A few years back, my wife and I discovered a British sitcom that caught our attention and had us laughing hysterically. A loosely-related 'Friends', it went places that the NBC sitcom wouldn't dare and was better for it. That show was called COUPLING and we quickly became fans of it's hilarious and naughty humor (which NBC ironically tried to bring over here with dismal results).

Season 1 (or Series 1, as they called it on BBC) was simply awesome, if too short (only 6 episodes). Season 2 was 9 episodes and almost as funny. I'd been debating getting the Season 3 & 4 DVDs, too but had been holding back. When I joined Netflix recently, it gave me a chance to check back in with this funny and neurotic sextet.

[• wee bit o' BACKGROUND •]
The characters of Coupling are a group of neurotic 20-30-somethings grappling with the stresses of relationships, work, life and - much of the time - sex. Steve (Jack Davenport) and Susan (Sarah Alexander) are a couple going through their first relationship challenges and represent the most normal of the group. Sally (Kate Isitt) is Susan's beauty-obsessed best friend, who happens to have a thing for Patrick (Ben Miles), Susan's dim-witted, Casanova-like ex and one of Steve's best friends. Jane (Gina Bellman) is Steve's ex and the one who manages to constantly get herself embroiled in 'misunderstandings' - mostly because she has a habit of only hearing what she wants to hear. And lastly, there's Jeff (Richard Coyle) who is the heart-and-soul of this show, the completely inept friend with enough psychoses for the whole group but always good for a laugh or ten.

The show centers around these six and their quests for the perfect person to be with - and the trials and tribulations they go through to find them. However, these aren't your your normal singles - they have more than their share of hang-ups and skeletons to deal with.

In the first series, Susan is dumping Patrick, after which she meets up with friend Sally in a local pub. She runs into an old co-worker, Jeff, sitting there with his friend Steve. Then Steve's ex - Jane - walks in, and meets the rest of the crowd, now including Patrick. After a series of mishaps, Susan and Steve end up going out and starting the hilarity that is this group of six.

Now, we have Steve and Susan as a couple, Sally and Patrick considering that option, and Jeff and Jane trying out all sorts of frustrating paths toward relationship nirvana - mostly ending in failure and embarrassing situations. And we always end up back at the pub to see how things get resolved when the group gets to chime in.

[• episode GUIDE •]
Series 3 contains 7 episodes - 4 on the first disc and 3 on the second disc (plus bonus features). The bonus features are more of the same from the previous DVDs except they have finally added an outtakes section - which was okay, if not spectacular. I have to think that the outtakes from the first two seasons would have been better.

1• Split
At the end of last season, Susan offered up Steve an ultimatim - which he messed up miserably. Now, single again, he sets out to win back Susan - while she's waiting for him to finally do the right thing and just call! After a possible inadvertant 'ringing', So, the guys and girls do just what any group would do in this situation - the girls commiserate over drinks, while the guys go out for a night of drinking and debauchery.
Memorable Quote: Jeff: "Jenny Turbot.... The worst phone call I ever made. It was my final year at school and there she was Jenny Turbot. It was like she came to life like from one of my magazines as if all the candles and chanting had finally worked. I'd never seen a woman that gorgeous fully dressed. Clothes looked wrong on her somehow. As if she'd developed a fault. I fell completely in love with her. Totally. I knew she was the one. Everyone else called her the school bike, said she would put out for absolutely anyone...and it wasn't just that. And I got her number right. It took me ages but I got it. I remember it was on a little scrap of paper. The Turbots actual phone number. That little scrap of paper gave me the best time of my life. A month of complete sexual bliss. In the end, I had to phone her before it fell apart. She knew who I was. She remembered me. No one ever remembered me , but the Turbot, she remembered. And we were just chatting away and it was easy and I just asked her out I just did it. An actual date."
Patrick: "So what went wrong?"
Jeff: "Well, her ex suddenly turns up again doesn't he? Barry, 'Barry the Bastard'. Before you know it they're shagging away like maniacs. I kept asking her out obviously. I pleaded. But she was too busy with all the endless shagging. So, in the end, I just had to hang up."
Bonus Quote: "Lap dancing is the ultimate nightmare of man. Porn that can see you. " - Steve
HUMOR FACTOR (on a scale of 1 - 10): 8

2• Faithless
Jeff and Jane are both struggling with possible new relationships - Jane trying to get hers started, Jeff with trying to figure out what to do with the one he already has vs. a possible new one. When Wilma comes on to Jeff, he can't figure out whether she really is asking him out or not - and what he should do about his current girlfriend, Julia. Meanwhile, Jane decides that she must have James - despite the fact that he is a devout Christian saving himself for marriage.
Memorable Quote: Jeff: "There's a lot in Hi."
Steve: "There are two letters in hi."
Jeff: "Yeah, and I hit both of them like a crazy fool. It was like a disaster movie, halfway through the H, I'm thinking "no, no pull out now!". Have you ever tried to pull out during an H?"
Steve: "Jeff, the world in all it's fabulous diversity is entirely populated by people who have never tried to 'pull out during an H'"
Jeff: "Do you know why? Cos it isn't a proper letter. It's just a, just a 'huh' noise. Once you've started on the 'huh' you've basically 'huh-ed' so what could I say? Hello? How are you...hippo?"
Patrick: "Hippo?"
Jeff: "You can't say hippo. You don't want to come off sounding like some surreal cupboard loitering lunatic."
Steve: "It's just so ironic that you should have that as a specific ambition."
Jeff: "So I said 'hi'. Suddenly it was out there, suddenly that little word was hanging in the air pouting."
Steve: "Pouting?"
Jeff: "Like a scantily dressed prostitute reclining on a street lamp."
HUMOR SCALE: 7

