Line #1 Awesome/TheThickOfIt


1	For such a cynical show, there are several moments of sheer awesome. Most belong to Malcolm Tucker, but other characters occasionally get their moments, too.
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3	'''As a Moments subpage, all spoilers are unmarked [[Administrivia/SpoilersOff as per policy.]] Administrivia/YouHaveBeenWarned.'''
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5	* Ollie's angry second-episode rant to Glenn about how everybody isn't the same.
6	-->Oh, yeah yeah yeah, oh yeah, "I'm Geoff Average, and I think the same as everybody else cos I'm Mr Average Normal Bloke and everybody thinks like me cos I work in IT, and on the weekends I pop a few pills and do a bit of DJ-ing, y'know, spare cash cos I'm a single mum and I'm a member of the National Trust, I enjoy any sports on TV, anything with Creator/ColinFirth, I enjoy domestic violence and sun-dried fucking...karaoke." Not everybody is the same, Glenn! People can surprise you!
7	* Jamie and Malcolm rallying the full force of governmental obfuscation in 2.01. "Come on, ''unleash hell!''"
8	* Terri tricking Hugh into admitting that he sent an offensive email to an eight year old girl by bluffing him.
9	* Nicola Murray calling out the business of ''politics itself'' as a "male obsession" with fighting and fucking.
10	** Malcolm's counterattack, in which he dismisses Nicola's opinion with a [[ShutUpKirk "Spare me your fucking psycho fanny right!"]] and has her believing that Peter Manion's sincere apology was just a cover for a lot of snickering behind her back.
11	* "'''Wake up and smell the cock!'''" Malcolm emerges the victor over Nick Hanway and keeps his job at the end of “Spinners and Losers”.
12	* After Ollie spends the entirety of “Spinners and Losers” being a selfish, opportunistic arsehole, Malcolm puts him in his place with a simple but effective taunt.
13	-->'''Malcolm:''' You fucking shut up. At least this is Hugh's Glenn. All that you are, mate, is fucking ''Ben's'' Glenn.
14	* When Nicola's daughter is almost expelled from school for bullying, Peter Mannion is put under pressure to use the story against Nicola, but he refuses on principle: "If you have to wade through all this shit to win the election then I'm happy to lose it!"
15	* ''Terri'', of all people, gets one in 3.06, when she dares to point out (correctly!) that Malcolm's been making the wrong calls all episode. Admittedly, she's not quite bright enough to realize ''precisely'' [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu what she's just done]], but on grounds of sheer nerve alone...
16	* {{Slimeball}} he may be, you have to admit [[TheBadGuyWins him announcing Malcolm's resignation before having him sacked]] was a pretty good move on Steve Fleming's part.
17	* Malcolm's "YOU WILL SEE ME AGAIN!", where he demonstrates that when every odd is against him, he's a full-on {{Determinator}}.
18	* "STEVE! There's ''[[FlawExploitation one]]'' thing I can do..." Steve Fleming is convinced he's finally found a way to strip Malcolm of his power, but being a SmugSnake he just can't keep it to himself. In his bragging he [[JustBetweenYouAndMe rather stupidly explains the entire plan to Malcolm in great detail]]. Malcolm responds by uttering the ominous words above, but rather than elaborating on his own plan he just disappears with [[PsychoticSmirk a little smile]] before convincing the Prime Minister to call an early general election.
19	--> '''Malcolm:''' "In twenty minutes' time, the Prime Minister of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is going to announce that he is calling the election."
20	* And there's the show's very first moment of awesome, where Malcolm decides he's had quite enough of Julius Nicholson's shit. "Would you gentlemen care to join me for a little circle jerk?" A few phone calls later, he's started rumours that Nicholson is in line to become Foreign Secretary. A few more, and he's convinced the PM that Nicholson himself is starting the rumours, and that Julius needs his wings clipping...
21	--> '''Malcolm:''' "Sleep lightly."
22	* The DescriptionCut [[HesBack He's Back]] moment.
23	--> '''Glenn:''' "Malcolm will have grabbed his fake passport by now, he'll be on a plane to Brazil and he's about to spend the rest of his days as the world's scariest dentist."
24	-->''(cut)''
25	-->'''Malcolm:''' "Derek! Get the fuck down to ITN and start briefing the ''shit'' out of them!"
26	* "You off to clear your desk Steve? Don't forget your lucky gonk and your 'World's Shittiest Dad' mug."
27	* Malcolm's RousingSpeech to his 'troops' after the announcement of the election which leaves everyone cheering and elated, contrasted with Cal Richard's uninspiring sweary rant which just ends with a gloomy silence.
28	* Peter Mannion gets one when he calls out Stuart at the end of "Thought Camp":
29	-->'''Peter:''' Let's do away with ''you''.
30	-->'''Stewart:''' What?!
