There was a moment while watching last week’s Half Man that I wondered if maybe I’ve been unfair to Ruben. It happened during the long argument at the hospital. Yes, Ruben flipped out and physically assaulted Niall. But Niall’s bitter rant during that scene seemed unnecessarily mean. He suggested that not only did Ruben not deserve any success, but that he fully expected his semi-brother to screw everything up. It’s not unreasonable for someone who was a raging bull as a teenager to mature into a person who could take responsibility for his actions and lead a productive life. That Niall would actively root against this almost—almost—put me on Ruben’s side
But I’m glad I didn’t waver, because in episode five—the penultimate episode of this miniseries—Niall is proven right. Not only does Ruben slip back into his old ways, but by the end of the hour we learn that even his “better man” persona was all an act. Ruben, it seems, will always remain Ruben.
The problem with this, from a narrative perspective, is that Ruben’s regression (and Niall’s, which I’ll get to) is wholly predictable. As soon as Richard Gadd sets up this episode’s plot dominoes, it’s easy to see how they’ll fall. Nothing really revelatory emerges.
In fact, the most startling thing about this episode is how it begins. After a brief framing scene at Niall and Alby’s wedding, the flashback drops us to a point roughly a year after the hospital confrontation. Niall seems to be doing much better. He’s working on a new book, and he’s dating a very nice and apparently well-to-do woman, Ava (Anjli Mohindra), who is pregnant with his child. He’s also back to socializing with Ruben. Early on we see Niall and Ava having an afternoon glass of wine at Ruben and Mona’s house, and even Ruben is amused by how “posh” these two poor Scottish lads have become.
That sweet life rapidly sours. Before heading home, Niall gets a discomfiting request from Ruben, who asks for immediate repayment of the 30 grand he has loaned to Niall. That’d be a tough tab for anyone to pay, but it’s especially tricky for Niall, because a few months earlier he got Ava’s father to pony up that 30k… which Niall then spent on himself. He has nothing to give to Ruben and no one’s pockets to dip into—at least not without having to answer some embarrassing questions from Ava and her folks.
What happened to the money? The answer to that dredges up one of the largest issues with Half Man that Gadd hasn’t quite solved—although he does try in this episode. Niall used the cash to engage the services of a quack therapist and con artist, who sold him a “cure” for his homosexuality and then cleaned out his bank account.
Niall’s discomfort with his queerness has always rung a bit false, given that his mom is a lesbian—and knows he’s gay—and given that every woman in his life has been cool with it. (“Why can’t you just be happy with that side of yourself,” Ava asks him, adding, “From what I understand, every truck driver in Glasgow knows.”) Niall’s explanation for his squirminess is unsatisfactory. When people remind him that the public’s attitude toward gay people has softened considerably, he replies, “The fact the world has changed makes it worse.” His attitude here is similar to how he reacted to bombing out at Oxford. Because Niall had every advantage and squandered it, that means his worst enemy is ultimately himself, and not society—or Ruben.
Conceptually, this makes sense. Thematically, it makes sense. In this show about the darker side of manliness, of course Niall would see his attraction to men as a character flaw. But this trait has never seemed believably organic. Half Man’s “self-hating gay” element comes off like a literary construct. It feels conceptual. It feels theme-y.
All of that said, do you know what still works like gangbusters on this show? Gadd’s and Bell’s performances. They bring a vital spark to the miserable pieces of shit they’re playing. As the plot this week rolls inexorably in one direction, the show’s two stars keep finding the nuances—and even some nasty kind of joy—nestled within the inevitable tragedy.
As I said, it’s not hard to figure how everything will play out this episode. When Ruben privately moans to Niall about how his wife wants to teach dance classes alongside her friend Benji, you can set a countdown clock for: 1. When Niall will sympathize with Mona; 2. When he’ll sleep with her; and 3. When Ruben will stomp on Benji. (It’s also only a matter of time before Niall succumbs to his lusts and starts having sex with men again.)
The biggest twist this week is also fairly obvious. Why is Ruben suddenly so anxious to get his money back, when he earns a six-figure salary as an oilman? It’s because he lost that job a long time ago, and has never told anybody. Niall finds out by accident when he drops by Ruben’s ex-employer, after which we get an inverse of last week’s chase scene, with Niall running after Ruben in a suburban neighborhood in order to find out why he got fired. (The answer, unsurprisingly, is that Ruben got violent with a co-worker.)
The fun of this episode—and it is fleetingly fun, however perversely—comes from watching how Niall and Ruben use what they know to torment each other, in subtle and not-so-subtle ways. Before Ruben comes clean about why he needs the money, he allows Niall to start paying him back by serving as his housecleaner. (Oof.) Niall retaliates by encouraging Mona to teach that dance class; and once Mona lets it spill that Ruben has a low sperm count and can’t father a child, Niall suddenly becomes super-excited about his own baby.
Niall’s sickest bit of manipulation though comes after Mona treats her tryst with him as no big deal. For Niall, this was supposed to be his devastating secret betrayal of Ruben. When Mona shrugs it off as nothing special, Niall begins fanning the flames of Ruben’s jealousy over her relationship with Benji. It’s like Niall’s aiming a weapon directly at Benji’s head.
Ruben’s rageful side—suppressed so skillfully in episode four—comes out often this week. Sometimes we hear about it from Mona, who confesses that when she suggested they adopt a kid he tore a sink out of the wall. Sometimes we see it in its full horrifying flower, as when Ruben congratulates Niall for becoming a father by first playfully poking at him and then angrily yanking Niall’s pants down, demanding to see the penis that got a woman pregnant.
He’s a sad figure of a man, this Ruben Pallister. He maxed out credit cards to keep pretending he could pay for a cushy middle-class lifestyle. And he refuses to declare bankruptcy, because that wouldn’t be macho. The person Ruben is prevents him from being the person he yearns to be. And the worst part? With every skull he cracks and every bill he leaves unpaid, he knows that he’s living down to Niall’s expectations. Niall knew Ruben would blow it. It’s the one thing Niall always gets right.
Stray observations
- • Our closing credits song is The Psychedelic Furs’ “Sister Europe,” from their moody and raw 1980 debut album, a personal favorite. It reminds me that I haven’t yet written about this show’s odd approach to time/eras. Perhaps the finale will offer a reason to get into that.
- • I’m not going to guess what might happen in the finale, because my few stabs at speculation in these reviews have gone pretty poorly thus far. That said, it’s clear in the flashback that Niall’s next novel will be about Ruben (called “Cosmo” in the book), so I could still be right about that being the impetus for Ruben’s wedding fury.
- • Our framing scenes this week are especially useless. The opening sees Niall picking a fight with Ruben during the outdoor dancing part of the wedding; the ending sees the two of them enter the barn. Again: nothing new.
- • I have to admit that I’m kind of on Niall’s side when it comes to the birthing instructor publicly making fun of him for not paying attention in class. Niall’s the paying customer! Cut him some slack! (That said, Ava’s not wrong to be mad at Niall for this. It’s his baby she’s having. He should focus.)
- • A perfectly cutting line from Ruben: “Ava, you’re gonna be a great mom. And Niall, you’re gonna be a dad.”
Keep scrolling for more great stories.