Everyone’s favourite dysfunctional Jewish family are back as they return for Friday dinner. What could go wrong?
Channel 4’s Friday Night Dinner returned to our screens last week with the sixth series allowing audiences to once again enjoy the antics of the Goodmans as they sit down for their weekly family meal, which to anyone at the moment seems far from reality.
The second episode sees Martin (Paul Ritter) stressing over a plastic bag in a tree. We also return to Adam (Simon Bird) and Johnny’s (Tom Rosenthal) friendly brotherly banter as they continue to try and make each other’s lives hell.
This week though sees Adam with some great news after having an interview in the local magazine, much to the dismay of Jackie (Tasmin Greig) as he didn’t mention her but chose to mention Auntie Val. We cannot forget Jim (Mark Heap), the Goodman’s strange next-door neighbour and his new addition, Wilson (not the German Sheppard but a Great Danoodle).
What director Martin Dennis has done well is keep the same humour that is familiar to us throughout the series so far, making the return of this series even better because in a way it is a return to normality for us. A prime example being Jim’s awkward humour.
For instance, Jim decides to get into Adam’s car as he sits there with Johnny after being kicked out the house for not saying “I love you” to Jackie, showing us that Jackie continues her over-reactive personality towards the smallest issues. This awkward humour is at the centre of this sitcom, making it more relatable to people watching because for all of us, we have all had that one person in our lives; whether its what they say or do, we don’t know what to say to them, and Jim is this character.
Perhaps the only downfall to the series so far is the predictable humour we have seen throughout the past series. Is Martin focused on something ridiculous words can’t explain why he is? Is Jackie overreacting over the smallest thing? Are Adam and Johnny committing the same childish antics at the dinner table? Yes, yes and yes. This predictable humour, even though it is still funny for all of us, makes us question as time goes on: is it going to lose its effect?
Other than that, the return of Friday Night Dinner allows us some sort of return to reality in these times of uncertainty as we can once again enjoy the slapstick comedy of the series.
By Katie Green
Feature image credit: Channel 4