Now that the central conceit of The Trip has been established, it can start delving into the lives of Coogan and Brydon in earnest. I hadn't realised until I'd watched the first episode that the series is technically a continuation of A Cock and Bull Story—which I'll now watch soon—which will surely add an interesting wrinkle to the relationship between the two men. In what was a genuine surprise, we open with a dream sequence featuring Ben Stiller assuring Coogan that all the best auteurs are fighting to work with him. It's a brilliant way of establishing further Coogan's own hubris and opinion of himself. He feels that he's destined for something greater, and, one suspects, better company than Rob Brydon. Still, their odyssey continues, this time to L'Enclume. The format is largely the same—we briefly see the end of Coogan's one-night-stand with the hotel staff from the previous episode before we're off again in the car. The meal comes, we see excerpts from the kitchen, and the two men chat and bicker and do impressions. It feels more low-key than the previous episode, perhaps deliberately. Coogan's jealousy over Mischa is increasingly apparent and he begins to cut a slightly tragic figure, a man who's convinced that he deserves more from life without every doing anything to justify that.
Brydon remains an engaging screen presence and a good foil to Coogan. The contrast between his phone call to his wife—warm, witty, playful—and Coogan's interactions with Mischa and his various hangers-on and team are telling, particularly in light of the sense that they're becoming more used to one another's presences. Coogan no longer complains about the impressions during the meal but heartily joins in; the wine selection goes off without a hitch; there isn't quite the same undercurrent to the bickering. In much the same way as the previous episode, we end with Coogan being disappointed yet again on the phone. I'm enjoying the way that the central relationship is unfolding over the two episodes I've watched, and I'm curious as to how the series is going to maintain the premise over each of its incarnations. The gentle intrusion of deeper pathos into the proceedings helps balance out the lightness of the rest of it and keep it from being a glorified segment from The One Show.
Review by DeletedBlockedParent2019-07-13T19:34:59Z
Now that the central conceit of The Trip has been established, it can start delving into the lives of Coogan and Brydon in earnest. I hadn't realised until I'd watched the first episode that the series is technically a continuation of A Cock and Bull Story—which I'll now watch soon—which will surely add an interesting wrinkle to the relationship between the two men. In what was a genuine surprise, we open with a dream sequence featuring Ben Stiller assuring Coogan that all the best auteurs are fighting to work with him. It's a brilliant way of establishing further Coogan's own hubris and opinion of himself. He feels that he's destined for something greater, and, one suspects, better company than Rob Brydon. Still, their odyssey continues, this time to L'Enclume. The format is largely the same—we briefly see the end of Coogan's one-night-stand with the hotel staff from the previous episode before we're off again in the car. The meal comes, we see excerpts from the kitchen, and the two men chat and bicker and do impressions. It feels more low-key than the previous episode, perhaps deliberately. Coogan's jealousy over Mischa is increasingly apparent and he begins to cut a slightly tragic figure, a man who's convinced that he deserves more from life without every doing anything to justify that.
Brydon remains an engaging screen presence and a good foil to Coogan. The contrast between his phone call to his wife—warm, witty, playful—and Coogan's interactions with Mischa and his various hangers-on and team are telling, particularly in light of the sense that they're becoming more used to one another's presences. Coogan no longer complains about the impressions during the meal but heartily joins in; the wine selection goes off without a hitch; there isn't quite the same undercurrent to the bickering. In much the same way as the previous episode, we end with Coogan being disappointed yet again on the phone. I'm enjoying the way that the central relationship is unfolding over the two episodes I've watched, and I'm curious as to how the series is going to maintain the premise over each of its incarnations. The gentle intrusion of deeper pathos into the proceedings helps balance out the lightness of the rest of it and keep it from being a glorified segment from The One Show.