Waiting for God: Season 1

undefined

It's strange that a British comedy series in the tradition of Monty Python and Mr. Bean would sit fifteen years before being released on DVD. However, Waiting for God's humor has less slapstick mixed in with its dark, dry wit, making its style uniquely relevant to facing old age and death. The first seven episodes are collected on this disc: Welcome to Bayview, A Trip to Brighton, Cheering Up Tom, The Christening, Fraulein Mueller, The Psychiatrist, and The Helicopter. In each, elderly citizen Tom Ballard (Graham Crowden) and his grumpy spinster friend, Diana Trent (Stephanie Cole) overcome boredom and malaise within Bayview Retirement Village, having some adventures outside its confines (like when they drive a Porsche to Brighton in "A Trip to Brighton"), but mostly relying on conversation to entertain themselves. Waiting for God exemplifies smart writing paired with solid acting, since there is little dramatic action to distract from its premise. As a result, Tom and Diana's characters have well-rendered personalities, making their conversations pleasantly predictable. Tom always fantasizes, believing he can enact change, like when he stages a hunger strike against Bayview's food in "Welcome to Bayview." Diana is the quintessential pessimist, her nose always buried in a novel or in a game of solitaire to pass time until death. She's bitter towards people who "revere everything ancient except themselves." Diana and Tom bond over broken families and a love of sarcasm, and their unlikely friendship is both realistic and entertaining. Plots against their refusal to accept senior citizen status grow heated, as in "The Psychiatrist," when Harvey, Bayview's manager, s to prove Tom and Diana mentally incompetent in order to confiscate their rights. In "The Helicopter," Tom and Diana sneak a ride in a helicopter, causing panic and chaos amongst their caretakers. Instead of poking fun at the elderly, as does the other British comedy about an old couple, Keeping Up Appearances, Waiting for God satirically highlights the absurd notion that our elders are incapable of living intelligently. --Trinie Dalton