TV Pick of the Week: Slip - review by Yvette Huddleston

SlipITVX, review by Yvette Huddleston
Zoe Lister-Jones as Mae in Slip. Picture: ITVZoe Lister-Jones as Mae in Slip. Picture: ITV
Zoe Lister-Jones as Mae in Slip. Picture: ITV

Once you accept this classy comedy-drama’s unusual premise, it draws you into its mind-bending, dimension-hopping world and it becomes very easy to forgive the occasional plot hole and instances where the narrative almost takes an imaginative leap too far.

There is a lot of talent involved here, not least from Zoe Lister-Jones who created, wrote, produced and stars in the seven-part series. She plays thirtysomething New York art curator Mae who lives with her aspiring novelist husband of 13 years Elijah (Whitmer Thomas) in a nicely appointed apartment. Elijah is perfectly nice, if a little dull, and the couple lead a perfectly nice, if a little dull, life together – sitting alongside each other on the sofa gently bickering about which movie to watch, sharing takeaways, walking the same route to work, dancing in the kitchen sometimes, going on a date night every so often. In fact there is nothing actually wrong with Mae’s life but – she describes it to a young barista in a moment of extreme over-sharing as being like “a super-banal dream.”

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She hints to her best friend Gina (Tymika Tafari) that she is longing for something more. Gina, who is navigating the complex singles dating scene, envies Mae her security and can’t understand what her friend is searching for. Then Mae meets handsome, famous musician Eric (Amar Chadha-Patel) in a bar after an exhibition preview, has a one-night stand with him and wakes up the next morning in his palatial loft apartment, apparently married to him. She has been transported into a different dimension. Her name is still Mae but she is a slightly different version of herself – this Mae is a party animal who is struggling to deal with Eric’s many infidelities.

Tymika Tafari as Gina and Zoe Lister-Jones as Mae. Picture: ITVTymika Tafari as Gina and Zoe Lister-Jones as Mae. Picture: ITV
Tymika Tafari as Gina and Zoe Lister-Jones as Mae. Picture: ITV

That is just the beginning of Mae’s strange odyssey through a series of one-night stands that propel her into a whole range of life partner situations and experiences. They include becoming a mother in a lesbian relationship with bartender Sandy (Emily Hampshire), the added poignancy is Mae’s own ambivalence towards parenthood having been raised in foster care, and experiencing widowhood. The only constant in this ever-changing world as Mae attempts to get back to Elijah is her friend Gina who is always there to support her.

Ultimately what starts out as a seemingly lightweight fantasy – with some great comic lines – actually turns into quite a profound meditation of love, loss, friendship and the choices we make in our lives. Refreshingly off-the-wall and very human.

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