By Jason Cunningham
During the course of its two seasons and hour-long special, BBC Three’s Pulling brought viewers the complexities of ending a long term relationship and beginning a new single life with edgy laughs and smart writing. The show focuses on 30-year-old Donna, an incredibly selfish and impossibly likable character who naively stumbles through love. She’s very easy to root for.
Played by Sharon Horgan, who along with Dennis Kelly created and wrote the show, Donna is relatable and warm, yet consistently frustrating as she tries to escape her mundane unhappiness in everyday life. She suffers from a painful case of boredom that’s constantly itching at her nerves.
We meet Donna in bed with her finance Karl, played by Caven Clerkin. She’s giving him a handjob. This act is as comically depressing as it is true to the nature of the waterboarding-like relationship that Donna feels stuck in. Donna doesn’t notice when Karl climaxes and quickly runs off to get ready for her day after he announces that he’s “finished” in a way that clings to the severe awkwardness British humor can deliver. He cleans himself off with a leaf from the house plant at their bedside. After being together for five years, things have gotten stale for these two.
From that very first scene, Pulling pulls the audience into a world of disappointment in both endings and beginnings. During a drunken euphoria near the end of what started as a rocky bachelorette party Donna decides that she can’t go through with her approaching marriage to Karl.
After the break, Donna moves in with her two her two closest friends Karen and Louise. This begins the trio’s adventures in the dating world. Karen, played by Tanya Franks, is a biting, self-destructive alcoholic primary school teacher who jumps from man to man like a chronic overeater shovels through their food options at a buffet. Louise on the other hand is a traditional offbeat misfit who fights a life of disappointment after disappointment with proud optimism and a cheery smile. She often offers undeserved comfort to her friends and counteracts Karen’s mostly vile behavior with grace.
Each roommate plays a distinct role in their ‘Three Musketeers’ dating scene chemistry. On a couple of occasions, this formula excludes the “All for one, and one for all” mentality and, for the most part, each character is consumed with their respective romantic pursuits. Donna’s luck in finding love after Karl is a constant emotional tug of war between her lingering feelings for Karl, inconsistency in dating standards and wavering disappointment with the dating world. Karen doesn’t really care who she’s with as long as he’s willing to have sex and she seems to do the best with men who are as equally self-destructive and lewd as she is. Louise is desperate and on occasion displays stalker-like tendencies while going after the men she desires. Each approach to love provides a good reason to laugh during most episodes while never really suffering from the dullness that comes along with being character defining.
Pulling delivers great insight into modern dating, misguided feelings and the struggles of boredom and loneliness. It also also showcases the devastating and empowering results that can occur after a long term relationship meets its end. Witty writing and impeccable delivery make this British comedy both hysterical and intelligent. Series 1 and 2 of Pulling and its series finale hour-long special are currently available for instant streaming through Netflix and through gaming systems for subscribers as well as for DVD queues.
