In short this is an episode about the aftermath of the argument between Bobbers and Toby, despite the title the episode doesn't focus as much around the tournament at all, it's more about how Toby regresses and becomes an introvert again but this time worse off than ever. Ross, Katie and Elsie try and patch up things between the two.
Out of all the episodes I've planned so far I'd have to say this one is the least developed so will need to work on this one more than the others. but below are my note about the episode.
Tennis Club episode 6: The Tournament part 2
We see a young child sitting in a classroom reading a book,
he’s by himself, the bell rings and loads of students flood into the classroom.
A couple of them notice the small boy and ask him what he’s reading, he says it’s
called Clown in the Classroom. One of the taller children says that he’s
reading a baby book, he gets the whole class to join and all the ten year olds
start shouting “Toby is a baby, because he reads a baby book” Toby tries to
call out to get them to stop, tears welling up in his eyes, the teacher walks
in, Toby looks to her for help but she just tells him that he should read books
more for his age and the kids continue to laugh at him.
We see a young Toby arrive home, it’s the same house we saw
in episode 4, Toby calls out for his Dad, there is no answer. He takes off his
backpack and slings in to the side by the door. He walks into the kitchen, a
tallish, stern faced man wearing a shirt and vest is sitting at the table
reading a newspaper. Toby says hello once more, the man replies this time and
asks Toby how his day went, the young Toby says that he was bullied again, the
man doesn’t even look Toby in the eye, he just asks who he was bullied by. Toby
answers that it was the kids and the teacher, the man sighs and lays down his
paper, he leans forward and looks Toby in the eye, he tells him that if anyone
annoys you or starts getting on your nerves, just ignore them, don’t even
acknowledge their existence, Toby says that everyone in that classroom annoys
him, the father just tells him to ignore them all then, Toby then asks what if
he wants to make friends. The man picks up his paper once more ceasing eye
contact with Toby, he asks if Toby wants to be friends with the people that
annoy him? Toby answers no, the man goes on to say that in which case he doesn’t
need friends, Toby thanks his father who tells him to go to his room after their
conversation.
Toby wakes up, he looks terrible, he’s unshaven, his hair
looks greasy from not washing it for days, there are dirty plates stacked up on
the bed side table where his alarm clock used to be. His phone starts buzzing,
he notices it’s someone calling him but just rolls over and ignores it.
At the office we see Katie on her mobile, Toby isn’t picking
up. She has a worried expression on her face. She scrolls through her phone
again and puts the phone to her ear again, this time the person picks up, it’s
Elsie (who’s driving whilst using the hands free phone), after exchanging
pleasantries Katie asks if she’s seen Toby at all, Elsie says that she rang him
a couple of nights ago but he wasn’t picking up so assumed that he was dealing
with stuff from for the Tennis Club. Katie tells her that he hasn’t come to
work in about a week, this has panicked Elsie quite a bit, Katie goes on to ask
if Ross has told her anything, she says that she hasn’t spoken to him in about
a week, Katie is kind of confused by this she asks if they’re still together
Elsie says they are but when they meet they don’t speak to each other, it’s
what Ross prefers apparently. Katie gets back on to the subject, she suggests
that Katie pay a visit to Toby’s apartment to check that he’s okay. Elsie says
she’s right on it. The sound of screeching tires can be heard over the phone,
Katie now knows one thing never get into the same car as Elsie.
