Love is a Stranger

I say this not to brag, (Indeed, I'm sure I'm far from the only people that predicted this) but to explain how I felt about this week's episode of "Insider Number 9" - I guessed the twist that was coming in this episode almost immediately and so the whole episode for me hinged not on the actual plot, but on whether or not I was correct.

Lonely since the death of her mother, Vicky (Claire Rushbrook) turns to online speed dating for potential companionship. After a series of disappointing times, where her matches tend to have ulterior motives, she finally matches with Jai (Asim Chaudhry) a similarly shy man and after their date goes well, they agree to meet up. The news though is reporting on a local serial killer, one who is claiming trophies and burying victims in shallow graves. Could Vicky's date be a graver danger than he appears.

Away from that issue with the reveal, it's actually a pretty strong episode. Claire Rushbrook is great, as she always is. Our principles appear as an elderly gentleman looking to replace his mother (Shearsmith) and an oleaginous man who it turns out is married (Pemberton). Matthew Horne is her first date, who also is a let down and Frances Barber plays a woman, 'accidentally' registered as a man who also has another reason for being on. They all have the odd funny lines and you can assess each one to try and determine whether they're possibly the serial killer.

The trouble is that it hinges on its twist and, having got one past me last week with that reveal, I spent all episode hoping that it wasn't what it actually turned out to be and then was disappointed that Shearsmith and Pemberton hadn't anticipated and circumvented that expectation with something better.

It's not a disaster, it's actually reasonably good - but in the pantheon of this series not near the top tier.

Episode was completely full with boring online-dating clichés.

They were so prominent that it quickly became apparent what the "twist" was going to be..

The use of "Internet lingo" and the explanations of what each ohrase meant, was unnecessary.

It was yet another plot of a murder mystery with a predictable ending.

There was no clever moment, there was no spark and there was no substance to anything that actually happened.

Did Vicky kill her own mum? Apparently the audience doesn't need to care about what happened, because it's not relevant to the plot... yet somehow Vicky's mum is mentioned about 10 times.

Very poor. This series has been running on empty for a while to be honest. What started as a serviceable if unspectacular potboiler has become a dreary succession of cliches. They seem more concerned with style over substance - re-creating tropes and references cineastes will recognise and nod at approvingly. In this episode, the "twist" is telegraphed in the opening seconds. There are some laughs along the way (e.g. The arrival of the wife), but really, when you get to the "dramatic" final line, you realise that that was the first thing they came up with, then wrote the episode around it. It's actually embarrassingly lame.

Inside No. 9 - S8E4 - Love Is a Stranger

As a serial killer, a hunter of lonely hearts, roams the city, a middle-aged woman embarks on a search for a partner on an Internet site that allows you to quickly search for other lonely people during a four-minute video call. For fear of a string of murders, the site recommends not revealing too many personal details during these meetings, but Vicky is willing to take the risk.

Whether an episode is great or mediocre depends mostly on whether the final twist catches you off guard or you predict it from the very beginning. It was immediately clear to me how the story would end, but the development of the story itself is worth watching because Claire Rushbrook nailed the role.

7/10.

This is hard to rate. It would be totally justifiable to give it a 4, or 5, or 7, or 8. The problem is that I wouldn't really recommend it to people who aren't (yet) fans of the show but I quite liked it. It's just a little footloose and fancy free.

We have a present day setting that goes back and forth between a virtual speed dating service and an IRL meetup, both from the perspective of Vicky. And before the evening begins, we learn that there is a serial killer called the Lonely Hearts Killer on the loose. From the brief scenes we get with Vicky and a mysterious man who has come to her flat, She seems to have met somebody who checked all the boxes, but it becomes increasingly difficult to believe she found the man of her dreams as she spends one 5 minute session after the next encountering a completely different kind of crazy. There's a cocaine fueled gigolo, a man more interested in finding a replacement for his mother, and a woman who claims to have been mistaken for a man by the agency. Each scene is very sharp, the writing is top notch, and there's so much wit and flavor to the dialogue that it really is a fun ride.

There is a big problem, however. Spoilers aside, this basic premise has been in every anthology show ever produced. The whole concept for the episode is unoriginal. And, less importantly, both Pemberton and Shearsmith do a pretty mediocre job as actors here. Vicky, on the other hand, is fantastic, and carries this segment to the very end. An average story told exceptionally well and a fine - but not outstanding - addition to the 8th series.