Bubble UK Review: Warren United Episode 6

As the 2014 football season draws to a close, so too do we blow the final whistle and call time on the first ( I’m assuming there’ll be more) series of ITV4’s Warren United. Our thoughts on the show are after the break.

This week we watched the season finale of the latest adult sitcom to try and break the string of flops that has plagued British animation. ITV4’s Warren United has been reasonably well received by British press and garnered favourable reviews after its first episode but failed to gather momentum in the press from then on. We have been the only publication, online or otherwise, to follow the show’s progress over the six episodes and this week we will share what we have learned and draw our final conclusions. First though, what happened in the world of Brainsford United this week?

In  the most shocking episode to date, Warren begins to air suspicious views on “foreigners” when his jealousy is provoked by a Saudi by-out of the Meringues greatest rivals, the Rovers. We know Warren isn’t a racist, his best friend is an Indian and his wife is Dutch, unfortunately, his passion for his team and the prospect of a huge cash injection being given to their bitterest enemies makes the congenial family man say things that make his teenage daughter’s ears bleed. None of Warren’s rant is directed at anyone and neither is any of it spiteful or indeed truly shocking, it’s just the ramblings one might hear from any middle aged man as he behaves without sensitivity when feeling threatened. Any UKIP or BNP voter is going to say a hell of a lot worse, but fuck those guys, they are hella racist. Warren’s problem is this, he hates foreign billionaires, but only because they aren’t buying his beloved club. and it’s not really the foreign part that gets to him, it’s the billionaire bit. However, it is all too much for his sensitive teenage daughter and aghast at the thought her Dad “might be racist”, Charlie phones the police. In a week when things couldn’t get any worse for Warren, even his son begins to favour the Rovers over the Meringues, things suddenly get a whole lot worse, now Warren has the old bill at his door.

Casual racism seems a weird topic to go out on, I’m not entirely sure where the script writers were going with this one. Until now, everything Warren has done has been amiable and bumbling, there was nothing uncomfortable about his antics, that was left to his over-sexed mother. Warren isn’t trying to be racist but I certainly knew how his daughter felt, there was something a bit off about some of Warren’s musings. I’m guessing the sense of unease was what the writers were aiming for but as the next shot sees Warren going to the Match with his best friend Dilip, as he does every week, it was all a bit non-commital, we know Warren is a nice guy, it was the show that was making me uncomfortable not the characters in it. Eventually, even Warren’s own brain admitted to not knowing where the story was heading with these tirades and decided to give up before he made things worse. Ultimately, there is no real anger to Warren, he just wants his club to do well. That’s all he ever wanted.

Subject matter aside, there were some lovely pieces of juxtapostion in this episode and I wondered if I have been missing nuances such as these all series long. For instance when Warren bemoaned his jealousy over the buy-out to Dilip, he says there is literally nothing worse in the world than the current situation at Brainsford, just as this bus pulls up behind him:

 

Similarly, Dilip complains that all his great times with his “best friend” meant nothing because now it turns out he’s a racist, at least, that is what he’s being told. These little flourishes made me laugh and the show does well to not play them up for greater effect. It was unfortunate however, that the show should end on an episode which featured behaviour that seemed so counterintuitive to what Warren actually is, in this respect I felt a wee bit let down.

 

You can catch up all the news at Warren United at the official website or via twitter and Facebook. All the episodes are available to watch on the ITV iPlayer now.