From our school days, we remember (and if not, the series will at its very end remind us) that trigonometry is that part of geometry dealing with triangles, the lengths of their sides and the angles between them. If a triangle is equilateral, the distances separating the three points are the same. In contrast, an isosceles triangle has two longer (equal) sides and one short one, meaning that two points are close together. Finally, there is a scalene triangle in which each point is different distance from each other point.
Now how might all that apply to the more-or-less ethnic Gemma (Thalissa Teixeira) and long-term boyfriend Kieran (Gary Carr) when a (very white) lodger called Ray moves in to supplement their finances? Ray is not as male as she sounds, being former Olympic-level synchronised swimmer Ramona (French), though the actress is Greek-French Ariane Labed. Ray actually seems to be of British-French parentage, while Gemma has a (once again very) white father ex military. All of this helps fill out the cultural mix of London that we see presented, and indeed, as Kieran works in an ambulance, while Gemma is struggling to make a go of a restaurant, there is a setting that is at once rather homely and domestic, while also vibrant and multicultural and multi-gender. Nostalgia for a pre-corona London is quite likely to be present in the viewer.
Now there is not the slightest question that Gemma and Kieran are good people, and that is quite important. However, not everybody in their family and circles is as good as they are, and few people featured are true successes in life, as measured by typical standards. For her part, Ray is sensitive and a bit traumatised by what happened to her health and career.
Of course the cultural snapshot is NOT the key point here, but it leavens the mix.
What really of course matters is how love flourishes within the triangle, unbidden, inconvenient, disruptive, semi-tragic, threatening, tempting, and irresistible.
How equilateral that triangle looks becomes a matter of some importance.
A key further point concerns the eroticism, which is tangible but not excessive. We see rather little (though not zero), and there is not much dirty about this threesome setup. It is much more based on love than lust, or indeed on adoration, as this word is deployed in relation to how our couple come to feel about their lodger/guest. Indeed, since Ray has another fling or two, one thing we are expected to accept (perhaps dubiously) is that Ramona is somehow irresistible to one and all for some reason. Do we in the audience also feel that? Perhaps.
In any case, the presentation here is serious, worthwhile and informative. Our thoughts could be provoked, if we choose to allow that; but there is little nasty. For me the worst moment (though probably quite authentic) came with the wedding of Gemma and Kieran, which offers a further (less-favourable) snapshot of modern Britain, in which guests introduce rancour, negativity, a lack of enthusiasm, chaos, swearing, excessive drinking and weed-smoking into the happy couple's day.
Few more spoilers need be added, but it is worth hinting at a marvellous moment at the very end of episode 5 (a kind of mid-series "climax") in which some of the heavy seriousness dissipates into traditional British humour and understatement. This was a quite unexpected touch, but in some sense inevitable, most welcome and in fact perhaps a little bit of genius. For reasons best known to itself, the series does not end there, but flogs on for a couple more episodes, looking - not always convincingly - at what the mostly-liberating impact of the group of 3 on people in their surroundings (mostly family) is going to be. It's less compelling, but still worth pressing through with, though a valid question might concern how we actually feel at the end of the thing. Actually, perhaps just a little bit exhausted by what is an intriguing trigonometrical thought-experiment whose real-world validity might occasionally look a bit questionable.
But so what? We need this kind of refreshing input from a bit outside the comfort zone...
Now how might all that apply to the more-or-less ethnic Gemma (Thalissa Teixeira) and long-term boyfriend Kieran (Gary Carr) when a (very white) lodger called Ray moves in to supplement their finances? Ray is not as male as she sounds, being former Olympic-level synchronised swimmer Ramona (French), though the actress is Greek-French Ariane Labed. Ray actually seems to be of British-French parentage, while Gemma has a (once again very) white father ex military. All of this helps fill out the cultural mix of London that we see presented, and indeed, as Kieran works in an ambulance, while Gemma is struggling to make a go of a restaurant, there is a setting that is at once rather homely and domestic, while also vibrant and multicultural and multi-gender. Nostalgia for a pre-corona London is quite likely to be present in the viewer.
Now there is not the slightest question that Gemma and Kieran are good people, and that is quite important. However, not everybody in their family and circles is as good as they are, and few people featured are true successes in life, as measured by typical standards. For her part, Ray is sensitive and a bit traumatised by what happened to her health and career.
Of course the cultural snapshot is NOT the key point here, but it leavens the mix.
What really of course matters is how love flourishes within the triangle, unbidden, inconvenient, disruptive, semi-tragic, threatening, tempting, and irresistible.
How equilateral that triangle looks becomes a matter of some importance.
A key further point concerns the eroticism, which is tangible but not excessive. We see rather little (though not zero), and there is not much dirty about this threesome setup. It is much more based on love than lust, or indeed on adoration, as this word is deployed in relation to how our couple come to feel about their lodger/guest. Indeed, since Ray has another fling or two, one thing we are expected to accept (perhaps dubiously) is that Ramona is somehow irresistible to one and all for some reason. Do we in the audience also feel that? Perhaps.
In any case, the presentation here is serious, worthwhile and informative. Our thoughts could be provoked, if we choose to allow that; but there is little nasty. For me the worst moment (though probably quite authentic) came with the wedding of Gemma and Kieran, which offers a further (less-favourable) snapshot of modern Britain, in which guests introduce rancour, negativity, a lack of enthusiasm, chaos, swearing, excessive drinking and weed-smoking into the happy couple's day.
Few more spoilers need be added, but it is worth hinting at a marvellous moment at the very end of episode 5 (a kind of mid-series "climax") in which some of the heavy seriousness dissipates into traditional British humour and understatement. This was a quite unexpected touch, but in some sense inevitable, most welcome and in fact perhaps a little bit of genius. For reasons best known to itself, the series does not end there, but flogs on for a couple more episodes, looking - not always convincingly - at what the mostly-liberating impact of the group of 3 on people in their surroundings (mostly family) is going to be. It's less compelling, but still worth pressing through with, though a valid question might concern how we actually feel at the end of the thing. Actually, perhaps just a little bit exhausted by what is an intriguing trigonometrical thought-experiment whose real-world validity might occasionally look a bit questionable.
But so what? We need this kind of refreshing input from a bit outside the comfort zone...