I write from the couch, on maternity leave for a baby who was supposed to have a gentle nudge into the world, but Because Covid (aka because people don’t bother getting vaccinated against Covid/because powers-that-be allow people to lean into their qualms, thereby shutting down society indefinitely), this doctor-advised nudge is now classified as “elective” and I am instead growing more pregnant by the minute. This is nerve-wracking as well as physically challenging. (It’s summer! As well as summer break at the daycare, so extra toddler-chasing.)
But everything is fine, actually, because… there was an extra episode of “Benidorm” I hadn’t known existed, but it does exist, and no thanks to Britbox, I have now seen it.
I was deep in a rewatch marathon, trying to decide whether Season 2 or 3 is the best one. Season 2, as we have established, has some of the finer Garvey family scenes. It is also the one where Madge’s boyfriend-turned-fiancé Mel is introduced, he of the five sunbed shops in greater Manchester. Mel—and what Mel’s adoration confirms about how Madge’s character views herself—is the reason Seasons 1 is not best-of. Meanwhile Seasons 4 and beyond have their moments but for reasons including Mel-less-ness (I believe the actor who played Mel died, although I’m not sure the timing of this) are not it. Season 2 also has the “bullfight” scene, which I will not spoil, but which is up there among the best comedic moments ever.
Season 3, meanwhile, has the excursions. The ep where everyone goes to visit some waterfalls somehow better captures a miserable family vacation than any of the ones set at the resort itself. And the one where Mel wants to be the “Donald Trump” of nature reserve Peacock Island is sort of everything. It also has the dumb subplot of a misunderstanding where Geoff’s mother thinks he’s gay, complete with a cringe-if-not-trans-panic scene that both falls flat and introduces a not-that-funny new cast member (Les/Leslie). But when Season 3 works, it works.
Oh and: the beginning of the first ep of the season, where everyone is on an airport bus that is taking its sweet time to leave. But the weird thing with that scene is how it references all these events—something about a terrorist capturing people on the roof of the resort, and a helicopter, and everyone getting a free holiday for their troubles—felt unexplained. But I brushed this off as, surely these were just references to offscreen silliness. And yet: How had Season 2 ended with Kate announcing a pregnancy to the delighted husband Martin, while Season 3 begins with Martin somewhat reluctantly joined by a new girlfriend, with no mention—not in that ep or in any of the later ones, even when Kate returns—to that detail?
I was reading episode recaps on Wikipedia, as one does, and discovered that the final ep of Season 2… is a two-part special! But only part one is available on Britbox, with no indication that there even *is* a part two. I skimmed enough of the summary to realize that this part two would explain everything, but didn’t look too closely because no spoilers! Then I googled and in two seconds found a blurry but adequate version of the episode in question.
And it’s a good one. It would have to be! It’s the bridge between the two best Benidorm seasons, but with the superior Season 2 cast. But more to the point: it was new to me. A bonus episode I had not known about! Like a secret room in your house that you didn’t know you had. But not in the Inside No. 9 sense. (No spoilers but the ep you want is “To Have and to Hold.” And yes, yes, more Steve Pemberton.)
Anyway, I now return to the exciting business of maneuvering around the house and sometimes even the playground while carrying a person of approximately my pre-pregnancy size inside my body. Yes, I might wind up being pregnant forever but at least I now know that the potentially disturbing answer re: Kate’s pregnancy was that she was never pregnant to begin with.