dealer. With the thought of ingratiating himself with the girl by doing so, he arranged to pick up the tablets.
In the meantime, Rachel worried that her father and Cuckoo weren’t getting on and Lorna’s solution of leaving the two men to get to know each other with the ladies having a girlie night round at a family friends was rudely interrupted by the friend inviting her son Zeb to try and force Rachel and Zeb together. While Lorna and Rachel spent a less than exciting evening, Ken was suffering from an excruciatingly bad back and after a meal cooked by Cuckoo he took what he thought were painkillers from Dylan but they were the ecstasy tablets his son had procured to secure his date. While high on drugs, Cuckoo and Ken got along splendidly, ordering Dexy’s Midnight Runners tickets and promising to be best friends forever. Picking up Dylan from the party proved to be something of a wild excursion for the pair and Ken’s reputation was put on the line as he made a last ditch attempt to become a Lib Dem councillor.
The image of Greg Davies, oiled and stripped to the waist will remain etched on my brain for a long time to come and possibly for all the wrong reasons as he quizzed a friend at the door whether he wanted a massage. His dressing like the lead singer of Dexy’s Midnight Runners and smashing through a coffee table was certainly surprising too with his love for Cuckoo being an interesting turn of events. The moment Ken decided to take painkillers and Dylan’s quest to buy drugs were mentioned, the outcome was fairly expected and predictable but Greg Davies performed terrifically as the usually serious Ken transformed into an excitable delight. Andy Samberg put in a great performance as the often baffled and pretentious Cuckoo but without the tension between him and Ken, a little something was lost from the episode.
Overall the episode was very funny despite the drug theme and it will be interesting to see what impact the consequences of this episode have on the rest of the series. Tune in next week to find out!
