I recently started [and finished] watching the second season of BBC’s Sherlock wherein I fell in love with the two main characters Sherlock Holmes and John Watson played by Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman respectively. So while I am trying to somehow get over my Reichenbach feels [which shall be elaborated on in another post], I decided to go watch another show starring one of the actors from the series. I think most fans of Sherlock like Cumberbatch more. Though I also like him, I think I like Freeman a bit more. Despite being a 40-ish year-old man, he feels..I don’t know..squishy and adorable? Must be all the jumpers he wore in the series. Haha. And his “F*ck you, I won a BAFTA” is simply priceless. [Sorry, getting carried away now.]
Anyway, hence Boy Meets Girl.
[Warning: Spoilers ahead.]
Basically, a guy and a girl switch bodies because of being hit by lightning. They’re the complete opposites of one another: the girl [Veronica, played by Rachael Stirling] is a successful fashion journalist while the guy [Danny, played by Freeman] works at a DIY store and does a few petty jobs/crimes from time to time for money. So what happens when they switched bodies? Complete and utter chaos. Well, somehow.
After the switch, “Veronica” finds herself in a hospital with her best friend Siobhan and boyfriend Jay who were clearly concerned for her. Confused as to why there were people she didn’t know, she finally knows what has happened when she looks into a mirror and finds out that she wasn’t exactly what she used to be. And so, long story short, Danny in Veronica’s body had to figure out how to wear a bra, dress properly, write fashion articles, turn down Jay’s advances, and all the girly stuff that had to do with being Veronica. Along the way, she finds out that she was actually cheating on Jay with Siobhan’s boyfriend Ali and that she estranged her own parents. And so, she set out to find her real body, asking for help from Pete and Fiona, her friends when she was Danny.
Meanwhile, “Danny” lost his memories after the accident and had to roam around the city begging for change. It was only when he read a newspaper article about “Veronica’s” accident that he remembered what happened. And so he tried to get in touch with “Veronica”, all the while searching for a solution to get back to their own bodies, trying to convince Jay who he really was [and failing miserably], being hit on by an older man, and being forced to commit a crime in order to pay for his debts.
For a show with only four episodes, I actually liked it. I only felt a bit bad that the show focused more on Danny in Veronica’s body [hence less Freeman screentime]. I also felt that if anybody from the show was supposed to learn a lesson from this, it was supposed to be the real Veronica. After all, she was practically lying to everybody, what with her affair with her best friend’s boyfriend. And come on, she estranged her own parents and never even told any of her friends about them.
But it was kind of fun watching “Veronica” act clueless and confused sometimes, with Freeman’s voice as her thoughts. And then there’s “Danny” being lost and confused and “I’m Veronica!!” I also liked how the real Danny [who finally got to be in a relationship with Fiona, the girl he liked, only he was still in Veronica's body then] eventually broke things off with Fiona because after all, it was inevitable that he return to his own body. And he was still technically lying to her, no matter how many times he urges that “She likes me for who I am inside”.
So yes, in the end they do return to their original bodies, with the real Veronica eventually breaking things off with Jay, who had already proposed to “her”. I actually felt a bit sorry for him since he genuinely liked her. As for Danny, he learned that the high-status life that he and his friend Pete imagined wasn’t exactly easy and comfortable. And so they set on a journey, determined to make something more out of their lives.
[..did I confuse everyone enough? Hehe.]
