Bubble UK Review: Warren United Ep 3, Mascot

Three weeks into ITV4’s adult animated sitcom, does it look likely to become a regular fixture for UK TV and am I running out of football based adjectives and puns? Check the score sheets below and find out!

I’m finding it quite hard to ascertain the viewing figures for ITV4’s new cartoon series so I’m having to judge the shows popularity by way of social media, and that isn’t proving too helpful either. A few years ago, a product, website or show’s popularity could be gauged by the likes on a FaceBook page but as that particular port of call is becoming less and less relevant I shouldn’t have been surprised to find Warren United had under 200 likes on its official page. Swinging over to twitter however I was pleasantly surprised to see  the show has 7000 followers.

Regardless of how I feel about Warren United, I want it to succeed and am genuinely heartened to see it running a successful social media campaign on at least one front. The twitter feed is being run by “Warren” himself and goes in hand with the football fanatic’s blog updates on the official site. This is a nice touch by the Warren United team, one which feeds into the notion of Warren being a man “real” football fans can relate to, a man who wears his passions on his sleeve and whose knowledge of the great game is all encompassing and obsessive. There is plenty of actual soccer talk on the twitter feed whereas on the Facebook page there are many pictures of Warren’s family and this is Warren summed up perfectly, a man of two halves, one obsessed with everything football related and one, a proud dad who, for all his faults, is well meaning.

The dichotomy that is Warren, and his struggle to reconcile his two passions, is becoming the root of each episode, including this week’s. In “Mascot” Warren is over-joyed that his son Harrison has won the honour of being Brainsford United’s walk on kid (the team Mascot obviously, I was looking for another way to say mascot and failed) at Saturday’s home game. Unfortunately, in his ardor, the proud Dad has failed to notice that Harrison just isn’t bothered by this turn of events and really doesn’t want the pressure that accompanies the job. Warren further neglects his family’s needs when it becomes apparent that his mother requires eye surgery which could be payed for when Warren’s boss, Dave ” Kitchen Madness” Worsely  (Jonathan Kydd), suggests a bribe in exchange for his son being given mascot duties. Is it likely Warren will do the right thing or will his own unfulfilled wish to be Brainsford United’s mascot prevail over sanity? Maybe a bit of both.

Props to Warren United for not giving a completely schmaltzy ending, they writers figured out a fix where everyone was happy but the route at which they arrived at happiness was not an expected one. The writing team do seem to have a more defined sense of who and what Warren is so in this respect the scripts have improved, the narrative is definitely more cohesive too. I missed much of Ingrid’s ballsy sensibilities this week, instead we were given more of Warrens mum, who sadly I can’t get to grips with, why animation writers feel our OAP’s should be edgy and that we should be privy to their sex lives I’ll never know. At least it’s just sex the elderly Mrs Kingsley ( apparently she has no name) is obsessed with, thankfully we are spared a skateboarding granny.

There were many times in this week’s episode that made me smile, Harrison’s show-busy school friend is good  and we saw more of the talking horses at the match. I’m still not completely sold but the Kingsley clan are becoming welcome faces on a Tuesday night. Warren United throws plenty of knowing nods toward the football crazy dads throughout the UK whilst not alienating non soccer fans with indecipherable references. I’m fairly confident that even the biggest sports hater could find something in the show to connect with and newcomers should view it as any other sitcom, the football is, after all, just a plot device, there is no Brainsford United so don’t think you’ll be missing out on an in joke. I’m still hesitant but I am hoping animation fans do check out Warren United before the end of the season, 7000 twitter users seem to be enjoying it, so the team are doing something right!

This week, thanks to some genuinely inspired touches and a slicker narrative, Warren United: Mascot get’s another six. Let us know in the comment section what you think of the show and don’t forget to check out the official website and follow on twitter, FaceBook, and YouTube for updates.

Episode three, “Mascot” can be seen on the ITV iPlayer now.