What's different about this episode compared to the others is that it is a two-parter leading up to the end of the series. It is not unusual for there to be two part episodes when it comes down to BBC Three sit-coms coming to the end of their series, after watching shows such as White Van Man and Coming of Age, both have had occasions where they finish on two parter episodes.
In short this is an episode where Toby bumps into another old classmate but when talking about Bobbers, the guy has no recollection of him. Toby starts to doubt Bobbers' story, meanwhile the club start to prepare for a tennis tournament Elsie has entered them in for. Below are my notes on the episode.
Tennis Club episode 5 - The Tournament Part 1
Tennis Club episode 5 - The Tournament Part 1
We’re in Marco’s café Toby and Elsie are sat there are
having a really in depth conversation. The both crack jokes to each other, and
seem to be getting on really well. Elsie brings up that she loves how Toby has
become more sociable now and mentions that a month ago he’d always be avoiding
her and making up stupid excuses. Toby just laughs it off, he says it’s
probably because of the tennis club, although they may be the shittiest tennis
players in the world with no proper equipment or court (he doesn’t tell Elsie
this, she still doesn’t know it’s got almost nothing), without Bobbers and Ross
he would probably still have been alone in his house refusing to talk to
anyone. Elsie says she’s got to go and carry out some work, but she mentions
that she’s got a surprise for him and the rest of the club on Friday, Toby is
slightly confused as to what it can be but he just accepts it and lets her go.
They both step out of the café together and part ways, at
the near-by bus stop Toby has caught someone’s eye, this mousy-haired man
stares at Toby as if he’s trying to remember something. He takes a good hard
stare at Toby and then realises who he is. Just as Toby is about to head back
to work, the mousy haired man runs over to him calling out his name, Toby is
stunned for a second, he’s getting the sense of déjà vu here, but it isn’t the
same as last time, Toby actually remembers the person running up to him this
time, this is Chris another one of Toby’s old classmates. They exchange pleasantries;
Chris says that Toby’s changed a lot from secondary school (for the better).
After Chris asks Toby what he’s doing with his life Toby brings up his work
place and tells him about the Tennis Club he’s just joined with Bobbers, Chris
asks who Bobbers is, but when Toby tries to remind him that it was the class
clown back in the day Chris says there was no one by that name in their class.
Toby seems confused, Chris even tells him to look in their year book, plus he’d
remember a name as weird as Bobbers. Toby is finding this really weird, thoughts
start rushing through him mind, who is this guy if he never went to school with
him. Toby’s just standing there in complete silence; Chris is just staring at
him confused, he calls out Toby’s name and waves his hand in front of his face hoping
for a reaction. Chris looks around him, he puts his hand on Toby’s shoulder and
asks if he’s alright, Toby jumps to life as if someone’s just snuck up on him,
he apologises to Chris for zoning out, Chris laughs it off and says it’s okay,
according to him Toby used to do it all the time in school anyway. The two part
ways to carry on with what they’re doing before exchanging phone numbers incase
they want to catch up anytime soon.
It evening and back at the house Toby is searching under his
bed for something, whatever it is he’s hidden it well away. After moments of
searching he finds it, his old year book, he doesn’t look overly pleased to be
looking at this thing, half of Toby’s school years were filled with shit
memories with people he didn’t want to be with at that time. He goes back into
the lounge, the light are off, he sits on the sofa and starts flicking through
the pages, the TV is on in the background, it seems Toby’s found the page he
was looking for. He opened the book up to the page where it’s all of his old
schoolmates photos, he runs his finger along the page, the first one that
catches his eye is Chris, he had longer hair back there but pretty much looks
the same, just smaller. The next person he finds is himself, compared to
everyone else he looks really young kinda like a year 7 amongst a group of year
11s, he also looks really unenthusiastic, seems as if he hadn’t really changed
that much from secondary school to recent events. But now is the main reason
why he uncovered this book, to find Bobbers, who no one from his school could
remember, Toby flicks through the 4-5 pages of school children, he gets to the last
page and flicks through again and again. There’s no sign of him. He starts to
look through the rest of the book but it still gives no hints. Toby closes the
book with a worried expression on his face, he slumps back into the couch,
Bobbers was one of the reasons Toby wanted to join the tennis club because it
was someone he knew, if that was all lies then who is he? And why is Toby now
hanging out with a stranger. The TV then catches his eye, it’s the news, they’re
reporting that a man has been murdered by someone who pretended to be his
friend in school, 26 year old Tim Crawford was stabbed 47 times and shot in the
back of the head by a man who told him that he was an old friend at school.
Toby is watching the news horrified at what he’s just heard. His mobile phone
starts to ring which makes Toby jump out of his skin, he looks at the ID and it’s
Bobbers, he uneasily picks up the phone and when he answers a rough scary voice
like one from the scream movies says “I’m coming to get you Toby!” it’s
followed by maniacal laughter, Toby screams down the phone, his face looks
petrified, the maniacal laughter turns into normal laughter, it turns out that
Bobbers was playing a prank on Toby who screams down the phone at him, Bobbers
just laughs it off and asks him what the point system is for Tennis. Toby is
confused at Bobbers’ question, Bobbers asks if it’s Goals or Trys in tennis,
Toby explains to him that it’s neither, Bobbers laughs and tells Ross that he
was wrong and that it’s trys, Toby tries to explain that it’s neither, but then
asks Bobbers if he actually knows anything about Tennis, Bobbers says he hasn’t
got a clue and that’s why Toby’s there, Toby goes on to ask him why he started
the club up in the first place then, Bobbers then seems quick to end the call
and hangs up on Toby. Toby stares at his phone, very suspicious.
