Cucumber

Freshly modern... Thanks to a superb Vincent Franklin. [17/24 Apr 2015, p.104]

It expands beautifully from the stereotypes, ultimately giving us portraits of very specific men and women and their very human trepidations regarding aging, attachment, self-esteem, and romance.

Cucumber is the toughest series to take, but it’s also the most ambitious--and, at its heights, it is emotionally wrenching and acridly funny, an audacious and original expression of Davies’s challenging, often critical ideas about gay male identity.

The plot complications occasionally feel forced, and Henry’s overwhelming dyspepsia sometimes comes off as meanspirited and a little mystifying (through two episodes, anyway). But Mr. Davies, as “Doctor Who” fans know, has perfected a style of propulsive, almost manic comic dialogue with an undercoating of melancholy, and there are plenty of hilarious and touching moments in Cucumber.

The predicaments Henry gets himself into, while sometimes predictable, are nonetheless realistic and entirely believable within the universe of this show (and sometimes real life, too).

Not everything works, but enough does.

As Henry’s world expands, and as it becomes clear that his myopic perspective doesn’t exclusively define the intertwining narrative, it’s easy to get drawn in. Davies is best at capturing the easy camaraderie that develops among friends and lovers.... He’s on less sure footing with some of the more drastic shifts in tone in each series.