photo: fox
Keen Eddie
Citizen Cecil
Season 1, Episode 11
Nicola – Associate Staff Reviewer
nicola@thetwocentscorp.com
Cecil’s here. This can’t be a good thing. Cecil is an evil-looking strawberry blonde with a tattoo above his eyebrow. He just got out of prison and he’s looking to do a bit of gambling, looks like. He comes to the casino and is greeted by the casino manager, who thanks him for keeping his mouth shut in prison for three years, which allowed the business to thrive. He gives Cecil a wad of cash and a couple of tickets to a football game. Things are looking up for Cecil.
And that, of course, is when all hell breaks loose.
A gang of guys wearing Duran Duran masks come into the casino with shot guns to rob the place. Cecil doesn’t look too bothered, really, until they take his football tickets. They knee him in the groin for his trouble.
At home, Eddie and Fiona are being domestic and brushing their teeth together. How sweet. Eddie gets a call just as he’s about to do something very naughty. Saved by the ringer, Fiona.
On the other side of the domestic spectrum is Pippin in his swinger’s den. He and Audrey have just finished the night with a lovely couple (who informed them that there is a couple in their swinger’s club that’s not really married, gasp shock horror!) when Audrey proposes something startling: that she cook Pippin a real dinner, like a date.
Cecil’s not resting until he gets his tickets back, so he goes to see if he can figure out who bought those masks.
Nathaniel’s day is not going as planned. One mess after another leaves him convinced that the full moon is wrecking havoc. Sure seems like that to Glass Eye Gordon, the owner of the casino. No one’s going to want to place a bet on the big match at a casino that’s just been knocked over.
Eddie and Pippin head to the mask shop to see if they can figure out who bought the masks. The shopkeeper tells them about Cecil, how he took the book with the names and addresses of the people who bought the masks. They, however, he remembers had to go to the cash machine across the way to get enough to buy the masks. Bingo. Eddie and Pippin get the footage from the machine and find who they’re looking for.
But so does Cecil, and he gets there first. He heads into their party to get his tickets back.
Pippin asks Fiona’s opinion about women and Eddie does laundry for Fiona. Everything is very weird.
Eddie and Pippin go to the hospital when they hear about what Cecil did to the suspect. The girls from the party identify Cecil. Gordon and his casino cronies come to see what they can salvage. Eddie tells Gordon to have his men bring Cecil in so they can bring the real criminals in, but his men won’t do it because Cecil scares them.
Nathaniel makes some calls about Cecil to his parole officer and warden at the prison he was in. He wants Cecil behind bars. Especially because another one of the band was just… Ceciled.
One of the robbers wakes up after surgery and tells Eddie and Pippin about one of this mates Kevin, who claims he knows nothing about the casino robbery, though that looks a bit untrue. Thoroughly warned of Cecil however, he calls another mate and warns him. But it’s too late for his friend, and Cecil comes calling. He may be taking names, but it’s not ass he’s kicking.
As much as Kevin tries to barracade himself in, Cecil finds a way. Kevin gives him the tickets, and Cecil is… grateful. But Eddie and Pippin are waiting. He agrees to go peacefully as long as he can first attend the cup game. Which is okay with Eddie.
And just like that, the curse of the full moon is over. Nathaniel has a working office again, Pippin doesn’t have to spend any more time with Audrey than necessary, and Eddie and Fiona hate each other again. Life is good.
As much as I liked the bits of cuteness with Eddie and Fiona, it’s good that it only stretched for one episode. Can you imagine what it would be like to see that all the time?
I thought Cecil’s story was a fun one, in a kick-in-the-balls sort of way. He just wanted to see the footie match! Kind of cute, really. On the other hand, simple episodes with cutesy-wutesy barely-crime crimes (not that I am belittling robbery or acts of violence, but would Scotland Yard’s top minds really be making so much effort to track someone like Cecil down?) could start to get a bit boring. How much longer could they realistically let Eddie and Pippin continue taking the easy cases?
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