31	-->'''Peter''': Filter's off, daddy-o! Let it all hang out! Just suppose your free-range no-consequence bullshit was hugely entertaining when we were in opposition and shitting money, but now we're in government and it's all gone a bit J.G. Ballard, it's irrelevant and infantile!
32	-->'''Stewart''': Oh, very droll, Peter.
33	-->'''Peter''': Oh, and maybe the reason you don't mind handing your phone in is that it doesn't ring as much as it used to. Oh, sorry; ''doesn't ring as much as it used to, yes and ho''.
34	* In 4.04, Malcolm ousts Nicola as Leader of the Opposition, destroys Ben Swain's career for the next ''ten years'', and has Dan Miller poised to be Nicola's successor.
35	** Even more awesomely, he makes arrangements for flowers to be sent to Nicola to twist the knife further before he does any of this, such are his brass balls and confidence that his plan will not fail.
36	* In 4.05, Peter Mannion suddenly gaining new confidence and taking charge of what could be a shitty situation. Especially the part which involves him simply turning round to Stuart and telling him bluntly to "shut the fuck up, you prancing shit", rendering him completely speechless, before following up said prancing shit's mutterings about not having the Prime Minister's approval to go ahead with Peter's (politically brilliant) idea with "Here's another way of looking at it: Let's. Goodbye."
37	** Unfortunately it does come back to bite him, as his decision to go ahead with his idea is a factor in the Goolding Enquiry spiraling out of control, whereas if he had waited for the PM's approval the extra time would have let them realise what they were getting themselves into and do something about it. This does not change the fact that Peter's idea really was a good one, and it was just bad luck that caused it to turn against him.
38	*** But ''did'' it really turn against him? Remember that in the same episode, Peter made a phone call to "nudge" someone (possibly the PM?) and say the "real story" was that Tickel's records had been leaked. That was a brilliant move. As it turned out, the inquiry's broadening from one focused on Tickel to one encompassing the entire "culture of leaking" was the best thing that could have happened to Peter: It allowed him to deflect blame from himself for Tickel's suicide, and ultimately it brought down Malcolm while Peter got off essentially scot free. Although it's not clear at the end of the episode how everything will play out, in retrospect this looks like a whole Crowning Episode Of Awesome for Peter.
39	*** It gets even better. The man Peter phones about Tickel's medical records is revealed by Stewart a few scenes later to be a journalist who goes public with that information. Which means that Peter leaks the information that Tickel's records had been leaked which is largely what prompts the inquiry to broaden its purview into examining the culture of leaking...which Peter then ''walks away pretty much scot-free from''. And had the inquiry stayed on the Tickel case, Peter would have probably been the first in the firing line (followed closely by Nicola, Fergus and the Coalition advisors). Of course Peter had no idea how it was going to turn out at the time but even [[MagnificentBastard Malcolm at the peak of his political power]] would have been hard-pressed to manipulate things in his favour so well.
40	* While it may be a VillainousBreakdown, Malcolm calling bullshit on the Goolding Enquiry for their hypocrisy had a lot of truth in it.
41	** On the other hand, while not a completely unsympathetic character, Malcolm has generally been a unflappable MagnificentBastard and complete {{Jerkass}} from Day One. When it's revealed that he [[HoistByHisOwnPetard implicated himself in the same picture]] he used to force Nicola's resignation, we're treated to about twenty seconds of [[OhCrap his reaction]] as he realises that he can't spin his way out of this one.
42	** In fact Malcolm is generally awesome in that episode, and barring one serious mistake where it can be proven that he had Mr. Tickel's NHS number, he handles himself much more successfully than the others, and the contrast between him and Stewart, his so-called "opposite number", is especially pronounced. In particular, his method of defending himself by attacking the enquirers forces them to back down on a couple of points, and he does a good job of manipulating the enquirers' questions to be hurtful to some of his political enemies.
43	*** Alternately; while Malcolm is able to needle the enquirers, for the most part he is utterly floundering as he can't resort to his usual bag of tricks; he can't intimidate the enquiry with his usual attitude, [[ButtMonkey Nicola]] recognises Malcolm's work in the number of 'distractions' popping up during the enquiry and his attempts to dislodge the Baroness as the one pressing him the most are ineffectual; the cherry on the cake is his complete and utter damning silence on Mr. Tickel's personal information. That in itself is awesome; that for all his bluster Malcolm is thoroughly derailed here.
44	* Terri telling off Phil for doing her job. "You don't handle The World at One Phil, they're not stolen goods. If you want to play with phones, you can go down to the creche, where there's a big blue phone with big boggly eyes that go round and round when you pick it up. Now piddle off!" Bonus points in that this is the only episode in which Terri demonstrates that she's actually a very good communications officer, when she has to be.
45	* Glenn's roared "WE DROVE A MAN TO HIS DEATH". ButtMonkey since the very first episode, he's finally had enough and with damn good reason.
