It was Boris Vian who said that "humor is the civilized face of despair", which, apparently and according to Nat Saunders and James Serafinowicz, screenwriters of
Sick Leave
, can be developed in reverse: despair is the face civilized humor, something they have done wonderfully in the series.
When a slacker named Daniel Glass (played by Rupert Grint) is diagnosed with esophageal cancer, his life has hit rock bottom: he's about to be fired from a quirky health insurance company, run by a despicable villain, in a hilarious rendition of the veteran Don Johnson;
his girlfriend is fed up with the relationship and ready to cut her off and her doctor, the incompetent doctor Ian Glennis, explains that he only has a few weeks to live.
The situation could not be more desperate.
The humor begins.
The clumsy doctor tells him that there was a mistake, that in reality he does not have cancer or any appreciable disease, but by now the lazy man has realized that when his cancer was made public, the insurance company treated him like an idol. and his girlfriend reconciles and shows him all her love.
Conclusion: in collaboration with the inept doctor, he decides to keep the carcinogenic lie.
A decision that, naturally, will lead to crazy situations, manslaughter included, supported, yes, by a series of secondary characters as absurd as the two protagonists, from a fellow inventor of useless artifacts, to a
bobby
determined to discover the farce.
British dark humor on Netflix with the best pedigree, from Evelyn Waugh to
The Dead Quintet
, by Alexander Mackendrick, even though humor, like despair, is something very personal, that is, subjective.
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