Gareth Keenan Investigates (Office, The)

Member Name: dave27

Product:	Office, The
Date:	16/08/01 (2629 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Brent, Keenan

Disadvantages: Some people will think it's serious

Mainwaring, Fawlty, Rigsby, Blackadder, Partridge, Lister, Rimmer, Jim Royle, Patsy Stone, there is a seemingly endless list of irredeemably awful comic creations who are sent to terrorise our senses and leave us thanking our lucky stars that we live in real life rather than sitcom land.

And now, we are presented with quite possibly the most despicable of the lot, a character without a single redeemable bone in his entire, loathsome body ... ladies and gentlemen, dave27 gives you David Brent. And worse still, not only does 'The Office', the new BBC2 comedy series, feature Brent, it also gives you his abominable aide de camp, Gareth Keenan.

This is a super slick new classic, which has cult success written all over it. Written by Ricky Gervaise (who plays Brent) and Stephen Merchant, 'The Office' is so well observed and based in the reality of office politics and arrogance that many would share Mrs D's conviction that this is not a sitcom at all, but rather a docu-soap, filmed in classic fly on the wall manner, complete with individual interviews with the main protagonists. When I caught the first episode, halfway through, with no prior knowledge of it, it took me a while to work out whether this was real or a spoof.

Trust me, however, this is a spoof and a sitcom of immense proportions, spitefully focused sharply on the everyday bitchiness and hatred which populates 99.9% of office complexes in the Britain of the New Millennium, and it is gorgeous in both its concept and its realisation. Also, IT'S REALLY BLOODY FUNNY.....
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
PRESSURE - NOT AS EASY AS IT LOOKS
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
'The Office' is shown at 9.30 on BBC2 every Tuesday evening, with a repeat at 9 on Thursdays on BBC Choice.

David Brent is the Manager of the Slough Branch Office of Wernham Hogg, a paper merchants. Gareth Keenan is Assistant Branch Manager (according to Gareth)
or Assistant to the Branch Manager (according to David). The office is one glorified Boys' Club with David and Gareth so tied up in their own self importance and self regard that they can't recognise that everyone else thinks they're absolute W***ERS!

Let's just have a run down on the odd little bunch which people this little empire...

DAVID BRENT - Utterly, utterly convinced of his absolute perfection as a human being, David also thinks that he is the perfect boss, and that he is the world's funniest man and the best singer songwriter around and that he is the epitome of political correctness. He maintains that his comedy and his position as manager are not mutually exclusive and that the office is both hyper efficient and all the staff have a wonderful time - "Tear up the rule books." "Ask me the name of three geniuses ... I probably wouldn't say Einstein, Newton and ermmm, I'd go Milligan, Cleese, Everett ... Sessions". In actual fact, David is a loathsome, self worshipping toady with a huge security complex (notice how often he touches his tie as a substitute phallus and comfort blanket) and appalling interpersonal skills.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
IT'S ALWAYS POSSIBLE TO IMPROVE YOUR PEOPLE SKILLS
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

GARETH KEENAN - Gareth has the biggest bags known to man and is the most sycophantic, slimy idiot you have ever seen. He was in the Territorial Army and is capable of great feats of bravery, or a complete wazzock, depending on your perspective. He likes to think himself as being David's right hand man and a big noise in the office, but is the biggest figure of fun around. "I don't go in for office romances, it's too distracting ... I've had plenty of offers, though."

TIM - Tim sits next to Gareth and has a deep and overwhelming contempt for both him and David. When he threw Gareth's stap
ler out of the window there was hell to pay. He is constantly taking the piss out of the Dynamic Duo and is absolutely besotted with ...

DAWN THE RECEPTIONIST - Engaged to Lee from the warehouse for the last three years, she is a temperamental and fiery character, who spends most of her time flirting with Tim. She considers both David and Gareth to be worse than something on the bottom of her shoe.

DONNA - Donna is the daughter of an old friend of David's, a policeman, and for some reason staying with him. She has been taken on for work experience by David, who is also trying to act as her protector and surrogate father. He is not amused to find a temp in the office is doing the wild thing with Donna.

CHRIS FINCH - Finchy is David's partner in crime, or so he thinks. He is an arrogant, conceited, slimeball of a salesman who thinks he is God's gift to women. He allows David to tag along in his shadow so that he has someone to permanently look down on. David acts like a fawning puppy whenever Finchy is around.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
MR SPOCK IS ACTUALLY HALF HUMAN AND HALF VULCAN
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Episode One - Downsizing
David's boss visits the Slough branch to tell him that the company is having difficulties and that there will have to be efficiencies. Either the Slough branch or the one in Swindon are going to be absorbed by the other, depending which is the more efficient. According to David, he put her in her place, but Dawn reveals to the rest of the office that there are going to have to be redundancies. David attempts to fire her for stealing post it notes, but chickens out when the waterworks start.

Episode Two - Work experience
David introduces Donna to the rest of the office and shows her round. He is showing her how the E-mail system works when a picture comes up of David's head on woman's body with two blokes "jizzing on h
im". Donna notes later, "No, he's sucking one of them off." David asks Gareth to carry out a discreet investigation to identify the creator of the image and sparks off one of the most blatant covert ops of all time. When David finds out that Finchy was the culprit after falsely accusing Tim, it suddenly becomes not the issue it was. David's boss tells him to sack Finchy. He rings him and tells him he's out, but when the boss puts the monitor on it's apparent that David is having a conversation with the speaking clock.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
THE STAFF, LET THEM KNOW THAT THEY ARE YOUR MOST IMPORTANT COMMODITY
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Episode Three - Quiz
It's Tim's birthday and drinks after work, but more importantly the regular quiz competition, with David and Finchy seeking to hang on to their title. Unfortunately, the temp manages to answer the sudden death question when they are tied, but Finchy manages to win a double or quits bet by throwing Tim's shoe over the top of the pub. Finchy is annoyed that David let him down. "Cuban dictator who rules for twenty years? What did you say? Fray Bentos."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I'LL HELP US CLEAN OUR FLOOR TOGETHER
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Episode Four - Training
David has decided to give his staff some refresher training in customer care and has asked a consultant to facilitate, only David can't keep his mouth shut and insists on taking over. He also seizes on the opportunity to avail his staff of his songwriting and singing skills. He has the perfect song for every situation and serenades Dawn to ease the pain of her tiff with Lee. Key moment - the facilitator asks each of the staff what their fantasy is. His own is owning an island, David's is time travel. Gareth comes in with a flip chart and gets asked what his fantasy is - "Two lesbians to
gether, sisters, me just watching." When Tim is asked about his dream, he says "Well, I've never said this before, but I'd like to hear more from Gareth."

Episode Five - Secretary
David decides to take on a secretary. There are two candidates, a staid guy in glasses, and a good looking blonde. David has already made his mind up before the interview. Afterwards, trying to impress the girl with his football skills, he gives her a black eye. Later David, Gareth, Tim and Finchy are out on the piss and the pull at Chasers where the new secretary is on a night out. Gareth leaves with a couple of swingers in a motorcycle sidecar.


Now that's a fairly whistlestop tour and doesn't do this sharp little gem anywhere near justice. The writing is gilt edged and acutely barbed and the playing is quite splendidly true to life. David and Gareth are quite wonderfully observed and every company has a pair like this if you think about it long enough. I know mine is....

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A GOOD IDEA IS A GOOD IDEA FOREVER
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Summary: