By one of those quirks of scheduling one of the storylines in the second episode of GameFace is very similar to a subplot in the Curb Your Enthusiasm episode which just went out. In both shows someone is seen dating someone else who is a doppelganger of someone they have just rejected. Anyway, that's just one of those freakish comedy coincidences – unless GameFace's Roisin Conaty and Larry David are the same person.
In this episode screened straight after the first episode at 9.30pm to give this new series a hefty kick-start Marcella (Conaty) has to attend a funeral, which means putting on her smartest clothes, even it does make it look like her sugar daddy has died rather than her ex-boyfriend's mum.
Marcella is determined to get over the break-up though and decides to go hiking alone, having just read the book Wild, though instead of the Pacific coast it looks like she ends up in a tent just off the M25. Of course, she can't possibly admit that she hates it or is shitting herself so instead posts the obligatory smiley Instagram snaps.
There is plenty to enjoy as we watch this lipstick-smudged singleton try to sort her life out, trying to cut out the carbs, fags and booze and getting life coaching tips from therapist Graham (Karl Theobald). Stand-up fans will certainly giggle when they see who plays her lookalike, but the best bit in this episode is the story about the time she took acid and thought she had invented hot ice. "I was up nine hours trying to burn water."
Marcella might be a mess but she is a lovable mess. It is not difficult to see what driving instructor Jon (Damien Molony) sees in her. She just needs to sober up long enough to see it herself. Hopefully as the series pans out she will.
This episode goes out at 9.30pm on E4 on Thursday October 12 straight after episode 1. After this GameFace is on Thursdays at 9pm, E4.
Read a review of episode one here.