Over the course of thirteen episodes, James Corden and Ruth Jones, the writers/stars of British comedy Gavin & Stacey, have done the impossible: create a comedy series that manages to make you laugh and cry in equal measure, capture the pathos of twenty-something true love (which at the best of times never does run smooth), and, well, make the Welsh seem pretty damn cool.BBC America tonight airs the brilliant second season finale of Gavin & Stacey (I was lucky enough to watch it last week) and it absolutely breaks my heart that this could be the penultimate time we catch up with Gavin and Stacey, Nessa, Bryn, Gwen, Smithy, and the Shipmans.
BBC is airing a Gavin & Stacey Christmas special later this month in the UK (no word on when it will air Stateside) and has already commissioned a third season of Gavin & Stacey. But I won't lie to you, there is a fly in the ointment: Corden and Jones' schedules have been too busy to accommodate getting together to write any of the scripts. Which is really a shame as Gavin & Stacey has been lush and I could see the duo easily creating another series or two (or, hell, three) with these hysterical and memorable characters.
While I don't want to give away any spoilers for tonight's season finale, I will say that it involves Gavin and Stacey making a decision about the future of their marriage, Nessa going into labor a month early in Barry (or, as Pam calls it, "Barry's Island"), Bryn purchasing an iPod, Gavin and Rudi trying to track down a missing Smithy before he misses the birth of his child, some Jack Johnson tunes... and the very best secret handshake I've ever seen.
Tonight's season finale is a hilarious and touching installment but you wouldn't expect anything less from Corden and Jones, aided ably by Gavin & Stacey's remarkable cast. Tidy. Each of them gets a chance to shine in this episode as Gavin and Stacey contemplate their possible future apart, Pam and Mick try to make Stacey at home (once again) in their Essex house, Smithy deals with fatherhood, and Stacey holds Nessa's hand during the delivery. (Of course, this being Gavin & Stacey look for Nessa to have a rather, uh, unusual delivery technique and for Gavin and Smithy to encounter problems with both the toll payment and the thought of Smithy's baby being born in Wales.)
While I love all of the characters, I'll definitely miss Nessa (Jones) and Bryn (Rob Brydon) more than anything, but there have been very few female television characters as memorably shameless and outrageous as our Vanessa Shanessa Jenkins. So I will particularly miss the dynamic Nessa, with her outrageous stories of her colored past, her delightful lexicon ("fair play"), and her innate brazenness.
So make yourself an omelette (plain or cheese will do) and sit back and catch the season finale of one of the most original and bittersweet comedies on television. Your stomach will hurt from laughing and your eyes from crying, but you'll thank me in the morning.
Gavin & Stacey's second season comes to a close tonight at 8:40 pm ET/PT on BBC America.
Comments
The whole show is "crackin" good.
I hope BBCA can work something out so the Christmas special can air here in the US this month, too.
And, as Dani in NC said, an American version couldn't be as charming.
Give us more of the British original, please.