Angry Boys Episode Four Review: An Improvement, But Where To From Here?

I was reluctant to review another episode of Angry Boys.

First of all because it meant that I would have to sit through another episode, and I’m sorry, but so far the series hasn’t really done anything for me.

Secondly, from what I had seen in the “next week on Angry Boys” preview, it seemed like things weren’t going to get much better; we were told that Nathan likes to look at his mum in the shower (enjoy, families watching!) and the fact that he likes to “wank” a lot… and presumably there was some delightful link to be found there.

And thirdly, I don’t really enjoy spraying my particular form of invective out into the blogosphere (if that’s still a thing), as “hating on” any show is not fun, especially when it’s Australian. Not that Australian shows should be judged less harshly, but when Angry Boys has been the only scripted comedy on screens in 2011, we shouldn’t be too quick to shoot it down, and maybe hope for something that’s a bit, well, funnier.

But I went into this week’s instalment with the same positive mindset as there was yet another character being introduced; that of Japanese mother Jen Okazaki. She is basically a fusion of the stereotype of Asian parents combined with the showbiz-parent character.

Now, the more cynical might say that we’ve seen it all before with Ricky Wong in We Can Be Heroes (his parents wanted him to work at the CSIRO, but he wanted to be a performer).

But I gave him Lilley the benefit of the doubt in that we are presented with the pushy parent’s perspective.

And this time, the parent is pushing her son into being a gay skateboarder.

Oh, did I mention the GAY part? Because the rest of the background information doesn’t really matter as long as you know that.

And the character itself is probably fairly original in the context of the series. She’s a strong female character, with an intimidating presence similar to Gran. But while Gran takes out her anger in a brash, physical way, Jen uses a searing form of quiet discipline.

It has been said that Lilley’s female characters are more impressive than his male ones, and it’s hard to disagree, especially after tonight’s episode.

And while the character of the mother is typically cold, there is a bit of fun to be had.