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Gavin and Stacey isn't funny amymore

371 replies

PheasantPluckers · 27/12/2024 00:37

Is it just me? I don't think it's aged well at all, I thought the finale was rubbish!

OP posts:
Pamosonic · 27/12/2024 10:03

Tinselskirt · 27/12/2024 09:59

I think that is entirely believable though. Nessa wouldn't have broached the subject again after she got rejected and her pride was wounded. Smithy is a commitment phobic coward who probably couldn't work out how to dump sonia so he just went along with it all, and the moment passed, and he wouldn't be brave enough to reopen the conversation with nessa. After all If they were any good at communicating they'd have got together years ago.

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...a bit like how they all forgot the conversation they were just having when the pans on the stove started burning just as Dave was about to reveal all about the camping trip.

teatoast8 · 27/12/2024 10:05

Loved it

SabreIsMyFave · 27/12/2024 10:05

I thought it was brilliant. Quite funny, but more touching and sentimental really. It's not a normal sitcom like Only Fools and Horses, it's like a comedy-drama series.

Wanna see something utter shite? Watch Outnumbered Christmas Special. (It will be on BBC iPlayer.) SO BAD that I bailed after 27 minutes. Dire! Awful acting, awful script, dreadful!

.

ScribblingPixie · 27/12/2024 10:06

I loved it. I liked that they adopted the tropes that made it a nostalgic watch, but freshened them up. I loved how they acknowledged Pamela and Mick getting older. I did wonder if Rob Brydon isn't flavour of the month with Ruth Jones and James Corden - they really darkened his character!

WestwardHo1 · 27/12/2024 10:09

RadioCountdown · 27/12/2024 07:21

I loves it I does.

I think if you are Welsh there are aspects of the humour that may escape you. ‘Neil the baby’ for example is poking fun at how lots of Welsh families call their youngest ‘the baby’ way past ‘baby’ stage. It’s lush it is.

I think it's definitely funnier and more familiar if you're from the Barry/Cardiff area.

BrickRedLipstick · 27/12/2024 10:11

people who don’t realise how clever it is are probably not very clever themselves. Smithy hated Nessa on sight because she is overweight despite being overweight himself. There is so much in the show about people not having insight into themselves. The fact he tried to marry someone who was completely wrong for him is perfect for his character. Dawn and Pete are the ultimate example of what happens when you marry the wrong person so putting them back together again at the end was the perfect mirror. Smithy realising Nessa is perfect for him at the very end was the ultimate character journey for Smithy. Ruth Jones and James Corden got everything spot on.

Jackiepumpkinhead · 27/12/2024 10:11

MarchingInto2025 · 27/12/2024 09:52

For all those who have previously loved the series but thought the finale was weak, I would suggest a rewatch. Back in 2019 I was in bed so poorly with flu but I set an alarm to make sure I didn't miss the G&S Xmas special. I thought it was rubbish, such a big disappointment after all the hype. But when I watched again a long time later I realised how good it actually was. I think illness, tiredness, stress from a full day of Xmas can make something like this land a bit flat.

For the finale, I loved it. I laughed a lot, out loud when Pete walked in with his new look and when Pam was talking about her plans once Mick died. It was funny, nostalgic and clever. Yes there's plot holes, yes it was a bit contrived with Dave & Gwen, but it was a lovely end to something that a lot of us have grown up with. And so much of it was so relatable. I wouldn't change a second.

Absolutely agree! I did the same and then really enjoyed the 2019 episode. As a Christmas special it wasn’t outstanding but when watched with all the other episodes it did work. Loved the finale.

MorrisZapp · 27/12/2024 10:12

EleanorBettyJackie · 27/12/2024 10:00

And I don't like the abandoned wedding trope. Lots of people made huge effort, expense and sacrifice to get there and to make it happen. If Smithy's friends had any regard for him at all they'd have told him long before it got to that stage. What an utter see you next Tuesday Smithy is to do that.
Richard Curtis would have blushed.

@MorrisZapp Curtis wrote Four Weddings and a Funeral, where the Hugh Grant character abandons "Duck Face" at the alter. Most of his blushes would involve him being as talented at comedy writing as Corden and Jones. The only reason Blackadder is any good is Ben Elton's writing.

That's exactly the point I was making!

BrickRedLipstick · 27/12/2024 10:13

The amount of fat shaming in Richard Curtis films is actually unbelievable.

WestwardHo1 · 27/12/2024 10:13

MorrisZapp · 27/12/2024 09:59

I'm not. I'm naming him as a well known stager of public proposals, cheesy speeches and mawkish scenes of physically chasing a love interest before they leave forever despite telephones having been invented.

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But they actually acknowledged that didn't they? They knew it was cheesy and corny and that everyone at home would be hollering JUST CALL HER ON HER MOBILE.

