Reynholm vs Reynholm (30 Jul. 2010)

Douglas' dead wife returns and sues him. Jen acts as his defence council, and Roy and Moss as his character witnesses.

Directors:

Graham Linehan, Richard Boden

Writer:

Graham Linehan

Stars:

Chris O'Dowd, Richard Ayoade, Katherine Parkinson

Cast

Episode complete credited cast:
Chris O'Dowd	...	Roy Trenneman
Richard Ayoade	...	Maurice Moss
Katherine Parkinson	...	Jen Barber
Matt Berry	...	Douglas Reynholm
Joanna Bobin	...	Journalist
Gemma Chan	...	Female Sulu
Noel Fielding	...	Richmond
Susy Kane	...	Female Bones (as Suzy Kane)
Simon Kunz	...	Judge
Alexandra Roach	...	Stenographer
Nicholas Sidi	...	Lawyer (as Nick Sidi)
Belinda Stewart-Wilson	...	Victoria

Storyline

Douglas' dead wife returns and sues him. Jen acts as his defence council, and Roy and Moss as his character witnesses.

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Plot Keywords:

mispronounced word | chugging drink | pantyhose | sewing machine | star trek parody | 

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Genres:

Comedy

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Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

30 July 2010 (UK)

Company Credits

Technical Specs

Runtime:

24 min 24 min (DVD)

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

The woman (Belinda Stewart-Wilson) who played Mr Denholms wife Barbara in "The IT Crowd" (2006) {Return of the Golden Child (#2.2)}, also plays his son's, (Douglas's) wife Victoria in this episode.

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Quotes

Maurice Moss: When I was 11 I broke the patio window and my mum sued me.
Jen Barber: She sued you?
Maurice Moss: Yeah, to teach me a lesson. She's always been an aggressive litigator.

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Connections

Spoofs Star Trek (1966)

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Soundtracks

"Lose Your Head 2"
(uncredited)
Music by Terry Devine-King
Audio Network PLC

User Reviews

Season 4: Walks a very fine line between silly (funny) and stupid (dumb) but mostly pulls it off very well for a very funny season

I was reading some of my comments on the previous seasons of this show and think it is pretty clear it is one that grown on me over time. In this 4th season I think I'm a lot more at home with the characters and the tone and have maybe accepted it a lot more on its own terms because, with caveats of course, I have found this season to be a lot funnier than previous ones. The setup is the same as before – the IT department getting into imaginative scrapes – while the outward appearance may suggest that this is a workplace comedy like The Office, The IT Crowd is definitely in the fantasy realm of Black Books and Father Ted, and it this aspect that it really embraces this season.

It has always been fanciful and exaggerated but season 4 seems to be pushing it more and more but yet at the same time just managing to hold back from being detrimentally silly – or at least most of the time. The plots are generally in several threads and most of them work – there is usually one weaker than others but mostly they work. This season we get an underground society of Countdown winners, Roy trying to figure out how his girlfriend's parents died in a fire at Sea World, Jen pretending to speak Italian ("spiders"), the management meeting closed to Jen, a man brought in to sack everyone (which doesn't really go anywhere) and Moss forced onto the wrong side of the tracks by one afternoon bunking off work. It is all imaginative and ridiculously exaggerated stuff but the key thing is that it is funny, very funny.

The canned laughter didn't bother me this time as it was mostly matched by my own thanks to the really good comic writing producing these silly scenarios but yet making them work by having them be imaginative and full of comic touches. Some threads are a bit obvious or don't work as well (the window cleaner one is one good/bad example of a part not coming off as it should) but mostly the tone is well maintained and the silly material is effective. The cast worked better for me again. Avoade continues to be my favourite and this season has plenty of good Moss-moments for him to work with. O'Dowd does the same as usual and he only seems weaker when the material lets him down – he can't really lift it with his delivery. Parkinson has some stronger stuff and I liked her better this time, while Berry just gets funnier and funnier – perhaps helped by Chris Morris fading in my memory – although when an entire episode relies on him (the final one) it is not quite as good as him in small mad doses.

Overall, the IT Crowd has always been good but this is the season I've found funniest. Pushed to the edges of silliness and kept funny by the imaginative and well written scenarios, it works although at times it falls the wrong side of the silly good / silly bad line or is a bit obvious but mostly I was laughing regularly. At first I wondered how many seasons the show in the shadow of Father Ted would get but now I would welcome a fifth if it came.