HOW TO MAKE A KILLING Part 2, by Claire N #PGat35
IMPORTANT: This review contains SPOILERS. Massive great honking ones. If you haven’t ever seen Press Gang (Seriously?! Are you a KD?!!! What are you even doing here reading this, you fool?! Click right on over to Amazon, buy yourself the complete series boxset and remedy that situation immediately before you read any further…) #CommissionsEarned
Kenny continues to pursue the story… or is it the girl?
The second episode of Press Gang‘s first ever two part story begins with Kenny, in unfamiliar surroundings – he’s swapped small town Norbridge for a very large house with a Porsche 944* on the drive. Of course it’s Jenny’s house in upmarket Macton… but is he working on the story or is he off on a hot date?
At the end of last week’s episode Kenny had just had a eureka! moment and realised what had happened to Jenny’s brother. He was also in the midst of a moral dilemma following his first meeting with Jenny: should he continue investigating or was it none of his business?
This time Kenny goes straight to the point. As soon as she answers the door he tells Jenny that he knows what happened to her brother, he jumped from the roof after sniffing glue. Jenny explains that her father is a rich man and had the story buried. She goes on to tell Kenny that he’s noticed the wrong thing. It takes a trip back to the newsroom and a conversation with Billy to work it out. Jenny’s pavement art isn’t aimed at drawing attention to her brother’s fate but instead to the shop which sold him the glue.
How to Make a Killing Part 2 is about to turn into a ‘very special episode’, but it is far from the schmaltzy moralising often seen in US shows.
For a start it’s very clear that the adults are at fault. Shop owners have illegally sold solvents to under-age kids, including some who show clear outward signs of being solvent abusers. The Junior Gazette team decide to take very direct action to expose this. There is never any suggestion that Michael Elliot was at fault for abusing solvents. As with other earlier episodes it is very much the Junior Gazette team versus the adults.
I think it’s worth mentioning that the attitude taken by Lynda in this episode is quite different to the one she will demonstrate later in There are Crocodiles, but I guess at this point she is at the beginning of her story and is still exhibiting a great deal of youthful idealism. I must admit that although the episode isn’t schmaltzy, some of the dialogue and acting is a bit clunky, in particular the scene in which Kenny buys the glue from Peter’s Market. The way he emphasises that the glue he wants is ‘solvent-based’ and the shopkeeper’s wink as he hands it over are a bit cringe-worthy.
The episode itself is a big contrast to HTMAK Part 1. Last week focused very much on Kenny and small groups of characters – Spike and Lynda, Kenny and Lynda, Kenny and Jenny – with several members of the newsteam completely absent. This week all is back to normal. The newsroom is hectic: Frazz has finally discovered that purple isn’t a star sign, Colin is in trouble after selling some dodgy prams, and Julie’s wondering how many fs there are in photograph! The busy tracking shots are some of my favourite parts of the show as they give a great sense of a bustling newsroom and provide the cast with a chance to demonstrate their great sense of timing (I guess great direction also has a lot to do with this).
We also get to see more of how much Lynda relies on Kenny’s support as Assistant Editor. Seemingly out of desperation, she promotes Spike to Temporary Acting Assistant Editor, a role which he spends the rest of the episode trying to escape. The situation does give Spike the opportunity to deliver some of the most memorable lines of the series when he describes “Lynda heart-of-Teflon Day” and claims “They had to use an industrial laser to pierce her ears.” Of course, this is all said in jest, but Spike quickly realises that he isn’t a suitable Kenny substitute.
The work of the team pays off and it’s happy endings all round. The criminal shopkeepers are exposed, the paper experiences record sales, Kenny gets the girl and Lynda gets Kenny to return to work. Unfortunately, the big closing message is also somewhat clunky. Jenny says she feels guilty as some of the shopkeepers may lose their livelihoods. Kenny replies: “These people aren’t making a living Jenny, they’re making a killing”, and we all cringe again.
So in summary, not a bad episode, but I don’t consider it a classic. Watch it in the knowledge that the next two-part episode is much, much better.
*As identified by my boyfriend the classic car expert, who added “that’s a very 80s car.”
Press Gang @ 35 