Gavin & Stacey

Over a year ago, I spent a semester abroad in London. We were plopped right into the middle of one of the largest international hubs of theatre, art, music, and excitement! Though I spent most of my time traveling and exploring the sites like a good tourist, a lot of the culture was somewhat lost on me. I did not spend a lot of time near the television, so recently I have started watching a few of the shows that I heard a lot of hubbub about. Last night I watched the first few episodes of Gavin & Stacey, which was canceled right after I left London so everyone was talking about it. Gavin & Stacey is a romantic comedy about a long distance relationship, where the girl, Stacey, lives in Wales and the guy, Gavin, lives in London. This show is absolutely ridiculous.

The first episode is where Gavin and Stacey meet in real life after spending a long time talking on the phone and probably sexting during work for several months. I know they probably sexted for a long time because at the end of their first date they have sex in some Hotel in London. At the end of the episode Gavin actually drives all the way to Wales, while Stacey is riding the bus home to meet her there so he can say, "I love you." This is where I just thought they were perhaps a bit bonkers, but I guess these things happen. However, at the end of the second episode Gavin actually proposes to her. Now, that shit is just insane.

They just barely met each other in real life. I understand that this is a romantic comedy sitcom, but this is just too unrealistic for me. Not only that, but the music they chose is horrible. There are too many horrendous American pop songs playing during the sentimental moments. The proposal scene was pretty hysterical, and there are a few genuinely funny moments here and there but they are overpowered by the cheesefest that is their relationship. Here's a clip of the proposal - it's at the end of the video if you don't want to wade through the bullshit.



Aside from the insanity of Gavin and Stacey's relationship, there are a lot of small instances of peculiar behavior between the other characters as well. The way Gavin's parents interact bothers me a lot. His mother is not the perfect cookie cutter housewife, but his father is consistently making fat jokes about her and she comes off as being outrageously neurotic about her weight when it is clearly her husband's fault. Meanwhile, Nessa, Stacey's friend is played by a pretty hefty actress and is shown as being sexually promiscuous and consistently disgusts the other characters. I'm not sure if Nessa as a character is meant to just add some additional spice to the show, or to make Stacey seem more appealing by comparison.