Friday Night Dinner (TV Series) The Surprise (2018) User Reviews

Who was that man with the chicken!!

[Sleepin_Dragon · 8/10 · 31 January 2021]

It's Jackie's birthday, and she wants a surprise birthday party, the trouble is, she's put Martin in charge of it.

It is a funny episode, it relies on the art of disappointment and let down. It's the first episode where we see Jackie fall out with Auntie Val.

There was a real randomness to the characters here, Quiet Sue, Sarah who did the curtains, and who on Earth was chicken man, one of the more crazy bunch of characters we've seen yet.

Have you got something for me to sleep in? A coffin, that's been the best one liner for some time.

Zany good fun 8/10.

Another genuinely mean-spirited episode

[jcrawley-12178 · 3/10 · 21 March 2022]

While mean-spiritedness is in the fabric of this show, there are times where I feel it is just taken too far, to the point where I just end up feeling bad for a character and end up really disliking the rest. This was one of these episodes.

The concept of this episode is fine. Martin has got the date of Jackie's surprise party wrong and therefore nobody turns up, so Martin has to bring in a load of random characters, including the curtain lady and horrible grandma. Horrible grandma of course delivers some great lines ("How the bloody hell am I supposed to eat this?!") but ultimately, even she can't save this episode.

Throughout this episode, Jackie is expecting a surprise, but keeps being disappointed over and over again. Martin lies to Jackie again and again and again, and just gets away with it scot-free. He never gets ANY comeuppance for all his lying. He even goes so far as to SWEAR ON HIS SON'S LIVES. Honestly, that moment was deplorable. And it is NEVER BROUGHT UP AGAIN.

But the ending was the real kicker. Jackie hears the house is flooded, and she comes home expecting the real surprise to come, and for this to have all been a set-up. What happens when she comes inside? She just gets yelled at by Martin again.

This episode sucks. I come out of it hating Martin and just feeling bad for Jackie. Martin was absolutely heinous in this episode, and never gets punished for his actions. And Jackie just forgives all and the credits roll. What a horrible message, and what a horrible episode.

It has its moments, but this episode was painful. 3/10.