While we realize Lip Service has already aired a few episodes in the UK, we've just found a UK-based writer to expound on the relevancy of the show while offering a blow-by-blow recap! We'll be caught up soon for those of you who are watching weekly but for those of us across the pond, it's great to know what's happening with this break-out show for the BBC. Thanks A.P.!
The BBC’s lesbian-themed drama Lip Service revolves around a group of friends, comprised of three lesbians and two straight men. Tess (Fiona Button), an out of work actress, is funny, quirky and good-natured but prone to calamity. Frankie (Ruta Gedmintas), a photographer, is a not-so-far-removed incarnation of The L Word’s Shane. She is aloof, womanizing, and rarely shows her true emotions to others. Cat (Laura Fraser), an architect, is sweet and supportive, yet high-strung and anal-retentive -- given to bouts of high-speed nervous speech. Ed (James Antony Pearson), an aspiring but unsuccessful novelist, is Cat’s brother, and I will nickname him ‘Puppy’ because he spends most of the time hiding his unrequited love for Tess as he follows her on her escapades. Jay (Emun Elliot), also an architect, is the heterosexual male version of Frankie, as far as their sexual appetites are concerned, except that he is in a monogamous relationship with Becky. How well he has been tamed remains to be seen.
Domestic set ups: Cat and Tess are flatmates. Frankie is crashing with Jay upon her return to Glasgow.
If you’ve already watched the episode, feel free to skip ahead to the review.
Tess starts the day outraged over her ex, Chloe. Chloe is now on facebook, and her profile picture was taken by Tess during happier times. Tess seethes over the photographic betrayal. Tess has an audition for Refresh Face Cream, unfortunately, she left her only suitable outfit, a red dress, at Chloe’s flat when she moved out. We learn that they were together for five years prior to succumbing to the universal law that all good things must come to an end. Determined to not let Chloe ruin her audition, as well as her emotional happiness, Tess breaks into Chloe’s flat to retrieve the red dress -- she is aided and abetted by Puppy. Chloe unexpectedly returns home -- wearing the red dress. Tess and Puppy hide under the bed as Chloe and Shauna enter, manoeuvre to the bed and engage in natural passions.
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Tess is discovered trying to escape, through the ensuing argument Tess realises that Chloe was two-timing her with Shauna. Tess and Puppy leave with the red dress. Tess arrives at her audition, changes in the loos, ladders her tights and rips the dress. She enters the audition breathless and dishevelled. It all goes horribly wrong and ends in tears.
Next, Tess and Puppy are working on a promotional stall and they are dressed up as giant, orange drink cans.
A daytime TV celebrity, Lou, is wooing the public on behalf of the effervescent beverage. In the loos, Tess finds Lou crying because her (married) boyfriend has dumped her. Tess divulges that women are no better. Lou later approaches Tess and Puppy, she focuses on Tess, her legs, and her humour – Puppy plays gooseberry.
After work Lou catches up with Tess and Puppy, who are off for food and much grog. Lou asks Tess if she’d like to go for a drink. Tess invites Lou to tag along with her and Puppy; Puppy realises Lou is interested in Tess and excuses himself for a fictional errand. Before he leaves he gives Tess a look, which earns him the name ‘Puppy’. Lou and Tess drink at the bar; Lou flirts with Tess and invites her back to her place. At Lou’s flat Tess plays with a toy robot until Lou literally has to pounce on Tess to get her attention, sending the robot and a table lamp flying. Lou says “I’ve wanted to kiss a woman forever, and you’re gorgeous.” Things steam up to the sound of the robot saying “annihilation!” This is going to get interesting.
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Frankie has been living in New York for the past two years and is working as a photographer. She is indisposed, as it were, with her apparently straight subject when she receives news of her aunt’s death (her aunt and uncle raised her after the death of her parents but she hasn’t spoken to them in ten years). Undeterred by the bad news she continues where she left off. She returns to Glasgow after hearing an old message on her answer machine, from her aunt. Her aunt had something to tell her and asks for her forgiveness. Jay picks her up from the airport and leaves her at his flat. (Jay spends the rest of the episode ogling his female co-workers, and contradictorily being very much in love with his girlfriend outside of work.)
