Intelligence, Sky Comedy, review: remarkably unspecial special wastes its gifted cast
It’s not immediately clear who was clamouring for more Intelligence, Sky Comedy’s spoof on rubbish spies, but there is something depressingly contractual about A Special Agent Special, a one-off, remarkably unspecial special.
It feels like a rush job, a way of consigning the characters of Jerry Bernstein (David Schwimmer), all-American CIA jerk, and GCHQ office factotum Joseph (Nick Mohammed) to the sitcom remainder pile without having to admit that the show has been euthanised. Schwimmer from Friends and Mohammed from Ted Lasso are both seasoned comic performers, of course, and they give their all on camera to paddle this ailing dingy to shore, but ultimately, the script, written by Mohammed, holes it below the waterline.
It’s not just that it lacks the zinger tally that the early episodes of Intelligence displayed, it’s that the plot, such as it is, is balsa-wood. For what it’s worth, there’s been a data breach at GCHQ and it looks like someone high in government is involved. It turns out that climate minister Joanna Telfer-Fotheringham (Jennifer Saunders) is about to give a climate-change denying speech to the G7 in which she’s substituted false data to suggest that everything’s fine. Our friends from CySec need to infiltrate the G7 disguised as scientists, replace the false data with the real data and bring down Telfer-Fotheringham, who happens to be the antagonist sister of CySec boss Christine (Sylvestra Le Touzel).
All of this is explained in one very long expositionary scene around a boardroom table during which the writer seems to be working out himself what the hell is going on. It contributes to the sense that Intelligence’s send-off has been done quickly and on the cheap.
Moreover, if you were a diehard Intelligence fan tuning in the finale is oddly dismissive of all that’s gone before: Joseph’s girlfriend Charlotte (Diane Morgan), a major character in series two, for example, is mentioned in a joke about Joseph proposing but doesn’t appear.
Whatever you might have invested in series one and two, there’s no pay off here. Really, the only reason to watch the special is for more of Schwimmer and Mohammed doing their bombastic yank and neurotic limey schtick. Unfortunately it’s the same schtick they were doing three years ago, and there’s nothing else to see.
