| Much Better Baked Second Series |
Television Arts Feature |
| BBC One Wales , Television , January 31, 2012 |
The last week of January is downtime for theatre. With the Christmas shows packing up and the tours yet to start, it is a good time to catch up on other drama. The second series of “Baker Boys”was shown the same weeks as “Pan Am” and “the Killing 2”. Both smack of the kind of money that BBC Wales does not have. The former is lush slush and vanished smartish from the schedules. A newspaper diarist claimed that the Danes had wrecked “Pan Am’s” viewing figures. “Baker Boys 2” meanwhile is pretty good television. Firstly, “Baker Boys 2” is television. It does what only television drama can do. It fires off a series of rapid, inter-cut sub-plots within one over-arching dramatic situation. Structurally, it pivots between private and public action. It does parents and teenagers very well. It captures the brittle nature of the bonds between men. The director handles ensemble scenes with aplomb. A double celebratory night out in the city gives a nice kick to the watery stuff put out by Cardiff’s official promoters. The cast is as good as is to be expected. A pair of child actors sparkle. The dialogue has a snap to it. “Impressed?” enquires Sarah hopefully as they move into a rented flat. “Is that fungus?” enquires sharp-eyed teenage daughter. “Baker Boys 1” gave an impression that no-one involved had got out much. The writers for “Baker Boys” have put in more spadework. They have been into Citizens Advice offices. They get the smell of these rancid days. They show the particular misery of debt-fuelled poverty, the way that fees and charges escalate, where the only contact is a call centre. A scene at a supermarket checkout dramatises the public humiliation of a failing payment. Computer really does say no. Having got a big name for Gwynfor, to make the link with “High Hopes”, the production doesn't quite know what to do with him other than to be Old Worthy. But the character's last financial predicament, with his collapsed pension annuity, fits. The old are paying, and they keep paying, to keep the whole show going. A character on the move allows the drama to display the paradox of the credit famine, that it keeps rental prices buoyant. The most poignant sub-plot shows the dark side of all those lures and inducements for all-in-one accounts with a single bank. Its picture of the awfulness of trying to live on part-time earnings unmasks the deceiving unemployment statistics that gloss over the millions of under-employed. “Baker Boys 2” is not so good on the details of a bakery, but is good on the truth of co-operatives. Social enterprises first sag, then wither, because, as starkly shown here, ownership and executive structures are at odds with each other. The last twenty minutes enter genuine dramatic dilemma. The very first public scene, set in the social club, is all about the employees caught in the Enron trap. It is not just that their jobs are with one organisation but all their savings are stuck there as well. Towards the end Rob makes a move to let the staff at least get some of their money out. Pete, Owen and the other leads behave as bosses. They are determined to keep the employees in the dark. They get lines of paranoia “we forget who our real enemies are.” Social enterprise is adored by everyone. The Cabinet believes it to be capitalism's saviour. Like all self-delusionists, they end up believing that their factory is the community. Their stance of “stuff the staff” is staged curiously, without irony or ambivalence. Meaty parts for women are still uncommon on stage. Television is doing them a lot better. Not just Gwen Cooper, but Bel Rowley in “the Hour” or the fictional Danish Prime Minister every January Saturday night. The women in “Baker Boys 2” let their incompetent men handle the household finances. They get to talk an awful lot about babies but they haven’t got a lot of Eros about them. When Eve Myles is allowed to let rip in the second episode- by far the best- it is not just great but a portrayal that feels like a real woman. The credits list script people but no researchers or consultants. “Baker Boys” is a high-prestige project with script editing that is not up to par. It lets in the odd over-Latinate line in place of the colloquial like “I am under specific medical direction that limits...” A limp couplet like “I gave you love and security”/ “Yes, you did” gets in. Characters are permitted non-action-based introspection like “I do have to find out what I want.” Even that ultimate non-line “what are you talking about?” gets in. For a drama circling on money, and the lack of it in a wracked Britain, it has a curious coyness about corporate money. The characters have a tendency to hold a piece of paper, say “Look how much they owe” and pass it around. Ridiculous. Real people repeat the sum, they whistle, they curse. The presentation of the Capaldi bankruptcy lacks all credibility. The character Rob is played with charisma, but the role needs charisma to cover the holes in his behaviour. It had me wondering which entrepreneur had been consulted for the research. “Bakers Boys 2” prompted a re-watch of “Burton Y Gyfrinach.” In the winter of 2011 BBC Wales gets ahead, and for one simple reason. “Baker Boys 2” is television that wants to be television. A “Baker Boys 3” is not likely to make it. A pity. What it deals with matters. |
Reviewed by: Adam Somerset |
This review has been read 1862 times There are 28 other reviews of productions with this title in our database:
|
