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<blockquote data-quote="Crimson" data-source="post: 439715" data-attributes="member: 5079">And, to my surprise, the very next episode rather addresses this.Although I&#039;ve been watching these episodes at a rate of only one a week, I didn&#039;t want to dwell on my least favorite episode too long.&nbsp; So, onto episode 9, &quot;Waldorf Salad&quot;.&nbsp;&nbsp; I&#039;m happy to say the show is back in fine form and this will likely be very high among my final ranking of episodes.&nbsp; The episode is not only very funny but explores some previously untouched ideas.For all of his pretensions and snobbery towards his normal clientele, Basil runs a shabby hotel and lacks the skills or self-control to ever satisfy the demands of the posh and wealthy guests he aspires to. Unlike the irrationally demanding Mrs Richards from &quot;Communication Problems&quot;, Mr Hamilton here has very reasonable expectations of quality service he paid for.&nbsp; Basil&#039;s desperate obsequence and self-sabotage resulted in one of the longest stretches of laughs in the series so far.And I guess we get an answer on why the guests are so accepting of Basil&#039;s behaviors. English sangfroid, after all; too polite, too reticent to raise a fuss.&nbsp; I&#039;ve&nbsp; noted a few times my frustration at the lack of guest response to Basil&#039;s rudeness.&nbsp; Clearly I&#039;m too American for this kind of acceptance, even if I&#039;m fairly easygoing as my countrymen go.&nbsp; It may have been a bit of a relief that it was an American that caused the dam of grievances to burst.Two out of three episodes, Polly has had a notably reduced role.&nbsp; I&#039;m curious to see if that continues for the remaining episodes; if so, somehow related to the real life divorce?Many great laughs in the episode.&nbsp; I particularly enjoyed Basil using the customer&#039;s complaints as a chance to air his own complaints, and how flummoxed he was at being caught and called out for his nonsense by someone other than Sybil.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Crimson, post: 439715, member: 5079"] And, to my surprise, the very next episode rather addresses this. Although I've been watching these episodes at a rate of only one a week, I didn't want to dwell on my least favorite episode too long. So, onto episode 9, "Waldorf Salad". I'm happy to say the show is back in fine form and this will likely be very high among my final ranking of episodes. The episode is not only very funny but explores some previously untouched ideas. For all of his pretensions and snobbery towards his normal clientele, Basil runs a shabby hotel and lacks the skills or self-control to ever satisfy the demands of the posh and wealthy guests he aspires to. Unlike the irrationally demanding Mrs Richards from "Communication Problems", Mr Hamilton here has very reasonable expectations of quality service he paid for. Basil's desperate obsequence and self-sabotage resulted in one of the longest stretches of laughs in the series so far. And I guess we get an answer on why the guests are so accepting of Basil's behaviors. English sangfroid, after all; too polite, too reticent to raise a fuss. I've noted a few times my frustration at the lack of guest response to Basil's rudeness. Clearly I'm too American for this kind of acceptance, even if I'm fairly easygoing as my countrymen go. It may have been a bit of a relief that it was an American that caused the dam of grievances to burst. Two out of three episodes, Polly has had a notably reduced role. I'm curious to see if that continues for the remaining episodes; if so, somehow related to the real life divorce? Many great laughs in the episode. I particularly enjoyed Basil using the customer's complaints as a chance to air his own complaints, and how flummoxed he was at being caught and called out for his nonsense by someone other than Sybil. [/QUOTE]

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