The Thick of It

[argumentativefeminist]

Please tell me theres other people out there also still overly invested in TTOI who want to swap theories/swear a lot/discuss trivia? 🤞🤞

The background reactions are definitely among the best bits, especially seeing them stifle laughter at something funny that someone's just improvised 😂

The commentaries talk a lot about Jo/Terri and her little looks when the others are all enjoying a good shout. She does great faces, but quite often barely seen, as when the cameras are on the taller actors, she can only just be seen at the bottom of the screen, bless her!

Re. Malcolm and alcohol. There is a scene when he and Sam talk about their evenings. She says something about having managed to get a table at a restaurant. Malcolm says he had a quiet night in “a bottle of Pinot and twitter abusing the cast of Glee. It was kind of wonderful in its own way”
Series 4?

I always took that line in the same way as Malcolm telling Sam he'd spent his holidays on Easter Island carving the statues to look like Westlife winky 😂 But I suppose part of the beauty of TTOI and especially Malcolm is that you never really know what's true or not, or if your theories are right!

Good spot! I do like that half the time you are never quite sure what is true and what is his brilliant invention, seemingly just to amuse himself and get through the day with the people he works with. But then again, he has a lot of time for Sam, so I tend to think what he says to her carries more weight than most.

Reminds me of the Peter Mannion moment where he finally turns to Terri and tells her he loves her and she should go plan the wedding... even though it's clear to us that he is being sarcastic, she has that look for a brief moment of 'OMG really?!'

Sorry to natter on, but I've just been watching the DVD, and came across an inquiry deleted scene which argumentative might like! It's the one where the panel reads out some of Malcolm’s insults to Ollie, and he tries to argue that it’s banter. You can see Sam sat behind Ollie, and she has what looks like such a proud smile on her face, like ‘that’s my boss/man!’ She laughs at the end, another one of those moments when you’re not quite sure if it’s the actor’s real reaction to hearing that particular line, or Sam herself showing some pride at Malcolm’s turn of phrase.

I love your nattering bychoice! I will definitely look out for that scene to fuel all the Malcolm/Sam storylines I have in my head 😂💕

I've never clicked that Sam's at the inquiry! Will have to rewatch.

Also always noticed that Malcolm and Jamie are v polite to cleaners and support staff, even whilst swearing at someone else!

She's there every day Peter, bless her. Very true about Jamie and Malcolm - most fan canon has it that Jamie and Malcolm worked their way up from very little in the rougher areas of Scotland, hence their respect for the people that the Poxbridge types tend to ignore.

There's also very interesting gendered dynamics between Jamie and Robyn in the specials and Malcolm and Sam/sometimes Nicola, which isn't something that really features with other male characters apart from the Emma/Olly fiasco (I'm sure others can think of other examples but I always thought these were the most prominent!)

Malcolm says something in the inquiry about that... something along the lines of not targeting 'civilians'/the public, but just the politicos who he considers fair game. I really do want to believe that, but then you look at him with Tickel's numbers and realise that he did target an innocent man. It's a shame because up until then I definitely thought of Malcolm as someone who was a total prick to people who had put themselves into politics and were fair game, but was decent to the 'man on the street'.

I do agree about Jamie and Malcolm and their beginnings though, and there is a definite disdain for the Oxbridge Punters!

I do like those moments where Malcolm turns the charm on in a flash and because as viewers we see the other side of him, it's really disarming... not so much with Sam, as she knows his other side, but with the nurse when he visits Ollie, for example, or Julie Price (until he realises she's Twittering!)

Watched the episode with Malcolm's sacking last night, was NOT sufficiently emotionally prepared. Sam is so happy to see him when he comes back from his 'holiday!' Radiant! And then when she is crying at the end after hearing the news and he tells them all to leave her alone, even though literally his entire world has just ended that's what he's upset about ... my heart is in ten thousand pieces...

Jenny Don't get me started that episode makes me so sad 😭😭 and also I think is some of the most compelling evidence for Malcolm and Sam 💕💕

Oh God, that episode! I'm always more wary of watching the final two ever episodes because of the whole downward spiral, end of Malcolm thing, but I never quite prepare myself for the sacking in series 3, always kind of sneaks up on me! I suppose because you know by the next episode he's back in his role and there's a light at the end of the tunnel, whereas in series 4, it's over.