Toby is still in bed, he looks like a slob in his vest and
boxer shorts. The doorbell rings, Toby doesn’t bother to get up, it rings again
and again and again and again. Toby makes a massive groaning noise and forces
himself out of bed. He shouts at the door that doesn’t want any leaflets about
Jesus so go away, the doorbell keeps on ringing, Toby gets pissed off and decides
to open it, at the doorstep is his sister, who’s looking really pissed off but
Toby isn’t fazed, he even tries to shut the door on her. She stops it from
closing and asks what’s the matter with him, Toby says he’s fine and tells her
to go away. Elsie isn’t going to just go home, she starts point out that he
looks like shit and hasn’t been to work in a week, she’s slightly surprised as
well, she’s never seen him like this. Toby can’t be bothered to send her away
he just leaves her on the doorstep and goes to sit in the lounge hoping she’ll
see herself out. As Elsie walks through
his apartment she notices all the rubbish on the floor, on the table in the
lounge is a half-finished game of solitaire with the cards covered in old Dorito
dust. Toby is now slumped on the sofa watching Countdown, Elsie tries to address
him and find out what’s wrong but nothing is of use, he just sits there giving
one word answers, she goes on to voice her opinions saying that she’s never
seen him like this. After the third time she asks if anything is wrong Toby
snaps and shouts that nothing is wrong, but Elsie can tell that something has
really gotten to him. She asks how Bobbers and Ross are doing and if he’s
spoken to them at all. Toby has answered all her questions up to now, this one
he just stays silent, she moves onto the tennis tournament and asks how
preparations are going, Toby replies saying that he’s not going to the
tournament anymore because he quit the club, seems that things are getting
somewhere with this conversation now. She asks why and Toby just says he can’t
be arsed with people anymore, he starts saying the same things he said to
Bobbers, that they all lie when they need something from you, etc. Elsie stays
quiet for a second, she gets up and starts to leave, she says she’ll be back
later but Toby doesn’t reply he just watches the TV as she leaves.
In Marco’s café Ross and Bobbers are sat down in silence.
Bobbers is looking out of the window not looking as cheerful as he usually is,
Ross sits quietly opposite him. Ross asks if he wants to talk about it, Bobbers
snaps and asks why he’d want to talk about it, Ross says it’s obviously getting
to Bobbers who doesn’t reply. Ross then asks when he’s going to apologise to
Toby, Bobbers snaps and asks why he should apologise when Toby’s the one that
started it, he gets in a huff and starts looking out the window again, silence
once more Ross asks if they’re still going to the tennis tournament, Bobbers
calmly says that of course they’re going to the tournament, Ross points out
that Toby has the only racket the rest are the waffle bats from poundland or a cricket
bat, Ross doesn’t want to go back to crappy equipment he wants Toby to make up
with Bobbers but Bobbers is stubborn, he doesn’t want to talk to Toby because
he called him a liar and a loser. Ross asks him if he really did go to school
with Toby, Bobbers says he did, Ross tells him to tell that to Toby and explain
himself, Bobbers says that he doesn’t need Toby anymore and that he can run the
club by himself again, just like the good old days. He pats Ross on the back
and leave the café and his fat friend with the bill.
Later that night at Elsie’s house Katie and Ross are round
talking about how they want the guys to make up so Toby doesn’t become a introvert
again. They devise a scheme to try and get Bobbers and Toby to become friends
again, Ross says that Bobbers isn’t willing to tell Toby the truth because he
insulted him, Elsie points out that Toby won’t leave the house so they’d have
to bring Bobbers to him. Katie says they sound like teenage girls, but then has
what she calls a stroke of genius.
It’s late at night and we see Ross knock on the front door
of a shabby looking house, who else opens the door but Bobbers. He asks why
Ross is here at this time of the evening, Ross just says for a chat and points
out that he like Bobbers’ new painting on the wall, Bobbers turns to look and
out of nowhere Ross chloroforms him with a white rag across his face. Bobbers
is out for the count Ross slowly drags the lanky body over to Elsie’s car.
Katie questions where he got the chloroform from, Ross says he got it from old
Bill. Having not met the guy the girls ask who “Old Bill” is, Ross explains
that he’s the tennis club’s 4th member he also says that he’s a magician.
The two girls look shocked at what Ross has just told them about the suspicious
old man who hands out chloroform willy-nilly. They say they’ll deal with it
after this.
Toby is still on the sofa, it looks like he hasn’t moved
since Elsie left, he wants to change the channel but can’t reach the remote, he
struggles before giving up and watching the same shit. Suddenly the front door
bursts open, Katie and Elsie stroll in with Ross behind them carrying a now
awake but slightly dazed Bobbers. Katie makes a mocking comment about the state
of Toby’s apartment, Toby starts to question why they’re all in his house,
Elsie explains that because he won’t leave his apartment and Bobbers is stubborn
they brought him round here so the two of them can sort things out. Bobbers’
drunkenly says that he won’t apologise for shit until Ross backhands him in the
face to wake him up, Bobbers becomes aware of his surroundings and asks why
Toby’s here, Toby says it’s his house and tells Bobbers to get out. Elsie interrupts
and tells Bobbers to stay and sort themselves out, Toby calls Bobbers a liar
again, Bobbers retorts calling him a dickbasket, the two continue to throw
insults at each other, realising that this is going nowhere Elsie instructs
Katie to slap Toby if he gets out of hand and Ross to do the same to Bobbers.
