Flicking Ash

Now that I've seen two episodes of Vicious, I have a question: why is Ash?

Fine: I know why Ash is part of Vicious. At some point during the development of the series, someone said, "As much as we would all love watching Ian McKellen, Derek Jacobi, and Frances de la Tour doing nothing but insulting each other for a half-hour every week, on paper this seems like a show that younger audiences may be too dumb to appreciate, because they don't see three genius stage actors but, instead, a bunch of oldies, so we'd better add someone a bit more fresh-faced. Can anyone young people would recognize from Game Of Thrones do comedy?" Cut to: Freddie and Stuart meeting Ash, their new upstairs neighbour, a hunky (I guess), twink-y (definitely) young man with whom every other character can shamelessly flirt. The problem is that they forgot to give Ash any characteristics other than being young, somewhat attractive, and straight.

I will say that there's something kind of interesting in the reversal of TV's old/young paradigm. As with most of pop culture, the stars you see are, by and large, either actually young or pretending to be, so that the most desirable demographic audience can relate to their particular set of problems. I'm not telling you anything you don't know. But the cast of Vicious is sexagenarian and up, and the topics they joke about are mostly specific to their stage of life: the deterioration of their bodies and minds, what it's like to be in a relationship with the same person for almost five decades, which of their friends is dying. The addition of Ash gives them all something new to fixate on, but the very fact of his youth is the only thing Ash has brought to the table thus far. And in a total 180 from the way it works in most sitcoms, the old people are the ones who quick and hilarious, and the young person is just a storytelling speed bump.

So we know why all the senior citizens are interested in Ash, but why is he interested in them? In my experience, young people are naturally inclined not even to be the enemies of old people, but not to register their existence at all. (I wrote about this with regard to the series premiere of Betty White's Off Their Rockers, and I stand by it.) If we had any evidence that Stuart and Freddie enjoy leaving their home, it might make sense if they were always knocking at Ash's door wanting to have a cup of tea, Ash too polite or respectful of his elders not to invite them in. But Ash keeps coming by Stuart and Freddie's place -- and not only that, but he keeps giving physical cues as to how uncomfortable they and their friends all make him. Why would he come to them with questions about his love life -- or about literally anything else -- if all the time he spends with them shows him clearly itching to leave?

Because Rheon is so uncharismatic and one-note, I don't know how to solve this problem. I don't want to know more about him or, God forbid, see him at the center of an episode's A-story; I just want him to leave and never come back. As I said of the series premiere, Rheon lacks the acting chops to keep up credibly with the other members of the Vicious cast, though I also can't think of any actor in his cohort who could. But it's a writing problem, too; Rheon might be uninteresting because he hasn't had anything interesting to do. At the very least, there could be some explanation for why Ash keeps on taking affirmative steps to be in his weird old neighbours' company. I seriously spent the whole pilot certain that he was about to reveal he was Freddie or Stuart's secret grandchild, the second-generation product of a one-time experiment in heterosexuality -- which would have been corny, but at least it would have given him a reason to visit all the time.

Failing that, maybe producers could just realize that, Ash having been the element of the show that made ITV buy the show, he's served his maximum usefulness and can quietly return to his home planet. That would be corny too, but sometimes the ends justify the means.