Small Town, Big Story
By Sioph W. Leal
Whatever you’re expecting from Sky Studios new series Small Town, Big Story manages to circumvent expectation in a truly unique and quirky series about past love with a Hallmark-esque plot about a woman returning to her former small town as a big-time producer and reunites with her past love but with an alien abduction plot twist. It’s as chaotic as it sounds with a cast of characters with their own unique quirks and personalities that blend in a great way for the comedic elements of the show. The comedy, the aliens and the past romance plot works well together but it is when it creates a juxtaposed sinister element that really makes the series interesting, although it doesn’t seem intentional but was a great, unexpected twist.
Wendy Patterson (Christina Hendricks) returns to Drumbán after twenty years away to film a series of a beloved book I Am Celt but there’s a hidden motive. It seems Wendy uses the TV series as an excuse to confront betrayals of her past with ex-lover, and now respected local doctor and family man, Séamus Proctor (Paddy Considine). The best of the series is the time spent with Wendy and Séamus but specifically when they’re avoiding each other like Séamus does to hide from his past experiences or when Wendy forces goads Séamus and prods at the secret they share until he’s got no other choice but to confront their shared past and experiences. That element of the series is by far the best and the strongest but also underutilised with the pairing not spending much time together or, after episode 3, almost forgotten about when Wendy gets some kind of revenge on Séamus. The scene in episode 3 of Séamus in the bar, admitting to his past in a plea for help and doing it so publicly and distressed while Wendy looks on in shock and relief that her past experience was openly acknowledged only to inflict the same hurt Séamus did to her twenty years previous evokes a perfectly balanced mix of everything the show sets out to be: chaotic, romantic, eccentric and funny but there’s also a hurt there too which gives a deeper layer and makes it the best in the series.
At times the comedy can take away from the series and slows down the story and all the elements that make it entertaining. The funniest parts of Small Town, Big Story is the dry and cutting wit of the townsfolk, but it’s overshadowed by the TV production that has come to town. It's almost as if it is being over the top for the sake of it and to bring that element more to the front, as if the writer thought the aliens and the romance parts needed were too much and he wanted to return back to a genre more comfortable. That isn’t to say it's bad, but it does create a situation where it feels as if two shows are going on and makes for a slow moving series from all areas. Had the series put more of Wendy and Séamus relationship, it would have been a better mix and could have allowed for more comedic elements to thrive.
Small Town, Big Story is daft and quirky and when it goes into the harsher humour from the people of Drumbán, it works great. Christina Hendricks and Paddy Considine carry the many elements of the show and the different genres perfectly while having an immense chemistry in their few shared scenes. It’s a fun watch with some crazy turns like alien abduction but has many normal dramas like affairs that ground it in some reality which helps the humour grow. It can get lost in the two plots and they never run cohesively together, making the show weighed down by its own excessiveness but entertaining enough to watch. Should a second season be made, it should give more time to the undeniable chemistry between Hendricks and Considine and their shared dry humour that is a great asset for the series.