The two guys don’t like the sound of that and each get a slap in the face for disagreeing.
Elsie tells Toby to explain himself, he says he doesn’t want to and gets a slap
from Katie. He turns to Katie and says she’s enjoying this too much she agrees
and slaps him again. Toby goes to say that one of the main reasons he joined the
tennis club is because he thought that Bobbers could be someone he could trust
since they were in the same school and what not but Bobbers has screwed him
over so much and now that Toby thinks that Bobbers has lied about everything
including the possibility that Bobbers went to school with him, he doesn’t want
to trust Bobbers any more. Elsie then gives Bobbers the chance to speak,
Bobbers says that the reason why he wasn’t in the year book is because he was
sick on the day they took photos so they didn’t include him, Toby calls
bullshit on what Bobbers just said, they would have included him anyway,
Bobbers admits that that was a lie and gets another slap from Ross. Bobbers
admits that he was expelled from secondary school for what he says was being
too funny, that’s why he wasn’t in the year book, Toby says that still doesn’t
explain why he isn’t remembered by him and Chris. This is something Bobbers can’t
explain he thought he made an impression on his classmates but he obviously
didn’t which makes him feel a little disheartened. Toby’s final question is to
why Bobbers started up the tennis club. Bobbers falls silent. This seems like
something he really doesn’t want to admit, he even says so, Ross says that if
he doesn’t answer he gets another slap, Bobbers says he’ll never say why he
started it up but after another slap from Ross he starts to confess. Bobbers
says that they only reason he started it up was because Toby was right when
they last saw eachother, Bobbers doesn’t have any friends at all apart from
Ross. He felt like he fucked up in school and missed out on making friends so
the club is a desperate attempt on trying to make new ones. The room falls
silent. Everyone seems amazed that beneath Bobbers’ oblivious jolly behaviour
lay someone who just wanted to make friends…well everyone except Toby of
course, he brushes it off as another lie, he says he’d rather be alone now than
associate with these two (Bobbers and Ross). He tells everyone to leave and don’t
bother coming back including his sister, he says that they all annoy him. They
all leave under Toby’s command, none of them try to fight back, they just let
him do it. As they all leave Bobbers says he’s sorry for one last time and
Elsie tells him to take care. Toby sits in the lounge again by himself, alone.
Just what he wanted, but we can tell from the look on his face that he’s still
not happy.
The next morning Toby is woken by a phone call from Chris, it’s
kind of strange but he answers it. Chris tells him that he remembers who
Bobbers was, much to Toby’s surprise, he goes on to say that his real name was
Robert Wellington or something like that, but he insisted on being called that
stupid nickname. Christ starts making fun of Bobbers calling him a loser when
they were in school and he deserved to be expelled for being a dickhead anyway.
This slightly angers Toby, he calls Chris a dickhead and hangs up the phone. He
then realises the date today, it’s the day of the tournament.
Outside a large leisure centre Bobbers and Ross are keeping
true to his their word. They’re both dressed in white tennis outfits and
holding their substitute tennis rackets (cricket bat and waffle racket).
Bobbers asks Ross if he’s ready for this, Ross doesn’t seem sure he’s sweating
a whole lot and looks kinda constipated, he suggests turning back Bobbers is
about to agree but someone runs up behind them, they turn to notice Toby also
dressed in white with his tennis racket in hand. He says that he’s sorry about
what happened back at his apartment and hopes that the duo will forgive him,
Bobbers smiles and says he’s glad to have Toby back. Toby jokes saying they’d
be lost without him anyway. The trio go on to play in the tournament and do
their best!
Montage - Their best isn’t enough, each of them get absolutely
destroyed, tears are shed, dreams are crushed etc. imagine the chariots of fire
song just with the three guys losing miserably and Toby shaking his head. –
fade to black
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