Context for those unfamiliar with Red Dwarf (Spoilers for Episode 1 of the show)
Dave Lister, played by Craig Charles, is the last man alive. He’s living in the mining ship “Red Dwarf” with a hologram of his dead roommate, Rimmer, played by Chris Barrie; a member of a species of evolved cats, “The Cat”, played by Danny John-Jules; and a computer on the ship, Holly, played by Norman Lovett. Lister crushes on a deceased member of the crew, Kristine Kochanski, played by Clare Grogan. Kristine and Rimmer died due to a radiation leak that killed everyone on “Red Dwarf”, except for Lister and non-humans.
The Series 1 finale to Red Dwarf ends on a good note. “Me²” gives us some delicious character development and laughs. We see more of Rimmer’s insecurities. Rimmer blames all his problems on Lister, even calling it a scientific fact. We learn he has self-congratulatory stickers about himself. As presumably intended, this is not something most people would have. The plot of the episode consists of there being two Rimmers on board, which creates conflict. The Rimmers act a bit differently from each other, with the new one being more annoying. Why? While the writer’s intentions are unknown, this could show Lister’s positive impact on Rimmer, making him more relaxed and less irritating. Rimmer doesn’t seem as full of himself and not *as* difficult. Like being “one of the guys”, he discusses that he “Gave one” to a girl.
“Me²” is like a remake of the previous episode, “Confidence and Paranoia”. Rimmer is paranoia and Lister’s his confidence. Rimmer is stressed and uncomfortable. Rimmer’s feelings are at one point hurt by his copy. Lister is more about moving above those human insecurities and cheering yourself up. The Cat is once again not very relevant to the plot. He is still a good way to inject something lighter in the plot. The Cat gets a good moment where he’s trying to not be seen. He seems to think he could be confused for someone else. This is another showcase of his unintelligence.
This episode works well due to a small mystery and plenty of good jokes which blend seamlessly to character development and good dramatic scenes. Lots of comedies can’t handle the weight of a dramatic moment. Despite the episode’s good dialogue and acting, we get a scene that can be found in tons of stuff. Lister is talking to himself about all the things he can now that Rimmer left their shared room. This is pretty sad, badly acted, and written. Realistically, he would just think these things, but that couldn’t be portrayed to the audience in that way. Lister is out of character, talking to himself with an awkward and idiotic tone. It makes him seem more bizarre than he is. This segment should’ve been cut.
SPOILERS
Lister watches a bit of security footage of Rimmer talking to Captain Hollister about improperly fixing a drive plate. Rimmer says he takes full responsibility for what he did. There’s a radiation leak which causes everyone to be blown across the room and die. In Episode 1, we see the ashes of everyone and they’re clearly located in a different place to where they ended up. A big plot point of the episode comes when Rimmer gives his final words, “Gazpacho soup”. Lister wonders what that means. While a difference in Rimmer’s character might be missed by someone watching the series, we see the difference much clearer when the fresh Rimmer and the Rimmer we’re following this series interact and argue. It’s great that this is the last episode of Series 1, as this episode works best as a finale. This is what the series has been leading to with Rimmer. This episode has a good mystery of what the soup means and it has good character moments for Lister and Rimmer. When the Rimmers’ arguing is just too much for everyone, it’s decided that one should be turned off. When a game of chance results in the series’ Rimmer losing, he accepts his fate. He debatably accepted his fate before as he wasn’t making an effort to save himself from the radiation leak.
For seemingly no reason, the new Rimmer walks off before the other Rimmer can have his last words. It’s also strange that The Cat is present. He never seemed to care about what Lister and Rimmer were up to before. Lister asks Rimmer what “Gazpacho soup” means. Rimmer explains that he was so happy to be invited to sit with Captain Hollister for dinner. Rimmer ordered gazpacho soup and upon being given a cold dish, he thought it was an oversight and asked it to be heated up. Some people started laughing and he thought they were laughing at the oversight, but they were actually laughing at him as gazpacho soup is intended to be served cold. The embarrassment from that moment haunted Rimmer and he blamed many of his misfortunes on people looking at him as lesser for making such a mistake. Rimmer blaming other things for his problems exemplifies in his passionate speech about the soup. This shows off the quality of his character’s writing and performance. You can feel for him, even though he’s being silly. Everyone can sometimes put too much stock in little nothings that happen. Chris Barrie does a great job with that monologue, giving passion to it.