Cat, meanwhile, is making a date with Sam via gaydargirls.
Frankie, crying, goes in search of Cat. Cat sees Frankie outside her window at work and is knocked for six. They talk outside briefly, Cat is dazed and confused and just a tad pissed off. (Their back story is as follows: they became friends in their teens, a little over two years ago Frankie persuaded Cat to leave her girlfriend for Frankie and then Frankie buggered off to New York without saying a word to Cat.) Later, Frankie finds her at a work-related event and returns the purse that Cat dropped during their last encounter. Again, they oscillate between awkward conversation, occasionally appearing comfortable and familiar, but Frankie inevitably puts her foot in it by coming on to Cat and incurring her wrath.
That night Cat goes on her date with Sam, however, like Tess, the day’s revelations are too much for her and consequently the date goes badly. Sam first approaches Cat whilst she’s on the phone to Tess saying “call me in half an hour and if she’s a moose I’ll make my excuses and leave.” Sam coolly chides Cat and gets her a drink. Cat is nervous and gibbers her way into unintentionally derogating Sam’s profession; Sam is a detective sergeant in the police force. Sam gets a call and makes her excuses and leaves.
Cat retreats to the safety of Rubies, a dyke bar, where all her friends have congregated. She sees Frankie from afar; Frankie sees her, Cat turns on her heel and leaves, Frankie looks sorry for herself.
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The next day Frankie goes to the funeral home, the receptionist makes a pass at Frankie; Frankie flirts back and then goes to pay her last respects to her aunt. Her uncle and cousin walk in, they argue, the uncle denies all knowledge of the information the aunt wanted to pass on to Frankie.
When Cat finally discovers that Frankie’s aunt has died, she goes from wronged ex to supportive friend in a heartbeat. She is signing in at the funeral home as Frankie is exiting from the family argument. They sit in a park, talk about her aunt, discuss the cryptic message, and reminisce about getting stoned together in their teens.
Frankie attempts to kiss Cat; Cat is sent into a tail-spin, excuses herself and leaves Frankie reprimanding herself for her own stupidity. Frankie goes back to the amiable receptionist and takes her up on her offer of ‘assistance.’
At the bus stop Cat realises that she has lost her purse, yet again, and returns to the funeral home. The establishment is dark, silent and unlocked. Cat fails to find her purse, and when she hears inanimate objects being knocked over she enters the bowels of the funeral home. She discovers Frankie in service of the receptionist. It’s loud, energetic, and it is taking place next to a corpse. There are so many levels of wrong here; one hardly knows where to begin. Cat eventually comes to her senses and leaves. She is bawling her heart out on the street when she sees Frankie walk off into the night as oblivious to Cat’s presence on the street as she was in the funeral home – illustrating the less often noted side of the aforementioned universal law: all bad things, too, must come to an end.
Before I get to the actual review I have a question for any Glaswegians reading this, do you actually use the word ‘cop’ for ‘police officer’? I have lived both south and north of Watford and the only slang terms I’ve come across are ‘copper,’ ‘bobby.’ ‘pig’ - but never ‘cop’. Is this genuine vernacular or done in consideration of a future American audience?
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Overall, the cast does rather well. Tess is adorable and provides light relief whilst also experiencing a touching emotional journey. Frankie’s aloofness rivals Shane’s. Jay’s wandering eye is never -- at this point -- presented as a threat to his relationship with Becky, which is a very fine balance to maintain. Becky, in turn, is presented as a strong character, well aware of his past habits. The portrayal of Ed’s affection for Tess is inoffensive and rather sweet, especially as he is encouraging in regard to Lou’s interest in Tess, and facilitates their impromptu date by making himself scarce. As for Cat, her inexorable ability to stress manages to avoid being annoying and, in fact, it is quite endearing. Cat’s and Frankie’s conversational shifts in tone are flawless and believable, carrying all the complexities that can arise between people who have gone from childhood friends to adult lovers, and then on to estranged exes.
