Well that was a major disappointment.
For those not within viewing distance: Vicious is a new sitcom featuring Sir Ian McKellen and Sir Derek Jacobi as an old gay couple of theatrical bent. Frances de la Tour plays a vaguely odd, vaguely flirtacious friend of theirs, and they’ve got a new (young, straight, naive, Northern) upstairs male neighbour called Ash. The dynamic between the couple is one of constant catty sniping; McKellan’s character is constantly inflating his own ego and Jacobi’s is just as constantly skewering it. Both characters are WAY over-the-top in their pathetic overdramatic expressions and habits. This should have been absolutely hilarious.
Except that the writing sucked. Really, really sucked. There were a lot of good quips, but they were just sort of heaped in a pile with no rhyme or reason or relation to the plot. De La Tour’s character suddenly blurts out a fear of being raped by Ash; there’s no reason for this except to set up the exchange “No one wants to rape you!” “That’s a terrible thing to say!” Jacobi’s character decides that two sandwiches cut into 16 pieces each is sufficient for party food. There is no setup for this. Is he a miser? Is he being lazy? Is he just clueless? We get no hint. It’s just stuck in there so that one of the guests can complain about it later. At one point a pet dog is mentioned. It is never seen or referred to again. Chekov must be spinning in his grave here.
And I have no idea what the hell Ash is up to. He occasionally comes to visit for no apparent reason other than to stand around looking bewildered at the behavior of the couple and their other friends. At one point he blurts out that he’s never been in love. Really? That’s the first bit of back story you give us? One is left to suspect that he’s slightly brain-damaged; it’s the only thing that explains his behavior.
So as much fun as it was watching Jacobi and McKellen hamming it up outrageously, I suspect this one’s going to die a swift and painful death.
Anyone else see it?