Season 1 |
Season 2 |
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Episode Guide
Episode 1: -| Review Score – 3/5
Episode 2: -| Review Score – 3/5
Episode 3: -| Review Score – 3/5
Episode 4: -| Review Score – 3/5
Episode 5: -| Review Score – 3/5
Episode 6: -| Review Score – 3/5
Season 1 of Avoidance focussed on Jonathan (Romesh Ranganathan) and the ways in which his life changed after he and his partner Claire (Jessica Knappett) broke up. Not only did he find himself without the woman he loved but he also had to manage his relationship with his son Spencer (Kieran Logendra) as he co-parented with Claire.
Throughout the first season, Jonathan tried to reconnect with his ex-partner but due to a series of unfortunate (and silly) events, his efforts always backfired.
In this second season, the question of “Will they/won’t they get back together” still lingers. Jonathan is keen to get back with Claire but when she starts dating a muscled carpenter named Brett (Matthew Lewis), our unfortunate protagonist starts doubting his chances. The fact that he’s too afraid to declare his love for her doesn’t help matters!
Still, Claire isn’t the only one to find a new romantic partner as Jonathan also gets into a new relationship – a woman named Megan (Aisling Bea) who wins him at a comical charity auction. Young Spencer starts hanging out with a girl too, though this is just a friendship, despite Jonathan’s worries that his son might be involved in a “Euphoria-type relationship” with the girl.
Outside of these characters, we also spend more time with Jonathan’s sister Danielle (Mandeep Dhillon) and her wife Courtney (Lisa McGrillis) who are now expecting a baby.
Courtney, who is carrying the child, is less-than-prepared for motherhood, so it’s up to Danielle to figure things out for the both of them. However, life throws an exciting spanner in the works when she is offered her dream job. But as this will take her away from Courtney and the newborn, she finds herself in quite a dilemma. Should she take the job? And how will Courtney react if she does? These are just two of the quandaries Danielle has to navigate.
Thankfully, despite the show’s weighty relationship and co-parenting themes, Avoidance still manages to be funny. This is due to the comic playing of its brilliant cast and the silly scenarios that our characters find themselves in.
These scenarios feature scenes that you’ll have seen in sitcoms before – a dinner party from hell, a terrible parenting class, an uncomfortable mum’s and dad’s night out – but thanks to the sharp writing which hones into cringe humour, familiarity rarely breeds contempt!
That being said, there are the occasional cliched scenes that might make you roll your eyes. In one episode, for example, Claire decides to try again with Jonathan and gets the wrong idea when she sees Megan kissing him. This is a scene that has been played out a thousand times before in TV shows and movies, so it is a little tiresome to see it replayed again.
But while originality isn’t the show’s strong point, it always bounces back with something a little less predictable, such as a sequence in which Courtney’s water breaks when she is stranded in the middle of a lake on a rowing boat. As such, Avoidance is a show that manages to strike a delicate balance between being fresh and familiar, so should retain your interest.
Avoidance is currently available to watch in its entirety on BBC iPlayer so is worth catching up on if you have (befitting of the title) avoided it thus far.
The second season doesn’t always reach the hilarious heights of Here We Go and Things You Should Have Done, but it’s never less than amusing due to the comedic playing of Romesh Ranganathan, Jessica Knappett, and the rest of the accomplished cast.
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Verdict - 7/10
7/10