And now for the bad...
My biggest gripe with the programme would have to be with the character of Frankie (I stress, not with the actress). The unapologetic plagiarism of basing Frankie on The L Word’s Shane is an unimaginative move. As one of the few lesbians whose heart did not flutter at the sight of Shane, Frankie’s appeal is equally nonexistent for me, but that’s my personal taste and not a failing of the programme. The hair, however, is an objective failing; no argument in the world (Humean or otherwise) could convince me that wispy side wings are aesthetically pleasing. If rules of beauty are mathematically determined, the side wisps are a constituent of chaos. It didn’t look good on Shane, and it doesn’t look good on Frankie. Nothing can look good if it bears a resemblance to Worzel Gummidge, no matter if it is an expensively cropped version.
Beyond the superficial, the character is not a sympathetic one. The aim seemed to be ‘tortured yet aloof,’ if we are to go by the similarity to Shane, but, thanks to the script, she comes across as simply being an arsehole. She shows the ability to predict Cat’s reaction to her sudden reappearance but disregard for the consequences of it for Cat – Frankie’s wants take precedence.When Jay lovingly talks about his girlfriend she teases him about his monogamy to the point of almost appearing sadistic.
And she lacks ‘brief encounter etiquette.’ No matter the number of sexual partners with which one engages, and the context in which such encounters take place, one must always treat said persons with respect before, during and after the encounter. Frankie exempts herself from this rule, when the other person ‘arrives’ Frankie looks at them as though her favourite toy has been broken and abandons them with all the grace of a kick in the teeth. For Frankie they are a means to her own ends, and her end is escapism through sex. This is most apparent after Cat deserts her in the park; her first course of action is to find comfort by going back to the ready and willing receptionist.
In light of how she relates to sex, it is difficult to discern whether her repeated suggestiveness towards Cat is an attempt at intimacy or rather an effort towards escapism. When she appears agonised over Cat’s animosity towards her does Frankie genuinely regret hurting Cat and abandoning the relationship-that-didn’t-happen, or is she wallowing in self-pity? I am inclined to think the latter.
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And finally, the funeral home sex scene. Anyone who has no qualms about shagging in close proximity of a corpse has serious problems, and when they come out with the following line: “I bet he thinks he’s died and gone to heaven,” I challenge anyone to find the good in that.
Unfortunately, for Frankie, a troubled childhood and intimacy issues do not excuse bad or inconsiderate behaviour, neither do they make such behaviour inevitable. If she is incapable of empathy then her behaviour isn’t surprising. If, however, she is capable of empathy then she is also capable of assessing and reforming her behaviour and bears responsibility for not doing so. Given that her ‘Shane-ness’ was probably an attempt to exploit the lesbian heartthrob archetype created by The L Word, on every emotional level she fails to be even likable.
Funniest lines:
During the audition for Refresh Face Cream:
Director: “Could you sound more aggrieved at the prospect of really parched dry skin?...A bit more aggrieved than that.”
At Rubies:
Tess: “I do what most lesbians do, stare at women hungrily and pray somebody else will make the first move.”
Funniest dialogue:
Tess tears up Chloe’s picture and throws it into what looks like a bin:
Tess: “They can take her away and incinerate her for all I care.”
Cat: “That's my laundry basket.”
Tess: “Good, she could do with a wash - filthy trollop.”
Most cutting dialogue:
Frankie: “...let’s get out of here, yeah?”
Cat: “I’m working.”
Frankie: “Checking out library designs with a bunch of council pen pushers?”
Cat: “What makes you think I'd prefer spending time with you?”
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