The Cutprice Guignol

Well, here we are, my dear and darling fellows in getting right up in and about that ninth numeral: the end of the road. With season nine, Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton’s uniquely brilliant series will be coming to a close (at least for the time being), but we still have a half-dozen episodes to go before we get there. I thought season eight was one of the best runs of the show to date (3 by 3? I mean, come on), and I’m hoping to see it go out on a similar high. So, shall we begin?

Boo to a Goose is a pretty straightforward opening for the final season of Inside No. 9, following a cluster of passengers on the same underground train as they just try to get home after their train breaks down. One of my favourite things about Inside No. 9 has always been it’s ability to attract really brilliant actors – and then give them the material to justify their involvement with the show. Boo to a Goose is no different – featuring Mark Bonnar (who, as a Scottish woman, I am constitutionally obliged to have a bit of a a crush on), Susan Wokoma (who, as a British person, I am constitutionally obliged to remind you should be the next Doctor), This Country‘s Charlie Cooper, and the unbelievably brilliant Siobhan Finneran, amongst others, it’s an embarrassment of riches here – like the show is cramming in all the guest stars it can with just six episodes to go.

And, for the first twenty-seven minutes or so of this episode, I thought Boo to a Goose was just going to be a reasonably straightforward drama that explored the dynamics of the ensemble cast: like previous classics like Nana’s Birthday and The Bill, it seemed to be more a character piece than anything else.

And, trust me, if that’s all it had been, I would have been happy. I love a locked-room story, and this pressure-cooker of a broken-down underground carriage is the perfect place for it; sterile, familiar, and at the same time, oddly oppressive, and a natural intersection for characters from all walks off like. After a purse gets nicked, Mark Bonnar’s Raymond takes it upon himself to launch an authoritarian campaign against the other members of the party to expose the purse thief, coaxing out tension and compassion in equal measure.

As I’ve said so many times before, Inside No. 9’s greatest strength is it’s ability to craft brilliant, rich characters in such a tiny amount of screentime, and Boo to a Goose is another stellar example of that. Part of it is the great casting, of course, but there’s also this innate sense in the writing of being able to tap into well-rounded characters without resorting to stereotype. Every time you think you’ve got a grasp on a character, the script peels back another layer.

Charlie Cooper, featuring as a person seeking spare change from the passengers on the carriage, has this amazing moment where he confesses to his humiliation at his place in life and how his very presence forces people to make the decision to be kind, or not – he’s aware of how confronting that is, but his understanding of it doesn’t change people’s perception of him. Steve Pemberton as the winner of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK Season 6 drag queen Wilma seems, at a glance, to lean towards the progressive and anti-authoritarian, but ends up aligning with authority, reasoning it away with their oppression and abuse, their scandalous and subversive front only going so far. Siobhan Finneran, in this pursed, quiet way, is grappling with the shattering realisation that her life was just not what she was promised, from the neighbour’s bamboo in the driveway to her husband’s pallid descent into middle age.

So, if that was all it was, I’d be happy. But, this is, after all, Inside No. 9, and there’s just no way they’re going into this final season without a twist. And that twist? Oh, it’s a mean one, and I love it. The final few minutes of the episode reveal that the carriage has served as the grounds for an experiment, to weed out dissenters who stand against traditional authority, kill them off with poison gas, and replace them with lookalikes. It’s such a deliciously grim way to close the episode, a sudden dystopian sting to this character drama, and it suits the show down to the ground.

The episode’s final moments feature Phillipa Dunne, playing the nurse who was victim of the inciting robbery, realises that her willingness to side with authority, even against her better judgement, has saved her. And it’s an underlining of the point of Boo to a Goose – power, not just the lack of it on the Underground, but the social power dynamics that bubble beneath the surface, searching for something as tiny as the vanishing of a purse to bring it to the surface. And the decision to go along with the dominant power, whether you truly agree with them or not, leaves you in the same boat as the people who believe in them wholeheartedly: in this case, alive, but uneasily aligned with an authoritarian regime. As in her earlier scene with Charlie Cooper, inaction is easy, but it’s rarely kind.

An excellent character piece right up until the point where it’s a nightmarish dystopian horror, Boo to a Goose is a brilliant start to what I hope will be an excellent closing salvo for the show.

If you liked this article and want to see more stuff like it, please check out the rest of my Inside No. 9 reviews. I’d also love it if you would check out my horrible short story collection, and, if you’d like to support my work, please consider supporting me on Patreon!

(header image via BBC)