3• Unconditional Sex
Jeff has decided to go out with Wilma, still unsure of her intentions - or what he is going to do with Julia, his current girlfriend. When she comes into the bar where the rest of the gang are coaching Jeff through his increasingly forward conversation with Wilma, the gig might be up - particularly when she grabs the phone and starts talking to Jeff - who must answer the questions in his ear - and those being posed by Wilma at the same time. Eventually, Jeff tries to get out of his naughty situation by blurting out that his girlfriend is dead - and that's why he can't give into Wilma. She offers to drive the 'distraut' Jeff home - only to find a body in his bed.
Memorable Quote: Wilma: "Well was she ill?"
Jeff: "Yeah but nothing serious. Well serious in one way obviously."
Wilma: "Well how can you say it wasn't serious if she died from it?"
Jeff: "She made an unsuccessful recovery."
HUMOR SCALE: 9

4• Remember This
When Patrick shows up at Sally's door in the wee hours in response to her call to rid her flat of a spider, she's surprised at the least - it turns out that Patrick dreamed it all. Unable to believe that he merely dreamed it, he starts to worry that he might be having a little more feelings for Sally than he anticipated.

This story eventually leads back to how Patrick and Sally really met the first time - back at Susan's office party a while back - from each perspective. It turns out that there was an attraction even then, although circumstances ended up with Susan and Patrick together instead. After telling their stories, each realizes that they had better move on - without each other.
Memorable Quote: Sally: "Always the same with men, isn’t it? Looks like a starter handle, works like an off-switch."
HUMOR SCALE: 7

5• The Freckle, the Key, and the Couple Who Weren't
Steve is in crisis after Sally discovers a mole on his butt - and ends up in an argument about just how well the couple knows each other. In the middle of the argument, Jane enters with new boyfriend James. Worse, she remembers Steve's mole vividly - and James remembers Susan, from a short relationship in university. However, much of the tension is disrupted when Jeff appears with a unique quandary - he's swallowed the key to a pair of handcuffs he's using with Julia and needs a way to get it back - and quickly.
Memorable Quote: Jeff: "Well we were just spending a quiet night in front of the television and in the course of events I swallowed some of her jewellery."
Steve: "You what?"
Jeff: "There was a swallowidge incident. I swallowed an item. Now normally when I swallow Julia's jewellery it doesn't really matter..."
Steve: "Jeff please! 'Normally' has never been used in that sentence before."
HUMOR SCALE: 9

6• The Girl With One Heart
Another dinner - and another recipe for major disaster. Susan has redecorated the bathroom, and in the process removing the lock on the door - and the security of Steve's private domain. Jeff tries to help - resulting in his normal exponential increase in complexity of the situation. Meanwhile, Sally is frightened at the prospect of meeting Patrick's new girlfriend - and so is Patrick, which is why he tells her that Sally is a lesbian. However, since the girlfriend also swings that way, a chance meeting in the bathroom produces unexpected results.
Memorable Quote: Steve: "We are men. We are different. We have only one word for soap. We do not own candles. We have never seen anything of any value in a craft shop. We do not own magazines full of photographs of celebrities with their clothes on. "
HUMOR SCALE: 8

7• Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps
Sally is filled with the fear that she might be pregnant - but she's afraid she'll also misread the test, so the girls agree to take one as well to compare the results. However, when she mixes up the tests, all three have to wonder who the future mommy is. All three could be - although it would take a miracle for Susan, who has a medical condition. Meanwhile, Patrick finally comes around to tell Sally how he feels about her - but the revelation is spoiled when Jane lets it be known that she is NOT pregnant - leaving only one contender: Sally.
Memorable Quote: Sally: "I’ll get the speech about how wonderful I am. Basic rule, isn’t it? More wonderful you are at the start of the speech, the more dumped you are at the end."
Bonus Quote:Jeff: "Sorry Jane, I've got to go."
Jane: "Where?!"
Jeff: "That was Steve...he wants me to go straight to his house, collect all his pornography, his favourite pillow and some snacks and meet him at this location."
Jane: "Why?"
Jeff: "Well, I didn't think to ask..."
HUMOR SCALE: 8.5

[• dvd EXTRAS •]
As I said above, the extras are limited. You get the ads from the show, cast bios and interviews. The addition of the outtakes is a nice bonus but still too little extra material for such a short series.

[• final THOUGHTS •]
While I still enjoyed this season, there is some wear-and-tear showing on the show. In a similar vein to Friends, the mounting 'coupling up' between the characters has sapped some of the humor from the show. That isn't to say that it isn't still very funny, but I definitely found us laughing less this season than the last two.

Keep in mind that this is not a show for children. Unlike American sitcoms, the sexual situations and discussion is a lot more frank than we're used to - but at the same time, it's a lot more real, as well. If you are okay with that type of humor, I think you'll enjoy this series, but you definitely want to start from the beginning with Series I.

[• for more INFORMATION •]
http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/coupling/

Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Fit for Friday Evening
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older