‘Quiz’ Episode 2 plays into middle-class sentiments and their obsession for winning
The second chapter of legal drama series‘Quiz’ puts Major Charles Ingram (Matthew Macfadyen) in the hot seat of the sensational game show ‘Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” And what follows is a “series of horrible coincidences” that lead to an unexpected outcome, for good and for worse.
As Charles keeps climbing the way to the top of the prize mountain, he displays constant confusion, uncertainty, by changing his answers at the very last minute. And then, as if to make you observe, the camera pans between his wife, Diana Ingram (Sian Clifford), and Tecwen Whittock (Michael Jibson), who keep randomly coughing (note that this action drives everything that follows later). Most of the times, when Charles is trying to answer a question, the question comes right before he locks his final answer. From the time the hosts asks the question till Charles gives the correct answer, he is confused, not sure of what he might pick. Strangely enough, he wins, every round. And eventually, takes home the prize money of one million pounds.
All in all, episode 2 of ‘Quiz’ revolves around panic and tension, just what the game show is supposed to offer. But does this mean that Charles cheated? Or that Diana or even Whittock tried to help him by coughing? There is no right answer at this moment. But what this episode lays down is that contestants or game show participants are often driven by an inherent ambition to win. Whether it is right to cheat their way through or not is another discussion altogether. As of now, what we want to understand is how show producers package such scenarios for the audience. Take Charles for instance. He is a major in the army, and lives a very middle class life. He has his bills to pay, a home he wishes to buy and three kids to take care of. Although he is not a very knowledgeable and well-informed guy, he has aspirations. So, a game show that promises a huge sum of money, it instantly starts triggering that hidden ambition to win. It might not seem normal to many.
As we see in the episode, Charles winning streak seems uncanny and throws off the production crew, just like the show’s producer, David Briggs (Elliot Levey), told the director, “normal people don’t play like this”. This simple statement says a lot about how such game shows are targeted. The idea is to create a unicorn that most people might not be able to achieve. But that doesn’t mean one cannot achieve the goal without unethical ways. Charles might have been pushed by his wife and brother-in-law to take the legacy of their quizzing skills ahead, but somewhere as he kept playing and winning by sheer stroke of luck, that hidden ambition took over. He kept gambling with every question and luck favored him.
And when it did, it threw everyone off, leaving them in disbelief that an unaware and clueless person as Charles could make it to the top and take a million pounds home. This becomes clear when the show’s host, Chris Tarrant (Michael Sheen), hands over the prize check to Charles and comments, ‘The best player we have ever had, what a man, quite an amazing man, I have no idea how you did it’.
On the outside, it seems suspicious indeed, making you ask – “How did a man like Charles Ingram get it all right? There must be some antics he pulled!” From Diana and Whittock’s coughing to strange glances across the room and Charles rubbing his right ear, could all seem like a “tell”. Could it all be “a series of horrible coincidents” which worked in the favor? Or did their middle-class obsession drove them to become criminals?
The third and final episode of ‘Quiz’ will air on June 7, 10pm/9c, only on AMC.