When it’s time to turn Rimmer off, Lister reveals he turned off the other just as he left. That twist makes sense as it matches with Lister’s character and creates good drama with a comedic payoff. It would’ve been nice if Lister gave Rimmer a reason to leave, but that’s not a big deal. The season ends with a good heart to heart between Rimmer and Lister. Lister promises not to mention the soup or Rimmer letting his heart out to him again. He doesn’t technically break that, but he does respond to a comment with “Souper”. Roll credits! It would’ve been funny if Rimmer claimed that he had said the soup story so Lister could bother the second Rimmer about it, but this moment is good as well.
SERIES 1 OVERVIEW
This series makes Lister feel isolated from everything. We see few people and sets. His loneliness is contrasted by some flashback scenes where he’s with friends. The Cat on the other hand, appears to be fine with being alone. He doesn’t mind the lack of his race’s presence in his life. Rimmer’s loneliness isn’t touched upon. Just like Lister’s separation from his friends, Rimmer is also separated from what he wants. He wants to be the ship’s captain, but proceeds to make a lot of mistakes. The most overt character quality is that both Lister and Rimmer are usually mean to each other. Lister can be nice due to him wanting to while Rimmer only is for personal gain. Exceptions exist, such as when Rimmer tried to persuade The Cat to help a sick Lister. Rimmer gets tons of character development, becoming comfortable with his environment more. It wouldn’t have been very hard to cut The Cat from the show and have it be mostly the same, but many, including me, simply like The Cat. Another desire of Rimmer’s is his lack of a body and desire to have one. That’s a nice subtle thing to influence and drive him. It makes sense that someone that thinks like a human can be kept going by those little things.
Both Lister and The Cat go through less character development than Rimmer. It’d be nice to see the two bond over the fact that they’re both living beings surrounded by technology and no others of their race. If they are going to get focus, it’s not related to each other. Lister doesn’t like The Cat because he’s another person, it’s because his dream was to live his life with Kristine and his cat. His cat is dead, so The Cat is a substitute. The lack of individuality to The Cat is emphasized by his character not being named. It seems likely that the character has a name, just that no one cares about using it. There’s something that can be said about how so many things, like a toilet and a toaster, are conscious things created to serve humans and they’re just a normal part of life. They could fill a lack of human interaction for Lister. These should’ve been cut as they don’t add anything to the narrative, despite them being pretty funny. A personal favorite is Talkie Toaster. The appliance’s inclusion could arguably be called a plothole. Lister’s optimism is shown in his unflinching desire to return to Earth, despite it probably not being like how he wants it. He tries not to let the reality of his situation, like annoying toasters, get in his way of happiness.
The main frustrations from this series are plotholes and a lack of character moments. Holly doesn’t appear as much as I remembered, with him also being close to superfluous. Lister’s love for Kristine didn’t go anywhere. While that didn’t need to be resolved, something should’ve happened in these six episodes to make it feel necessary and worth having. This plot point would make more sense being introduced in a later season, which would cover some ground. Episode 2 features Lister planning on returning to stasis, which will preserve his body for the millions of years it’ll take for the ship to go back to Earth, but that whole plot point was dropped. Why not give a reason for him not returning to stasis? It’s also strange that Captain Hollister entrusted Rimmer to fix the drive plate, despite him being incompetent at simpler things. There’s also some technical errors, but not a lot. Rimmer’s haircut changes between scenes in one episode with no explanation.
While Series 1 is flawed in many regards, it tells a compelling story with good characters and drama. Numerous British shows struggle to take all those threads and pull them together. This is no exception. It’s easy to overlook those problems and enjoy the episodes regardless. Some aspects can be very satisfying, but not always thought out. The best episodes are “Balance of Power”, “Waiting for God”, and “Me²”. The weakest is the pilot, “The End”.