The Gavin and Stacey Christmas special is what's occurring this festive season. The time has finally arrived! Since the first initial announcement, to the behind the scene pictures and trailers, 8.30pm on Christmas day was all I could think about at times, was all I was looking forward to. It has been nearly a decade since we last saw the gang and it's been waaay too long. The special was needed after the shitshow of a year, both politically and TV wise (let's not talk about the Game of Thrones finale, I'm still bitter) and it was everything I wanted and expected.
The special follows Pam, Gavin, Smithy and Michael as they travel to Gwens for Christmas this year as per the tradition. We see a very stressful Stacey as she is STILL wrapping presents on Christmas Eve but this is nothing compared to the mess of Bryn as he measures Stacey's oven for the dimensions needed for cooking for 13 on Christmas Day. Smithy's new gal - Sonya meets the gang for the first time and Nessa has bought everyone taps for Christmas! It's chaos in every way every episode Gavin and Stacey is.
There's still a sense of familiarity in the special, epitomised in the figure of Nessa and Bryn
From the beginning, it was very clear how much everyone had grown up. Gavin looks ancient, him and Stacey have three children now, Neil the baby is, well, not a baby anymore. But there's still a sense of familiarity in the special, epitomised in the figure of Nessa and Bryn. Some of the funniest moments of the special were when Pam and Michael are smoking joints leading to Pam forgetting to bring the Christmas puddings and the dreaded mention of the fishing trip... will we ever find out what happened on the trip? Probably not.
The special has a whole load of singing, joy, laughter, fun and plot twists. THAT CLIFF HANGER? Although I kind of saw something along the lines coming *spoiler ahead*... I thought that Ness would tell Smithy to not get married, I did not expect an actual PROPOSAL? And then the credits rolled without Smithy answering?!?!? Ruth Jones, James Corden I've got a lot to say to you with the first being - there better be a season 4!
At the same time though, when asked about the special, I have been describing it as weak. Although it is everything I wanted and expected, I also wanted more? There were moments where I was just a little bored. For example, the whole Gavin and Stacey bits, although needed because they were the original characters, just seemed pointless and not needed to me but that's just a personal preference. There were also moments where I thought the whole pop culture references were very forced that it reminded me of how my parents try to use terms to 'get down with the kids' but it's just embarrassing. This isn't to say I didn't love the episode because I did but there's always room for improvement.
Overall, the Christmas special was a nostalgic episode that definitely made me want to re-watch the entire series again and reminded me just how much I love the show and the characters. Here's to a season 4!
Step into Christmas, step into Christmas, we can watch the snow fall forever and ever...
