A Nice Change

Although the first season was not as brilliant as my memory made me believe, I still really enjoyed it and soon picked up the second series. Continuing the rather absurd and surreal adventures of the three main characters we have plots here that see Manny's God-given gift for the piano being exploited; a heat-wave hitting the shop risking Dave's syndrome for Manny while Fran is convinced her flat is getting smaller; the gang drawn into the underworld; the shop trying to compete with Saga books by serving coffee and having sofas and so on. None of it makes any sense as plots but yet they all work and are pretty funny in the process.

The key to it working is that it keeps itself just on the right side of being silly. By this I mean that at no point does the absurdity and surrealism of it all even fall into just being stupid or silly for the sake of it. I did keep waiting for some of it to tire me by perhaps trying too hard to be manic or wacky but it never did and this was because it mostly is inventive and cleverly done. Yes the plots are silly but they are inventive and they add a freshness to the traditional sort of sitcom that it could easily have been. Within these plots there are loads of nice comic touches and the show has a very talented cast to deliver all of this.

Moran and Bailey are the real stars of it to me because they work best off one another and also get the biggest laughs. That said, Greig has a stronger character this time and is more involved in the comedy with a good share of the material and laughs. Cameos come and go here and there and I did enjoy Jonny Vegas and Rob Bryant in the episodes they appear during in small roles. The performances are such a key part of making it work because they do convince and sell it, with their timing making the comedy better and funnier.

It will not appeal to all viewers perhaps but I guess there must be people who do not enjoy Father Ted etc either. Black Books is a great comedy though, silly but creative with it and I really enjoyed being back in the shop for a third season. The second season ends with a link into a plot device for a third and I will look forward to that on the basis of how many times I laughed out loud during this second season.