American audiences have never been in short supply of coming-of-age entertainment, from The Andy Griffith Show to My So-Called Life. While those awkward teenage years have always been a lynchpin of such series, the bulk of these growing pains shows have been firmly rooted in the nostalgic (see: Daniel Stern’s wistful recounting of his life as young Kevin Arnold in The Wonder Years). Though Damon Beesley and Iain Morris’ The Inbetweeners is undoubtedly part of the coming-of-age genre, when compared to the big titles within that subsector of the small screen, it sits somewhat askew. In the best way.
An ensemble comedy in the truest sense, the series—which ran for three seasons on Britain’s E4—centers around four teenage friends who, at first glance, seem thrown together more out of a lack of acceptance from their school’s more popular cliques than because they have a lot in common: Simon Cooper (Joe Thomas) is the high-strung teenage romantic who has spent the bulk of his life lusting after family friend Carli D’Amato (Emily Head). Jay Cartwright (James Buckley) is the sex-obsessed misogynist, who expends the bulk of his brain power on coming up with new and more elaborate lies to tell his friends about his many sexual conquests (spoiler alert: there have been zero). Neil Sutherland (Blake Harrison) is the group’s most dim-witted member, which possibly makes him the most likable. In the pilot episode, this longstanding trio is infiltrated by Will McKenzie (Simon Bird), a sheltered transfer student who, for all his intelligence, makes repeatedly poor decisions—many of which result in him being ridiculed by the rest of the student body, and most often as some sort of "wanker" (i.e. "briefcase wanker").
If your only familiarity with The Inbetweeners is via MTV’s short-lived (and not very good) adaptation, forget everything you know. Like so many American versions of British television series—and, even more specifically, MTV adaptations of British series (see: Skins)—much of the original series’ spirit got lost in translation. While we’d be remiss if we didn’t note/warn less scatologically-inclined viewers that the series does not shy away from poop jokes, farting, vomiting, and the occasional visible testicle, The Inbetweeners also operates on a slightly deeper level.
Ultimately, the series is about the bond that growing up creates amongst peers, especially at its most awkward moments. Yet one would never accuse the show of being "sentimental." Sure, there are moments of vulnerability and tenderness where the depth of the relationships these guys share is evident—but it’s typically followed by a cock-punch (literally or figuratively). Whereas an American series would cut away or obscure the action at certain moments, or let the implication of a joke serve as its punch line, The Inbetweeners follows through—then takes it two steps further. (Hitting a young girl in a wheelchair in the head with a Frisbee? Check! Confirming that that one creepy teacher really is the pedophile? Been there!) The show’s creators—and its actors—aren’t afraid to make audiences squirm in the name of comedy. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll cringe, then laugh again.
The Inbetweeners is available on almost all streaming channels, so here’s how to binge-watch your new favorite teen comedy.
Number of Seasons: 3 (18 episodes)
Time Requirements: For the truly engaged, The Inbetweeners can easily be watched in one sitting. Running between 21 and 26 minutes per episode, you could sit down and watch the entire series in just over seven hours (that’s less than a workday). For those who like their binges in smaller doses, watching two to three episodes per night will get you done in about a week—and still leave you wanting more.
Where to Get Your Fix: Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu, iTunes
Best Character to Follow: Because the dispositions of the four main characters are so varied, anyone who watches the show will likely find themselves relating to one particular character. But it’s Will who is the true star. He’s the one who kickstarts the series’ action with his arrival at the school, and the one who pushes himself into the already-established friendship between Simon, Jay, and Neil—regardless of whether they want him. While other coming-of-age series, like the aforementioned The Wonder Years, are told in retrospect, from the perspective of a fully formed adult, Will’s about as close to that as we get with The Inbetweeners. Like a nervous old man in a high schooler’s body, it’s Will who has the most to learn about being a teenager. He’s also the one who knows better, and the one who has the most to lose. Which makes watching him make bad decisions over and over again all the more pleasurable to witness. (Made even more so by the uncomfortably authentic acting of Simon Bird, who won Best Male Comedy Newcomer at the British Comedy Awards following the series’ first season.)
Seasons/Episodes You Can Skip: Given the brevity of the series, and its quick clip, there’s no single reason—or episode—that you have to miss, nor should you want to. Truthfully, the show is so fast-paced that it plays more like one long movie. And, as such, should be watched as a whole.
Seasons/Episodes You Can’t Skip:
Season 1: Episode 2, “Bunk Off” While the series’ first episode is the one you’ll want to watch in order to get the quick rundown of The Inbetweeners' players and relationships, the second episode does away with all of those “we are a new show, and here’s what we’re about” conventions. The guys decide to skip school for the day, only to realize there’s nothing else to do while everyone else is at school. So they drink ... and they drink ... and then they drink some more. If the pilot episode introduced the most basic version of these characters, "Bunk Off" introduces viewers to their dark sides. Which ends with Will accusing Neil’s dad of being gay, Simon declaring his love to Carli via spray paint on her driveway, and a little boy being vomited on.
Season 1: Episode 5, “Caravan Club” After years of listening to Jay’s sordid tales of sex-filled weekends at his parents’ caravan club (basically, an R.V. park), the rest of the guys decide to come with him and spend the weekend fact-checking the many erotic tales he has told. While both Will and Neil pique the interest of a sexually-charged female (the same one, unfortunately), Simon doesn’t fare so well and is nearly arrested for assault.
