The Thick of It Episode #4.7 (2005–2012) Online

Last year I watched the first season of Veep and, while I enjoyed it, I must admit that it felt far too warm and safe compared to what I hoped for and what I thought it should have been. I recently got round to watching the fourth season of The Thick of It and it hit me how far short of the mark that Veep had fallen in regard its tone. I say this because from the very start this season of The Thick of It is bitter, acerbic, cruel, cynical and very funny with it – although not always because of it.

Reportedly the last season that will be made (although some specials may come in the future), we have the cynical edge really pushed to the fore so that the usual inept firefighting and anti-action that usually goes on, gives way into an enquiry where various fates befall various characters – although for some this is merely their ineptitude becoming public. This is given an hour long special as the penultimate episode of the short run and, while it is one the least funny of the season it is also one of the most engaging as it is really well acted and scripted and shows that the cynicism in the writing is still present even when the rapid fire dialogue and swearing is dropped. That said, it is still the great dialogue and delivery that gives the show a lot of its energy and it is far from being just swearing – it is too poetic and creative for that, with so many quotable lines and phrases that just hit the ear right.

The delivery of the various characters is near perfect. Capaldi is brilliant yet again and the final few episodes he shows that he is a very good actor even if it is his foul mouth that gets the headlines. Smith is equally strong as a terrible wet, frustrated character although I don't care too much for Addison. Front is spot-on as are Allam, Scanlan and others. The writing is great and it has retained all of its strengths despite Armstrong and Iannucci no longer being directly involved in the writing.

Great stuff and a reminder of how good Veep should have been. If this does bow out on this season then it is a great way to leave it and it will stand for time thanks to the comic cynicism that forms the base for every plot, character and piece of dialogue whether a sweary put-down or a question in a Government Enquiry.

The series finale of "The Thick of It" ends mostly as how you'd think it would, with a few exceptions.

At the DoSAC offices, Mannion and his staff shuffle to solve another problem in meltdown — in this case, cutbacks in police forces cause a backlog in paperwork, including arrest paperwork, which Malcolm will coincidentally surrender, having been prosecuted for illegally obtaining Mr. Tickel's medical paperwork in between episodes.

On the Opposition side, Dan Miller, and Malcolm's heir apparent, Olly (Chris Addison), visit local police stations on a fact-finding mission as a smokescreen to divert media attention from Malcolm. This is how it ends, with every in varying degrees of damage control. It's all funny, of course, yet it's viewed more through of a cynical lenses than usual.

Convinced that the Goolding Inquiry will eventually discover that he leaked the email chain that embarrassed DoSAC, which he lied about, Glenn decides to quit in the most dramatic fashion imaginable and turn himself in to the authorities. Everyone receives a nice roast before he shreds his identification and exits.

The ultimate joke of his exit comes during the end credits when he arrives at a local police and after momentary hesitation, decides to "sod it" and decides against turning himself in. It's a throwaway gag, yet it's the show in a nutshell — everyone puts themselves in a position to do the right thing and doesn't follow through.

This isn't to say that Glenn is a bad person. Unlike a lot so many other characters on this show, the performances of James Smith and Peter Capaldi, playing Glenn and Malcolm, respectively, hint at good, if flawed, men gradually spoiled by their scheming environment.

In the most surprising (and unexpected heartfelt speech) of the whole series, Malcolm admits that he wasn't always a perpetually cross political spin-doctor we know him as. Sometime ago, the nature of the job and politics changed him for the worst, eroding him from within until there was nothing left of him (profanity removed, obviously):

"You know all about me! I am totally beyond the realms of your tousle-haired dim-witted comprehension. ... 'Malcolm!', it's gone, you can't know Malcolm because Malcolm is not here! Malcolm left the building years ago! ... I am a host for this job. Do you want this job? Yes? You do want this job? Then you're gonna have to swallow this whole life and let it grow inside you like a parasite, getting bigger and bigger and bigger until it eats your insides alive and it stares out of your eyes and tells you what to do."

The early moment with Olly forced me to reconsider my overall thoughts on Malcolm Tucker as a whole. Whose a bigger problem, Malcolm Tucker or the system he developed under? From Hugh Abbott to Nicola Murray (whose final scenes in the series are fittingly giving an interview behind a pork chop costume that's been following her around all season), he's a troubled public servant trying to craft presentable politicians from perpetually spineless, mediocre ones for a ferocious electorate.

I think it's obvious series developer Armando Iannucci has more of a begrudging respect for the Malcolm Tuckers of the world than the Stewart Pearsons (Vincent Franklin), who are solely concerned with image and not with good governing. Remember that hilarious moment from the specials when Stewart forced Mannion (Roger Allam) to untuck a gawdy dress shirt he was forced to try on? That's basically who Stewart Pearson is as a character. It also lead to my one of my favorite moments in the finale where he's relieved of his duty:

"There's no need to clear your desk, because you're a walking thought-pod!"

And as those following scenes at DoSAC and Opposition HQ shows, it's business as usual — and no one seems to have learned anything.