Bored To Death season 1 episode 7 review: The Case Of The Stolen Sperm

7. The Case Of The Stolen Sperm

As this series of Bored To Death draws to a close, we’re treated to the first in a two part finale. Don’t cry that it’s almost over, though, There are still plenty of laughs before the end.

This week’s episode is more of a Jonathan and Ray episode, and finally starts to grant a bit of closure on one of the series’ long arcs. The lesbian couple which Ray has been donating his sperm to have gone missing. At first, Ray is more concerned for the wellbeing of the couple, but as the episode goes on, and as the title suggests, things are a little more sinister than it would appear.

After finding a list of lesbian couples in their abandoned flat, it turns out that the couple have been selling Ray’s sperm to other couples. After visiting thirty couples, it turns out that only one of them was pregnant, and upon seeing Ray, who was not the average build vegan possessing a PHD in mathematics, he was promptly told that they didn’t want to see him ever again.

Elsewhere, George’s rivalry with GQ editor and his ex-wife’s new husband, Richard Antrem, starts to spiral out of control. After George is humiliated by Antrem in a bar, he decides to seek revenge by writing an incredibly slanderous editorial. Things come to a head, with the two arranging to have a boxing match, and with Jonathan wanting to have his own duel with snivelling book critic, Louis Greene.

Jonathan also begins work on his second novel, and with a month until the deadline, we discover that he’s still struggling with the first sentence.

Whilst this episode isn’t as funny as the ones preceding it, it has its moments, but it seems as though the writers have saved most of the jokes for the second part. Whilst this makes sense, it feels like we’re waiting a week to hear the punchline. 

One serious issue that I had whilst watching the episode on TV was that the audio was very out of sync with the video. I had noticed this in previous episodes, but I thought I may have been imagining it. But in this episode it was very noticeably lagging behind.  I’m pretty sure that this wasn’t a decision by those who edited the programme, but it’s pretty embarrassing to have it on television in this state.

Whilst this is a good episode, it feels more like a build up to a great one, than a great one in itself, and due to this, it only whets the audience’s appetite for next week’s finale.

Read our review of episode 6, The Case Of The Beautiful Blackmailer, here.