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.”
HOW TO MAKE A KILLING Part 1, 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
Who is this girl, and just why does she draw on the pavement in front of a block of flats every month?
By now the Junior Gazette is up and running, the characters are familiar, both to the viewer and one another, and the news team is ready for a new challenge… No, not actually going home and doing their homework, but investigative journalism. And the idea springs from a quite unlikely source: professional Lynda calmer-downer, ‘nice’ Kenny Phillips.
Kenny has noticed that a girl from the nearby town of Macton goes to the same block of flats on the same day each month and draws a chalk outline of a person on the pavement. The figure is pointing at something. As his investigations continue he discovers that a boy fell to his death from the same block of flats two years ago. The Gazette report on the death is strangely sparse and Chrissie acts suspiciously when questioned about it. Kenny thinks he might have uncovered something big…
This is why I think HTMAK is a great episode.
Kenny (and Lynda)
I have to come clean here and admit that I’m a massive Kenny fan. He’s kind, patient, loyal and all round lovely. I can’t think of any other character quite like him in any media. In fact if I’d discovered Press Gang as a teenager I probably would have had a poster of him on my wall.
This is the episode where Kenny finds his voice. Instead of being office bound, correcting people’s spelling and acting as Lynda’s personal peacemaker, he’s out there in Spike’s usual territory, finding a story. At first Lynda isn’t convinced that there is something to find, but she allows Kenny to continue investigating and by halfway through he’s changed her mind.
In my opinion, one of the best things about this episode is the bickering between Kenny and Lynda. Whereas Spike and Lynda’s sniping is flirtatious and often spiteful, Kenny and Lynda are like an old married couple, raking up stories from ten or more years ago. When Kenny is waiting nervously for Jenny’s phone call, the usual roles in the relationship are reversed: he is agitated, and Lynda attempts to calm him down.
Kenny: I’ve been trying to keep the lid on the head of this girl since I was five years old and now she tells me I’m worked up.
Lynda: Don’t exaggerate.
Kenny: For twelve years I’ve been walking behind her picking shrapnel out of people.
Lynda: He’s exaggerating. He always exaggerates about everything.
They are so involved in their argument that neither of them notice when the phone eventually rings, leaving Sarah to answer it.
Unfortunately for Kenny’s nerves, he then has to call Jenny back. This leads him to confess that he’s never phoned a girl before. Sarah offers support, but Lynda takes the direct approach.
Lynda: That’s your trouble, Kenny. You can’t do anything for yourself, whatever it is you need me with you.
Kenny: Oh yeah!
Lynda: Absolutely! You can’t even make a phone call on your own.
Kenny: Can’t I?!
Lynda: Obviously not!
Kenny: Right! (Kenny picks up the phone.)
Lynda: This should be good.
Kenny: It will be…
Lynda: Can’t miss this!
Kenny: Better not!
Lynda: At long last, Kenny Philips goes solo.
Kenny: Yeah, so watch out!
I’m not sure whether this is Lynda continuing the argument or whether she riles Kenny deliberately to push him into making the call, but it works as the next scene is…
The Date
Kenny and Jenny meet at Czars (where else?) for the briefcase-swap-turned-date. The whole sequence is brilliant. Nervous Kenny being rather aggressively flirted with is great to watch and the whole thing is well-acted by Lee and guest star Sadie Frost (proving that she is actually a pretty good actor). When, in amongst the flirting, Kenny mentions the Highpoint Flats, Jenny’s negative reaction (she says it’s a ‘bad subject’) leads him to abandon his questions for the rest of the date.
After Jenny leaves, it is revealed that Frazz has been sitting on the table behind throughout the whole date, presumably brought along for moral support. He’s not impressed by Kenny’s reporting skills to say the least.
Information gathering techniques with questionable moral standards
Previous episodes have demonstrated that the Junior Gazette team aren’t averse to obtaining information in slightly dodgy ways. HTMAK is no exception. Kenny must have been following Jenny for some time to know that she goes to the Highpoint Flats on the same day each month. As they’ve never spoken this seems quite like stalking. Additionally, he seems to have taken Danny along to take photos with his telephoto lens. Nothing creepy about that at all then!
Then there’s the briefcase swap. Two identical briefcases, a bit of low-level sexual harassment from Spike and Frazz and Jenny has a briefcase containing Kenny’s phone number. An old ploy but an effective one on this occasion. Still, a bit on the dodgy side though.
Back at the newsroom, Billy has a sudden change of heart and agrees to allow Chrissie to interview him for the adult paper. Of course, the only reason for this radical change in his stance is to provide cover for Kate to sneak into Chrissie’s office, ‘borrow’ the notebooks she claimed were lost, and copy out the relevant bits. Although the intentions were honourable, I’m not sure the Leveson Inquiry would approve of this method.
Press Gang @ 35 