One Foot in the Grave: One Foot in the Algarve (1993)
Season Unknown, Episode Unknown
7/10
Disappointing, but consistently funny!
1 December 2014
Warning: Spoilers
I hadn't realised how long this one was until I started watching. That was when I started to wonder how they would keep me contained for the entirety of the story. As usual, they were successful in intriguing me, however, there was a lot that made me feel uneasy, such as the out- of-place setting of the story, certainly in ambitious terms!

Sufficed to say, there's a lot to enjoy including the massive faux-pas of thinking they were locked inside a prison, but were actually already inside their villa, however unlikely it may seem. Victor's bewildered expression is priceless, and Margaret's near insanity matches it. Other typically funny moments are Victor's problems with donkeys, the man in the cupboard and Victor's language skills.

On a more serious note, the themes involved were quite thoughtful, including that of Margaret's paranoia about her appearance to her husband, and the mystery around Alfonso's lost love. The mix of emotions in these areas are well threaded, and you can understand the characters' feelings.

What let it down for me was the overuse of silly jokes and at some points where too many characters became involved in the story. The story around the boxer in particular reached ridiculousness by the end. Not to mention the business with the lost camera film was a distraction all the way through that came to nowhere in its conclusion.

In my own eyes, it was over-ambitious, and fell short because of this. I would recommend it however for one of Victor's most ridiculous faux pas yet!

7.2/10
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