World Eats Jimmy
04.01.08
[NOTE: the following digression includes spoilers for the first and second season of the BBC sit-com, Love Soup.]
Love Soup is a show that I discovered in re-runs on BBC America. At the time, there were only six episodes made, all shot and broadcast in the UK way back in '05. For those who aren't familiar with the program (which I would assume is most of you), Love Soup is a sort of a screw ball comedy in which the two quirky-yet-fated lovers never actually meet.
What initially caught my attention was that the male lead was an American. And not only an American, but Michael Landes, the Dick York of Jimmy Olsons.
...and the show has an easy charm to it, filtering Woody Allen neuroses through a distinctly British sensibility. Landes and the female lead, Tasmin Grieg, are funny, engaging actors who manage a suprising amount of chemistry, given that they're never on screen together, nor do they share any storylines whatsoever.
Well, technically, they're on screen together once, at the very end of the first season. They're in the same movie theater, watching the same awful movie, but they don't meet, and I suppose the point of the whole series is that they might never meet.
Which brings us to season two, the source of my current ennui. Now, for a long time, it didn't appear that season two was going to happen at all. It's been a few years, and Landes is back in the US, where he's been working steadily on "things that aren't Love Soup", including guest turns on My Boys and Boston Legal. As far as I knew, the show was done.
Then, a couple days ago, I discovered that not only is Love Soup coming back, it is back, with new episodes already airing in the UK. The catch? Landes is gone. The show which used to be an hour long, following two main characters in two different stories is now half an hour long, following just Tasmin Grieg in just one different story.
So they've taken a concept that is, at it's heart, hopeful: "You may never find them, but there is someone out there for you, and you need to keep looking for them." and it's turned it into something very, very sad: "You can look all you want. You're never going to find him."
And if that's not sad enough on its face, I just found out that part way through season two, we learn what happened to the Landes character. No, he's not off in America, guesting on David E. Kelley shows. He's dead. Landes' character dies of a heart attack, just a few hours before he would have finally met Grieg's character.
"No. Really. You're never, never going to find him."
I haven't seen the second season yet, as it's only just running in the UK, and at this point, I don't know if I can manage it. By all accounts, it's still smart and funny and quirky as ever. It's just...
I can handle futility. Futility is my bread and butter. But this verges on sadistic.
I suppose there's always a place for hope, though. While googling the story, I came across a fan site where one viewer speculated that the whole revelation was really a Three's Company style misunderstanding, and that Landes' character would be back in time for season three.
Wishful thinking, obviously. But isn't that the point?
I guess the lesson is that they can kill hope, but they can't kill hope.
So let me know if Jimmy Olson comes back from the dead. I'll be watching Doctor Who.