DVD Talk Reviews Spaced: The Complete Series

DVD Talk reviews Spaced: The Complete Series:

The majority of the show is focused on the duo’s day-to-day existence, uneventful and otherwise, as they live their pop-culture-obsessed existences. Speaking like more current Quentin Tarantino characters, their language is steeped in Star Wars and zombie films and other cult/fringe media, and they think in the language of movies and television. Thus, there’s a huge number of references to geek culture, which, in the hands of a creative director like Wright, results in a show that moves in and out of reality at a rapid, yet smooth clip. At one point you have the guys playing video games, the next moment, it’s a frame-by-frame homage to Pulp Fiction or an awesome send-up of The Sixth Sense. To anyone with a love of comic books, movies or TV, it’s like hanging out with your friends.

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The thing about the series that makes it so truly unique, besides the fact that the leads are also the writers, making for a “singular” vision, is, despite the fantasy visuals and occasionally bizarre plots, it is utterly realistic. From the depiction of drugs, which are taken recreationally, without moralizing; to the wardrobe, featuring clothes that are worn multiple times during the series (which is so unusually rare outside of cartoons); to the relationships, which are hardly healthy, yet work for the characters. It’s easy to believe that these people exist and that their lives don’t pause when the cameras stop rolling. Wrap them in a world of sci-fi and fantasy, and they become the customers at your local comic shop or the people you chat with online.

So when you have Daisy [Steiner], who is honestly your average girl-next-door in terms of looks, and Tim [Bisley], who’s also an everyman, it’s very easy to believe they can co-exist in a non-sexual way, yet there’s a subcurrent of attraction. We aren’t talking about two beautiful people who shouldn’t be able to keep their hands off of each other, pretending they can’t stand each other. These two are friends first, and anything else, perhaps later. That, plus the bro-mance between Tim and softhearted Mike, gives a somewhat cynical show about a pair of slackers (though, refreshingly, it’s the guy who’s more motivated this time) a sense of sweetness that makes it whole and entirely entertaining, as it comes to an ending that’s satisfying yet frustrating, because it makes great sense, but you don’t want it to stop.