Duck: Whatever else Coupling is, it’s flipper-ticklingly funny! This old Brit show about six folks who become friends when two of them start to date quacks me up every time.
Star: It’s true! I can’t NOT quacker-laugh at Coupling. Especially the three series that include Jeff (played by Richard Coyle). Coyle appears as Jeff in seasons one to three, which are my faves. And that’s in part because of whacky, vulnerable Jeff, who is replaced by another character in four.
Duck: Jeff is ducking anxious about speaking to women he likes, and I can see why. Sometimes, he leaves them thinking he collects women’s ears in a bucket. You know. We’ve all been there.
Star: And this is typical of Coupling, which is driven by stories and humor about dating and sex. The women gather in bars to discuss the men, and vice versa. High jinx are everywhere. The ridiculous always happens. Sex humor abounds. And it’s super-ducking hilarious.
Duck: It’s super-ducking outspoken too! And its scenarios are wilder than a goose in Michael Jackson drag.
Star: Full ducksclosure: this show hails from the year 2000 and beyond, so it’s politics are very then … not now. Its political mistakes, however, are often due to its duck-darn daring, progressive nature, IMDO. Jane, for instance, was perhaps the first bisexual character I ever saw on TV. Sure, she sometimes gets casually erased by the others, which is ducking unacceptable, and she’s constantly eroticized for her interest in women, but at the same time, she’s visible as a bi woman and beak-to-flippers real.
Duck: It would be nice if she didn’t self-erase, however. I could beak-flap all day about that.
Star: Word! And white cis het normativity abounds in Coupling. And that’s not all. Normativity Central. For instance, Jane is clearly a neurodiverse character too, but is never celebrated for this. Our diversity ducks are in a serious snit.
Duck: But none of this can touch the duck-shaped outrageousness of this honk-a-goosie show! If you like to laugh so hard it makes your tail-tuft vibrate, tune into Coupling. This talented cast paddle me to pond-shaped hilarity every time. And who doesn’t need a good laugh?
Star: Ducking true! At the time of writing, friends, you can watch Coupling here;
Featured image designed by Star Tavares, using a screenshot of the Coupling trailer.
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