It's odd to see him sat down when Steve Fleming gives him the news... usually he's in charge, striding around, and sitting down makes him seem more vulnerable I suppose. Especially love that moment when he realises what is happening and his 'no no no'.

Commentary snippit again (sorry, you can tell I've been enjoying me new box set!), but the Sam scene at the end where he tells them to leave her alone... apparently that was all Peter; in that Armando just had him stride into various places after the sacking and react to what was going on, and they had Sam and those guys set up in his office... so essentially it was Peter reacting to seeing Sam cry and being hounded.

Just thinking... Sam isn't Civil Service, in that she doesnt leave Malcolm when he becomes the Opposition rather than the government. So do we think maybe they've known each other before he appointed her as his secretary? Or at least that he personally chose her?

(I have no idea about how non Civil Service appointments in politics work, but it makes the story nicer 😂)

I too have no clue at all about how those kind of jobs work, whether she is 'provided' and employed by the government, for want of a better term, or privately by Malcolm himself, would be grateful if anyone had any insights! But regardless of the practicalities of it, I do love that she has followed him to the other side.

I may be totally mis-remembering, but wasn't there something about Nicola when she came to DOSAC, in which Glen and Ollie were concerned about their jobs in case she bought her 'own people'. May not have any relevance, as while I'm typing I'm also thinking that of course Sam has a totally different job role, and Nicola was moving within the same party, rather than from power to opposition, but it makes me wonder about people 'moving with people', if that makes sense. If not... I blame the heat!

I always thought there was a spark between Nicola and Malcolm. I think there's something there, although he gets so exasperated with her often!

Glenn and Ollie are special advisors, which us a form of temporary civil servant, but as far as I understand it, one that the minister picks themselves. So Nicola initially thinks about ditching them for her own people, then keeps them, then brings in Helen later. There's other types of civil servant too, like Terri and the people in the background on the desks, that "come with the department" so to speak and you dont get much choice about who you have or moving them around. Hence why Terri is such an annoyance to everyone! They can obviously get fired and the minister has some (maybe total, I'm not sure) say in that.

So that's why Ollie can move with Nicola over to the Opposition, but Terri can't and has to hang around with Man-Yum and the Inbetweeners. The TTOI wiki suggests Sam isn't actually part of the party machinery/structure and as such probably shouldn't have/didn't have to move over to Opposition with Malcolm, but chose to. Which is sweet.

Peter Malcolm/Nicola is definitely something I can see! There are tiny little sparks now and again, not that I can think of any off the top of my head. I'd say it's about the 3rd most common pairing within the fandom.

My partner said something the other day about Malcolm and Nicola (well I think he was talking about Malcolm in general, it just so happened he said it during a scene when Nicola was the object of his rage), in that he was reminded of boys in the playground who are mean to girls that they fancy, although this is of course the extreme 'grown up' example!

agrumentative That's a clear and succinct explanation, thank you

I do think there's a little bit of that bychoice - we definitely get an insight into the "Freudian nightmare" of Malcolms mind as Fleming would say. I like when he checks that Nicola and Terri won't be offended by his "violent sexual imagery" - part of that feels genuine even though it's clearly also in jest.

That line in particular always struck me that way too; half sarcastic and disdainful, and half a fair warning and maybe even an attempt at being gallant (by Tucker standards, anyway), but then I tend to be something of a Malcolm 'apologist', love him non matter what an evil bastard he is, so nice to hear someone else thinking the same!

Ah no way bychoice, that's really interesting! No wonder that scene is so powerful, it feels like he is genuinely reacting to seeing her in distress - which he is, by the sounds of it. What a classy bit of direction. Aw man, I was properly sobbing... I think it's because it's the vindication of him as a human being that he can be so sorry for her at such as time in his own life, and also that she clearly feels so much affection for him - he's so horrible so much of the time, but obviously has hidden depths to those who know him best or else she'd be jumping for joy when he got the shove. It does also make you wonder (by which I mean secretly desperately hope) that there is something between them, whether ever realised in reality or not!

Jenny so glad to have converted you to my Malcolm/Sam ways. I get all emotional at basically all the bits that she's in 😂

Your analysis is very right though and gave me lots of feelings 💕