Extras: Season 1, Episode 2: "Ross Kemp"

Extras Season 1, Episode 2: "Ross Kemp"

Grade: B

So I have now seen all of Season 1 of “Extras”. I will be watching Season 2 in order. I would definitely say that I prefer The Office in a millisecond and I do not think “Extras” will ever be one of my absolute favorite shows but I do find it very entertaining and funny. I have no idea how Ricky Gervais has managed to find a situation where the scenes could be more awkward than the ones in the Office but he has. This episode did not really have any of those scenes to the extent of which I mean but this show is capable of making me actually have to turn away at parts because of the awkwardness. Something I really admire about the show is how unapologetic it is about Maggie and Andy. Andy is a jerk. He’s just a jerk. And not a lovable jerk; just a jerk. He hates what he does and I do not blame him for that but he has just become so cynical that he has turned into a not very nice person. Maggie is not really a jerk but she’s so awkward that it comes to the point where you do blame her for acting the way she does. She’s politically incorrect at times and completely unaware of what it acceptable and not acceptable behavior. But the show never attempts to make us really love them or apologize for them and to make us become overtly sympathetic. There is no redeeming incident however small at the end of the episode to make whatever happened before hand not matter. They are who they are and while it’s hard to watch and like them at times I love that the show takes that attitude.

I thought Ross Kemp did a great job. I know I missed a lot of the jokes because I’m not familiar with his work. I liked the way that Barry and Andy need to find some pathetic way of feeling like they have power and if that means that they will use the actors they have befriended and attempt to power over the situation that they get the actors into then so be it.

I was really rooting for Maggie in this episode and everything was going really well and then it turns out that the guy was a total douche. Poor Maggie. Oh and the guy in that episode was the guy who played a younger version of Ebenezer Scrooge in "Muppet Christmas Carol" and I totally knew it!!

Favorite Part of the Episode:
Andy reading what his agent Darren wrote for him as a resume. Hilarious.