Season 2: Episode 1, “The Field Trip” Some of the guys’ most memorable moments happen outside of school property. The second season kicks off with a field trip to Swanage, where Will meets an attractive new transfer on the bus ride, who only has eyes for Simon. It’s not the first time two guys have fought over a girl, but not all of them end with four guys on a boat—one of them naked and suffering from hypothermia.
Season 2: Episode 6, “Exam Time” Though we’re told throughout the series that Will is highly intelligent, his actions don’t always back that claim up. This is particularly true in the Season 2 finale, when stress over final exams leads him to a temporary addiction to energy drinks. Will, at his calmest, is fairly insufferable; but his neurotic nature turns volatile when jacked up on all that caffeine. It also causes him to, well, crap himself in the midst of his final—in front of the whole school.
Season 3: Episode 1, “The Fashion Show” Carli organizes a charity event at the school, and gets Simon to model and Neil to help dress the models, with Will protesting the event for being a popularity contest. He changes his opinion when Charlotte “Big Jugs” Hinchcliffe (Emily Atack) asks him to partner up with her. Upset that no one has asked him to model, Jay gets his ears pierced, and they promptly get infected. Meanwhile, Neil is so busy fighting off the advances of Mr. Kennedy (the aforementioned pedophile), that no one notices Simon’s nether-region wardrobe malfunction until it’s too late. Those who watched The Inbetweeners on BBC America likely remember “The Fashion Show” episode; what they won’t remember is how gratuitous Simon’s “slip” is (it was edited a bit, and the easily offended will see why).
Season 3: Episode 4, “The Trip to Warwick” Yet another offsite adventure for the boys, this one—in which the guys accompany Simon and his new girlfriend, Tara, on a trip to Warwick to visit her sister at university. For Simon, the trip is about one thing: losing his virginity. For Neil and Jay, it’s about the same (as they hear that college women are up for anything—mostly based on Jay’s “expertise”). For Will, it’s about embracing college life; but what he imagines will be a stimulating evening of conversation with fellow intellectuals devolves into a game where he ends up eating a plant (and Neil ends up peeing in the bed he and Will are sharing later).
Season 3: Episode 5, “Home Alone” When Will’s mom (who all the guys fantasize about) leaves him home alone, he asks Simon to keep him company. But Jay and Neil end up coming, too. And the lot of them engage in the kind of behavior only teens will engage in when there’s no parent at home. The credit card Will’s mom left for supplies is used to buy a couple cases of beer. And the guys go on a tear through the neighborhood, killing one squirrel, and ruining the perfectly manicured flowerbeds. A separate storyline involves Jay’s dog Benji watching him masturbate. Typical teen stuff!
Season 3: Episode 6, “The Camping Trip” Unlike other series finales, The Inbetweeners doesn’t feel like a firm ending. Which isn’t meant as a gripe. The show’s creators didn’t necessarily treat the episode in any special way—with the exception of it being one of the series’ few moments of tenderness. Simon learns that his father has gotten a new job in Wales, and his family must relocate. So the guys decide to say goodbye with a camping trip, which—like so many of their other plans—goes awry when their car rolls into a lake. But they persist and make the most out of their situation, before walking home as a foursome in the morning. Though it’s a subtly well done ending, the show didn’t end there. In 2011 and 2014, two feature-length Inbetweeners movies were released.
Why You Should Binge:
Whereas other so-called “comedies” attempt to infuse their plotlines with topical subjects, The Inbetweeners is a pure embracement of being a teenager. Whether you relate to any one of its characters or not, it evokes that sense of being unburdened by real-life problems—jobs, bills, marriage, etc. And while it’s loaded with cringe-worthy moments, for viewers who don’t mind a little ick, it’s a comedy in the purest sense.
Best Scene—"Bringing Up Baby":
Fact: If you’re easily made queasy by on-screen vomiting, The Inbetweeners isn't the show for you. No, it’s not a wall-to-wall vomitorium, but the series’ charm lies far beyond its ability to gross out its viewers. But if you don’t find the sight of a drunk teenager throwing up on a little boy really, really funny, you might want to stick to The Wonder Years anyway.
The Takeaway:
Being a teenager is embarrassing—no matter where you grew up. With political correctness infiltrating every corner of the entertainment industry, including comedy, it’s refreshing to watch a show that isn’t afraid to go there.
If You Liked The Inbetweeners, You’ll Love: In many respects, particularly with its ability to make audiences squirm and scream with laughter simultaneously, The Inbetweeners could be considered an offshoot of The Office, with Will standing in as a slightly smarter and far more self-aware version of Ricky Gervais’ David Brent—the manager of a mid-level paper company.
Perhaps it’s no coincidence that Blake Harrison, who plays Neil on The Inbetweeners, also stars in The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret. The British-American co-production was created by David Cross (whose Arrested Development would also appeal to fans of The Inbetweeners for its fast-paced laughs), who stars as a wimpy office temp who accidentally gets a big promotion which involves him shilling energy drinks (that are actually toxic) in London.
But for those who really loved The Inbetweeners, the show didn’t end with the series finale. The Inbetweeners Movie (2011), which should pop up on all those same streaming services, follows the guys to Malia, Crete, where they meet—conveniently enough—a female foursome, each one of whom proves to be a well-suited match to our heroes. The movie was a huge box office hit it England, which led to a sequel—The Inbetweeners 2—in 2014. While it has its moments of hilarity, the sequel doesn’t have the heart of the previous film, or the series. Still, it’s not a complete Inbetweeners binge-watch without it.