It’s Friday morning and Toby is fast asleep, his phone
starts to ring on his bedside table, he fumbles for it and picks it up, still
half asleep. It’s Elsie and she seems very excited, she tells him that she was
going to wait till later on in the day but she can’t wait, she tells Toby that
she’s entered them into a tennis tournament. This wakes Toby up, a tennis
tournament would be great if they had actually played a game of tennis at all.
Toby starts to question her, she explains that it’s £10 entry (which she’s
already paid so no getting out of it), held in a local sports centre and the
winner gets winnings at the end, a £50 sports direct voucher and a ticket to Lego
land. Though Toby is tempted by the Legoland trip he’s shitting himself, he has
no idea how they’re going to compete with actual tennis players, little kids
probably have more of a shot than them. Elsie tells him that it’s happening in
2 weeks time and hangs up. Toby is lying in bed shitting himself about being a total
embarrassment. He picks up his phone once more and rings Katie telling her that
he’s taking the day off because he’s sick. His next port of call is to ring
Bobbers and Ross telling them to arrive at the usual spot earlier than usual,
as he is about to ring Bobbers he pauses, thinking about last night and what
Chris told him. He shakes it off and picks up the phone.
Toby tells the guys about the tennis tournament in two weeks’
time, Bobbers seems to be well on board with it and Ross starts sweating
(probably because he knows the consequences, either that or he moved a little
too much). Bobbers seems to already be planning his trip to Legoland what he’ll
do with the money, but Toby cuts his dream off short saying that they’ll
actually have to practice playing tennis so that they don’t make fools of
themselves out there. Bobbers reassures him saying it’ll be fine. This really
gets on Toby’s nerves, he slightly snaps at Bobbers saying that they haven’t
played a complete game of tennis in the whole time they’ve been here, Bobbers
tells Toby to cool it and agrees to practice with him. Toby calms himself and
carries on, he tells the guys that they’ll be practising for the whole weekend
and learning how to actually play tennis. Bobbers sighs saying it’s a pain in
the arse but one aggravated look from Toby and he’s completely on board.
Montage scene – Clips of the guys getting ready during the weekend,
Toby is using a tennis ball machine to help the guys try and hit the ball,
where they fail miserably, Toby shows them tennis videos at his house where
Ross falls asleep and Bobbers draws doodles instead of watching, They practice
serving where Bobbers and Ross pretty much fail at that as well and start a
fight amongst themselves. The final bit of the montage is Bobbers finally
returning a serve from the tennis ball machine and slow-mo of him and Ross
hugging each other over his success before being pelted by more tennis balls
from the machine, Toby holds his head in his hands with embarrassment . Bobbers
mentions going to the pub.
On the way back from training Bobbers and Ross are pretty
pleased with themselves, Bobbers won’t stop talking about how he returned the
serve and that he thinks he’s almost ready for the tournament, Toby steps in angrily
saying that they’re nowhere near ready for the tournament as they only returned
one shot between them. Bobbers retorts, saying that it’s a start and tells Toby
to stop putting him down, to which Toby tells him that he’s getting too over
confident. Bobbers snaps and asks what’s up with him and why he’s being such a
dickhead today. This is where Toby goes ballistic, he starts asking why Bobbers
even started a club in the first place when he can’t even play tennis and
starts calling him an idiot. Bobbers says he doesn’t have to answer that, which
makes Toby even more furious, he says he knows that Bobbers didn’t even go to
the same school as him, Bobbers says that he doesn’t know what Toby is talking
about. Toby uses the year book as proof and that Chris doesn’t even know who he
is, Bobbers gets angry that Toby just called him a liar and tells him to take
it back. Toby then starts saying that Bobbers is a loser who has no friends
apart from Ross and some old bloke who doesn’t even speak, he calls him a
loner, and says “ I bet the only reason you started this shitty club if because
you couldn’t find anyone to hang out with” Toby over steps it now with a
relentless attack on how Bobbers has no friends. Bobbers doesn’t hold back and
punches Toby right in the face, Toby falls back, but retaliates with a series of punches and kicks. Ross breaks the
two up, both of them are bleeding quite heavily, Toby wipes the blood from his
mouth as Ross helps Bobbers up off the floor. Toby starts shouting at the top
of his voice, he says that this is the reason why he hates people, they lie to
you and pretend they’re your friends but in the end they always have something
to hide, he says he’s done with the guys and done with the club, Ross calls out
after him trying to make him stay but Bobbers tells him too let it go and let
Toby believe what he wants to believe, he seems equally as pissed as Toby is.
The two go their separate ways – to be continued in episode 6
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