46	** And in the very last episode, he resigns in the most spectacular fashion, emptying his office and giving everyone at [=DoSaC=] the most epic TheReasonYouSuckSpeech before sauntering off. No-one may have been really bothered by his words, but that's the longest any of them have paid attention to Glenn in two years!
47	*** During this scene, when Glenn tells off Adam for pretty much being the worst guy alive, somebody (probably Emma) yells "Hear hear!" while others applaud and Adam seems sufficiently disgruntled.
48	*** The rants of both Stewart and Glenn seem to have made quite an impact on Fergus, who according to Glenn once had some principles. Maybe he's on his way to a [[HeelFaceTurn Heel Face Turn]], although it's unlikely with Adam's influence.
49	* Malcolm's haunting final episode rant to Ollie. ''All of it.''
50	-->'''Malcolm:''' Ollie, look at me! I'm not pulling anything out of my magic hat. The rabbits are falling to pieces, the fucking heads are coming off and frightening the kids. So somebody else is going to have to help out.\
51	'''Ollie:''' [[YouAreWhatYouHate Well, who says I even want to be you, Malcolm? Who says that?]]\
52	'''Malcolm:''' Nobody says that. Except every screaming atom of that etiolated stick of fuck you call a body says that. Every fibre of your being -- every stamen -- says that. But you are not me, Ollie.\
53	'''Ollie:''' No...\
54	'''Malcolm:''' And you never will be me. I knew Malcolm F. Tucker, sir, and you are no Malcolm Fucking Tucker. You're not even Manchester's top Malcolm Tucker tribute band. And trying to be me -- ''you''?! Trying to be me will fucking kill you. I'll give you 18 months before you're a washed out, weeping alcoholic. With no fucking bladder control. Sleeping on your brother-in-law's sofa.\
55	'''Ollie:''' And so on, and so on. It doesn't have to be like that now, Malcolm. [[DramaticallyMissingThePoint Politics has actually changed]]--\
56	'''Malcolm:''' Oh?\
57	'''Ollie:''' Yeah! Yeah! Yeah, and you probably haven't noticed because you've been on transmit for the last fucking eight years! "Wah wah wah wah"! And whilst you've been doing that, everybody else has been changing! It's all a bit soft-core now, it's all about algorithms now. You don't have to be Malcolm Tucker to sit in that chair.\
58	'''Malcolm:''' Oh, how quickly they grow up. You fucking think you know me?\
59	'''Ollie:''' Uuuuuh... ''yeah''. Yeah, I know you.\
60	'''Malcolm:''' You know Jackie fucking Chan about me. ''YOU KNOW FUCK ALL ABOUT ME!'' I am totally beyond the realms of your fucking tousle-haired, fucking dim-witted compre-''fucking''-hension! I don’t just take this fucking job home, you know. [[MarriedToTheJob I take this job home, it fucking ties me to the bed, and it fucking fucks me from arsehole to breakfast! Then it wakes me up in the morning with a cup full of piss slung in my face, slaps me about the chops, to make sure I'm awake enough so it can kick me in the fucking bollocks! This job has taken me in every hole in my fucking body! Malcolm is gone!]] You can't know Malcolm, because Malcolm is not here! Malcolm fucking left the building fucking years ago! This is a fucking husk, I am a fucking host for this fucking job. Do you want this job?\
61	'''Ollie:''' ...Y-yes.\
62	'''Malcolm:''' ''Yes'', you do fucking want this job. Then, you're going to have to fucking swallow this whole fucking life and let it grow inside you like a parasite. Getting bigger and bigger and bigger until it fucking eats your insides alive and it stares out of your eyes and tells you what to do!\
63	'''Ollie:''' Malcolm, this sounds the fucking video you leave on [=YouTube=] after you've blown your brains out.\
64	'''Malcolm:''' I'm as dead as fucking Two-Tone. But I can fashion my own exit.\
65	'''Ollie:''' Oh, Christ. What, are you going to fly to Switzerland, have a wank off a nurse and a bye-bye pill, are you?\
66	'''Malcolm:''' Funny, funny man. Political exit.\
67	'''Ollie:''' No, I know...\
68	'''Malcolm:''' I'm gonna leave the stage with my head held fucking high, right? What you're going to see is a masterclass in fucking dignity, son. The audience will be on their feet. "There he goes" they'll say, "No friends, no ''real'' friends, no children, no glory, no memoirs...", [[StoicWoobie well, fuck them.]]
69	* Stewart's rant in the final episode: "You know, I've spent the last ten years detoxifying this party. It’s been a bit like renovating an old, old house, yeah? You can take out a sexist beam here, a callous window there, replace the odd homophobic roof tile, but after a while you realise this renovation is doomed. Because the foundations are built upon what I can only describe as a solid bed of ''cunts''."

Context Awesome / TheThickOfIt