Big Mood

It hurts to write this as I love Nicola Coughlan and Lydia West. I also really enjoy shows that shed light on mental health issues and find a way to add a comedic slant, however, this one really misses the mark. The main actresses deserved better. The first ep is decent, but with the show in its entirety, I struggled to see the humour. There are very, very few funny moments littered across the episodes but just a handful. I personally felt that the show generally deals with the issue of mental health quite poorly. Maggie's bi polar episodes are almost ignored by her friends and even more so, her long time best friend - It's bizarre, Eddie seems to lack compassion and empathy for Maggie whilst she's in an episode. I appreciate that Maggie is not her responsibility, but the second episode is nothing short of bizarre. It's heartbreaking to watch the ignorance and lack of understanding, especially with the party. The portrayal of friendship between the "best friends" is lacking substance and even ep 5 can't save it. If anything i'd rather have see more frustration and angst from Eddie towards the disorder as opposed to pretending it's just a bad mood or a phase, and a little dance and cake will help it all go away and Maggie will instantly be cured. Besides that there is no coherent storyline, depth or anything gripping to unfold, there is little development or journey and very few laughs. This show should have taken guidance from the myriad of shows in this genre like Big Boys, This way up, Alma's not normal, Everything now or Tell me everything. However, Nicola's performance is great throughout and I'd have loved to have seen more of it. Her character's battle should have been the whole show yet it seems likes an alternate subplot going on in the background . Otherwise I do usually love a C4 comedy, however, it saddens me to say that one is severely lacking.

I'll start with the disclaimer that I didn't think of this show as a comedy at all. I love Nicola Coughlan and thought she was great in this as was Lydia West - I enjoyed watching the characters navigate their 30s, their health and their friendship. However, overall it felt a bit rushed. It was a bit like Fleabag in how it had instances of important topics like mental health and abusive relationships but didn't address the issues much, and breezed past.

I appreciated the levity, but something about the show felt incomplete - I definitely enjoyed the show but the balance of levity and darkness was off to me - I hope we get a season 2 because I'd like to see the characters and episodes more rounded.

I really wanted to like the series. The characters are very interesting and the first episode had some lol moments but tbh it's not a comedy and that's what I wanted.

It definitely has potential to be a profound show but this trend of switching/bending comedies into hard core drama is being over done imo (and has been for years).

Sometimes people just want to have a laugh and skip the deeper issues.

If you're wanting a deep thinker; give it a go but if you're wanting a comedy then move on.

Lastly, let me reiterate again: IMDB PLEASE STOP FORCING US TO WRITE SUCH LONG REVIEWS! I literally just applied for a job that required fewer characters as a letter of introduction!

I guess the writer hoped that giving the series such a downbeat ending might increase its chances of being renewed, if enough viewers want to see if things can get better? Kind of like a cliffhanger, but depressing rather than suspenseful.

Nicola Coughlan as Maggie and Lydia West as Eddie give strong performances, but the series seems more like sketch comedy with recurring characters rather than a coherent story. It might work better with a different narrative structure.

What was the audience meant to take away from this? That mental illness sucks? That chronic mental illness can mess with your friendships and prevent you from working? It succeeded in conveying that, and more -- even your best friend can be clueless about what you're going through, and good intentions aren't always enough.

Maybe watching this is useful for people who don't have experience of mental illness, whether their own or a friend or family member's.

But for me, it was just disheartening, particularly ending at that point in Maggie's story.

I thought it was entertaining enough to watch the season but some of the writing felt disjointed. Not in the fact that it went between comedic and darker tones, I enjoy that, but in other ways it felt like two different shows. Maybe that was intentional? Maggie had some good stories, shenanigans, funny one liners, and some more sympathetic moments, but Eddie's story was more cheesy and predictable, especially the parts with her mom, which were pretty soapy/teen movie-y. I also didn't really enjoy any of the secondary characters, who were either a bit too zany to be believable or just kinda there.