Woodley Review - S1, E4
19/03/2012
Show: Woodley
Episode: Season 1, Episode 4 – Big Top Magnifique
Aired: Wednesday 8:00pm, March 14th 2012
Channel: ABC1
Recap
*SPOILERS – THIS ARTICLE CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR THIS EPISODE AND PREVIOUS EPISODES OF WOODLEY. CATCH UP ON WOODLEY EPISODES HERE*
This week Woodley is at an old style circus with Ollie, Em and Greg, where he accidentally volunteers to be part of an act involving machetes. When Woodley gets scared and runs back to his seat, Greg steals the show and impresses Ollie. After the show, when Woodley tries to leave, he finds himself tied to it, literally. He decides to apply for a job working at the circus but when he tells Ollie about it, he makes it seem like he’s part of her favourite act. In fact the only thing he’s responsible for is picking up rubbish.
He happens to walk into a rehearsal of the act Ollie loves, where one person on the edge of a plank goes tumbling through the air after two girls jump on the other end. He asks if he could train to be part of the act and the head of the performance reluctantly agrees. He has to let Woodley go however as Woodley keeps chickening out at the last minute, putting the other members of the act in danger.
Back to picking up rubbish, he sees Ollie and Em, who have come to see him in the act. He borrows a performer’s costume and tells them he has to go practice. The leader of the act sees the interaction and finds a way for Woodley to do the act so he can’t see what’s coming and get scared. It seems he’s finally in the act but then he falls out of the curtain backstage, Ollie sees her dad has not conquered his fears.
Outside there is an accident with the fireworks and the ringmaster’s trailer is accidentally raised above the ground and on fire with his baby inside. Woodley runs to the rescue. He launches himself from a human cannon, grabs the baby and swings down on a stick of packaging tapes. He has finally proven to his daughter that even if he isn’t brave enough to pull off a bandaid, if she really needed him he’d be there.
Thoughts on the Episode
They did a delightful job of producing the excitement of the circus experience with the traditional costumes, the gorgeous sets and the carnival-style music. For a show that’s uses a lot of physical humour, the circus was the perfect place to go next. With trampolines, lots of ropes and women with big hair that can be mistaken for fairy floss there was no shortage to the high jinks they could put poor Woodley through. I love the way things go unsaid verbally but are seen visually, the best example being at the end when Woodley is seen standing in front of a burned sign that now appears to say ‘THE MAN’. Woodley has the humour of Mr Bean while adding a deeper emotional pull to it caused by the relationship with his daughter. You find yourself desperately wanting him to succeed in the end, luckily we’ve got a while before the end and I look forward to seeing what trouble he gets himself into next.
Let us know below what you thought of this episode of Woodley.
Written by Libby Popper