The first episode of Series 2 sees John driving to work alone and Kayleigh catching the bus now that she's moved to her sister's. Will the burgeoning relationship from the first series start to dwindle or will our two protagonists find a way to keep the fire burning?
An auspicious start to the second series sees Kayleigh and John successfully reunited, allowing the relationship to continue and even getting Kayleigh back into John's car for most of the episode. It ends with John having an excuse to pick Kayleigh up the next morning so perhaps the distance problem has been solved.
'Peter Kay's Car Share' has always been happy to show the protagonists' flaws and this time we see a churlish side to John's nature when he argues with a cyclist whilst waiting at the lights. For a moment or two, it even looks like it might end up getting a bit tasty, but the writers know where to draw the line, and this is a comedy after all, so the scene ends up one of the funniest of the show so far.
It's yet another scene that highlights a major strength of 'Car Share' as John and Kayleigh's situations often mirror our own experiences, so we feel a stronger connection to the two characters. We're not just laughing at John and the cyclist in this particular scenario, we're laughing at ourselves, only now we have the advantage of being more objective about it.
Where the last two episodes of the first series placed more emphasis on Kayleigh's secret feelings for John, the second series starts by rebalancing things, giving more weight to John's real feelings for Kayleigh. It also appears that Kayleigh's reticence is diminishing whereas John's isn't.
Oh and Kayleigh's reverie comes earlier than usual in this episode. Don't know whether that's a sign of things to come, but I shall certainly be finding out as the show has become must watch TV.
This episode was filmed two years after the first series was and yet it feels like it could have been made the following week. The writing, the production and the acting has been of a high quality right from the start and my expectations are now very high for the remaining episodes.
