Wake Up!

I look forward to Wednesdays for many reasons. Recently, one reason was Vent, a comedy series on BBC Radio 4. In Britan it airs at 11:00pm (or 23:00 - they like military time in Europe), and I stream it the next day at work (while doing thoughtless tasks like data entry where I need something to distract my brain from its innane work).

Many series on BBC Radio are created for a limited duration. I wasn't quite sure of the span of Vent (because I had never bothered to look). After listening to the most recent episode, I decided to check on it. You see, I could tell that the main character was close to waking up from his coma, and I wanted to see how much longer they would draw out the plot before it got stale (unlike the US, British shows are generally good at stopping before they jump the shark).

It turns out that I had just listed to the last episode! There are only six. And he didn't wake up! He almost woke up, and I know he does wake up because he narrates (and you generally can't narrate from beyond the grave .... you can, but, you know ... this is touted as a comedy after all!).

That parenthetic statement just brought me to my point: he should have properly woken up! I'm not asked for mush, I don't want that. It's a bit of a dark, subtly comedy (like Sports Night or the West Wing) and a schmultzy ending wouldn't suit it at all. But I feel terribly unsatisfied. Ben almost wakes up, mumbles something about "love" and fades back out. His wife, Mary, and Mum take this as a good sign and the show ends on a optimistic note, but I WANT MORE! If nothing else, I want him to wake up so they can yell at him for dragging them through hell. That would have been a lovely ending.

Ben blinks his eyes and stirs.

Mary and Mum are estatic. "Ben! Ben can you hear me?"
Chatter of "He's awake" and calls for nurse.

Ben groggily opens eyes, "What happened?"

Mary, "You were in a coma, you git!"

The End.