The Dobject Of Their Affection
The current eighth season of Peep Show promised to bring big changes to Mark (David Mitchell) and Jeremy (Robert Webb). In the Season 7 finale, Mark had finally managed to convince Dobby (Isy Suttie) not just that he was a viable long-term romantic prospect for her, but that it would be advisable for her to move in with him. And though it seems weird to say this about someone who's been married, divorced, and had a child, this could prove to be the furthest Mark has ever gotten into an adult relationship. Or, it will be, if Dobby actually does move in. So far, she has shown no urgency with regard to her moving plans, nor has Jeremy, Mark's current roommate, made any apparent plans to vacate the flat. Now, Mark's lasting happiness with the woman he "properly love[s]" may end before it even properly begins, because suddenly Jeremy has a crush on her too.
In a way, this is not that surprising. Over and over again, Jeremy has become fixated on unavailable women -- Big Suze (Sophie Winkleman), Elena (Vera Filatova), Zahra (Camilla Marie Beeput). This isn't even the first time Jeremy's taken a run at one of Mark's girlfriends: remember, he slept with Sophie (Olivia Colman) close enough to her (brief, doomed) wedding to Mark that there was a question as to which of the two roommates fathered her baby. Never mind the question of whether Jeremy would scruple not to jeopardize his best friend's relationship; Jeremy basically doesn't have scruples at all.
What is different this time is the girl. With her IT know-how, ironic sweaters, and the two-barretted hairstyle that draws the eye directly to her somewhat large nose, Dobby is not the sort of woman who has attracted Jeremy before. Don't get me wrong -- Dobby is cute and awesome, but the qualities that make her cute and awesome are not immediately apparent, and would, therefore, seem to be obscured from someone as superficial as Jeremy. Up until now, Jeremy's ladies have either had only one interest -- fucking (Elena) -- or else, like Zahra, a bunch of pretentious interests Jeremy doesn't share. But Dobby is actually fun. She enthusiastically participated in both paintball and pot smoking in last week's episode, and this week talks about travelling through Europe the way teenagers do. Dobby's developing a real friendship with him based on their legitimate commonalities, seemingly oblivious of Jeremy's true feelings of proper love (or what he thinks is proper love).
And the nascent friendship between Dobby and Jeremy is bringing another fact to the fore: though Mark has had a crush on Dobby since he first got divorced, he doesn't really have that much in common with her. If Dobby's appeal derives from the fact that she is fun, it only highlights the fact that he is really, really not. I mean, it may be the case that the woman who could put up with Mark's determined fuddy-dudditude does not exist, but as the death of Gerrard (Jim Howick) has Dobby re-evaluating what is actually important to her in life, the odds are good that she will decide Mark and his joylessness aren't.
But if Dobby eventually decides that she'd be better off without Mark, it doesn't necessarily follow that she will end up with Jeremy instead. I mean, it would be fruitful ground for the show to explore if she did. But in general, Peep Show has covered the bad decisions Mark and Jeremy make, surrounded as they are by more sensible people who inevitably get screwed over by said bad decisions. And it seems obvious that hooking up with Jeremy is a bad idea 100% of the time. He's barely had any kind of job in eight seasons (and doesn't have one now; fake life coach doesn't count), he's rude to his mum, and he's going to try to get any woman he dates to start doing butt stuff basically straight out of the gate. Dobby is a quality woman; the fact that her charms have attracted these two very different bros just proves that she is too good for either one of them, and she only has two more episodes to figure that out.