REVIEW: Hapless, Series 1 Episode Four 'Bad Hair Day'

 REVIEW: Hapless, Series 1 Episode Four 'Bad Hair Day'

If there's any one thing that never stops being funny, it's things going disastrously wrong. There's something joyous about seeing people we don't know experiencing an extreme level of bad luck, especially when it concerns very heightened scenarios. This episode of Hapless is a prime example of that.

Here, Jewish Inquirer reporter Paul (Tim Downie) has a very bad day. Firstly, he is given an electric car to review, despite - as his friend Simon (Josh Howe) points out - the fact that he knows absolutely nothing about cars. The camaraderie between Paul and Simon is one of the highlights of this show for sure. The two actors have such great chemistry together, and it feels like watching a pair of close friends. Then his sister Naomi (Lucy Montgomery) calls and instructs Paul to take her son to the hairdresser's. On the face of it, this seems like a perfectly normal occurrence that couldn't possibly go wrong, but in true sitcom fashion it very much does. I loved Naomi's frustrations to fasten her child into the booster seat here; her constant moaning delving into the use of swear words made me laugh a great deal. Neither kid or mother, it seems, are a fan of the haircut that transpires, as Lucy demands he returns to the hairdresser's and requests a refund. What transpires is a series of events that become more and more wonderfully absurd. If you thought it couldn't get any more weird than an argument over whether John Lewis offer refunds on used underwear, then you'd be very wrong. Most of these situations revolve around Paul's new dwarf friend Mark (Ben Goffe), and boy do his scenes really push the boundaries of what is or isn't deemed acceptable. These sequences not only involve jokes regarding whether dwarfs should have to use booster seats in vehicles, but also Nazi salutes and environmentalism. Whilst I am not a fan of Family Guy's approach to this style of edgy humour, to me the difference with Hapless is none of it feels mean-spirited. Family Guy takes great pleasure in poking fun at people's differences, whereas Hapless's approach is more a light ribbing in the things that make us all different.

In places this episode reminded me a little of the film Little Miss Sunshine. Just like that charming comedic adventure, a great deal of the plot is linked around a central vehicle - in this case, an electric car - which provides obstacles throughout the journey. For instance, Paul finds he has to knock on a stranger's house when the car runs out of power. Later on, in a scene that made me chuckle out loud, Mark experiences great difficulty in trying to close the passenger door due to his size. It's nice how the car almost becomes a character in its own right, and it means it sort of feels like it serves a purpose within the narrative.

Overall, this was an excellent edition of My5's latest comedy acquisition. Hapless's comedic edge provides many moments that most modern comedies would cower away from even attempting, whilst also wisely straying away from the kind of mean-spirited humour that Family Guy strives to showcase. This is a comedy that isn't afraid to poke some fun at topics that would normally be considered taboo for a modern sitcom, and as a result it carves itself a unique path, away from the other British comedies on the television right now.

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What are your thoughts on Hapless's fourth episode? Let me know in the comments.