Inside No 9 – ‘Tempting Fate’

Another series of Inside No 9 draws to close (fear not, quality drama fans – a fifth season has already been commissioned, but you’ll have to wait until next year for it), and ‘Tempting Fate’ shows that the programme has not lost any of its inventiveness or wickedness with age. This final episode is perhaps a bit simpler in structure than some of the series’ highlights, but it is a dark play on a classic morality tale that makes for a superb climax.

Council contractors Keith (Steve Pemberton), Nick (Reece Shearsmith) and Maz (Weruche Opia) are tasked with cleaning out the flat of a deceased hoarder. Things start off unpleasant with a dead rat and a bloodstain on the floor, but take a turn for the unusual when they find a video tape and a bronze statue of a hare in a hidden wall safe. The deceased Frank (Nigel Planer) tells them that the hare will grant them three wishes if they choose, but that they should get rid of the artefact instead for their own sakes. Tensions between the group rise as the inescapable curse takes hold – will any of them escape flat 9?

A perfect combination of comedy and strangeness

‘Tempting Fate’ owes a lot to classic horror story ‘The Monkey’s Paw’ (a fact that is referenced in the episode), but it plays with the conventions of this well-worn narrative because the cleaners are aware of it. Nick spends a lot of the episode defining the rules of the curse and trying to discourage the crew from wishing (of course, he wrote a PhD on the field, which turns out to not have been the massive waste of time he assumed it was), and there is a palpable tension leading up to the reveals of Frank’s, and the crew’s, final wishes.

Nick was the most reasonable of the three, warning against the dangers of mucking about with fate. Opia provides the comic relief as Maz, a young newcomer to the macabre job, and provides a competent performance (although some of the humour came across as quite forced – I think that playing this episode with less gags would have made it much stronger). Pemberton’s character was really the pivot of this episode – the leader of the crew, he was the owner of a very violent temper and the father to a boy with MS, both of which cropped up quite crucially later on. My only issue here was that his shift to villain-hood wasn’t really set up at all, and it seemed very out of the blue.

The horror hints were there throughout, especially in the dark setting of this particular number nine. The hoarding made for cramped cinematography, the dark corridors full of shadows and blind spots looking sinister even in the regular scenes (an ominous score playing underneath only serving to amplify that effect). And it all led up to a suitably horrifying surprise.

‘Tempting Fate’ makes an enjoyable and dark end to a very strong series of Inside No 9

Inside No 9 has always dabbled in the supernatural, so the sight of a zombie feels just about right. Frank wishes to be alive forever to enjoy his wealth, and is now cursed to be undead, but is otherwise an ordinary person – the sight of Nigel Planer shuffling around as a zombie, muttering to himself about tinned peaches and making some tea, is a perfect combination of comedy and strangeness. As to the episode’s final surprise, I’ll leave that to you to go and watch – the last five minutes really make this episode.

‘Tempting Fate’ makes an enjoyable and dark end to a very strong series of Inside No 9 – Pemberton and Shearsmith have shown themselves to be increasingly creative and confident in their writing, and it has resulted in six (well, five – sorry, ‘And The Winner Is…’) unique pieces of TV that will amuse, horrify and captivate in equal measure. Make sure you catch up with this series – you will not regret it!

You can read our review of the previous episode, ‘And The Winner Is…’, here.