Aintnobodygottime · 27/12/2024 10:14

She was on her Walkman anyway so probably wouldn’t have heard her phone.

MrsSkylerWhite · 27/12/2024 10:14

I don’t think it was ever funny.

pooballs · 27/12/2024 10:16

I loved it! Christmas 2019 episode felt very forced and fell flat but this one was brilliant.

Cattyisbatty · 27/12/2024 10:20

Not as good as the series, but a fun watch and fitting ending imho!

JudgeJ · 27/12/2024 10:20

JustCrow · 27/12/2024 09:00

What a useful post.

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I've never watched Eastenders, Only Fools and Horses, Mrs Brown's whatsits, Star Wars and quite a few other things, hence I don't waste time on commenting about them!

fedup33 · 27/12/2024 10:22

JustCrow · 27/12/2024 09:11

Another valuable contribution to the thread 🤣

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I like to think so, yes.

PastaAndProse · 27/12/2024 10:22

Loved the series. Thought the 2019 Christmas special was mediocre. Started watching this year's and hated it, ended up turning it off after 15 minutes. It all felt very contrived 🤷‍♀️

JudgeJ · 27/12/2024 10:25

MorrisZapp · 27/12/2024 09:42

Am I right in saying that Neil the Baby was conceived after an embarrassed one night stand, and that at no point since then have Smithy and Nessa even lived in the same country?

Why oh why do crimbo specials need weddings, most people start by having relationships. They have a kid, they'd have noticed by now if they loved each other through small and ordinary ways, not histrionic marriage proposals.

And I don't like the abandoned wedding trope. Lots of people made huge effort, expense and sacrifice to get there and to make it happen. If Smithy's friends had any regard for him at all they'd have told him long before it got to that stage. What an utter see you next Tuesday Smithy is to do that.

Richard Curtis would have blushed.

I have felt all through the series that Richard Curtis, and other directors, have had their work used. When Smithy interrupted Nessa and Dave's wedding in whatever series all I could think of was The Graduate!

beguilingeyes · 27/12/2024 10:27

I thought it was perfect. Watched it at the inlaws and was trying not to cry in front of them, so need to re-watch.
Rudi's kids names! Taplow, Chingford, Brighton and Aldi!

TheDandyLion · 27/12/2024 10:27

It was all predictable and nothing spectactular but I'm glad it was done like that. Heartwarming and a great way to wrap up the series.

Pigeonqueen · 27/12/2024 10:28

I can’t stand it but I totally accept that I’m in the minority.

beguilingeyes · 27/12/2024 10:34

Dontcallmescarface · 27/12/2024 09:35

Because, as I said, I have seen clips that were described as being the "best bits" and my thought was "if that's the "best" then the rest must be dire" due to the fact that they weren't in the least bit funny to me.

As you said, comedy is subjective.

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Maybe because you can't just see a few seconds out of context and have the faintest idea what's going on?
I'm seeing quite a few people on t'internet who don't seem to have any idea that Blackburd is a Beatles song.

dutysuite · 27/12/2024 10:36

I liked it and laughed out loud a few times. I thought the ending could have been a bit more emotional with their wedding, it was rushed at the end.

Sussurations · 27/12/2024 10:37

I thought it was very good, although I would have liked to see Bryn portrayed a little more affectionately. I especially enjoyed Pam
talking about her second life, and the Pete and Dawn saga - I love Adrian Scarborough. I enjoy the characters being exaggerations of very recognisable personality types! I thought both James Corden and Ruth Jones were excellent. There are so many threads of love, loyalty and friendship woven through the storylines, it’s lovely that Smithy and Nessa were able to grow enough to commit to one another.

Cattyisbatty · 27/12/2024 10:38

chosenone · 27/12/2024 09:35

I’m a massive fan and absolutely loved it. Lots of it is funny, some amusing, some a bit odd but with some sentimental storytelling in there too. I never liked the Matt Lukas episode in Series 1, I thought the Taps scene last Christmas special was a bit OTT. But there are so many visual gags in earlier series (fingers under the tap, Gavins facial expressions, cream round the mouth) that are hard to replicate in a finale.

I wasn’t sure about Nessa fleecing the old couple, Bryns ideas for the stag do but I thought the rest held together well.
‘I was distracted by some of the finest Cosack dancing I’d even seen’. 😅
’Shes’s a bit sore down there… but already gone down 2 dress sizes’
‘ Gavison’
The sexual tension in the KFC scene! Incidentally it made me look and feel things for Smithy I never have. This grown up sweeter version was pretty sexy… ‘I do want the corn on the cob’ 🫢

I think the fleecing thing was because those bike things are ridiculously expensive (in central London anyway there's a bit of an issue about tourists being fleeced on them) so it was a nod to that.