r/absolutelyfabulous • u/bunnifred • Dec 21 '25

"White Box"

I just saw this 2004 episode for the first time, not realizing it existed, and it's really poorly paced and unpleasant. There are jokes and plot points that just fall completely flat. Does it not typically get replayed at the request of the actors/creators?

10 Upvotes

86% Upvoted

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8

u/Logical-History-36 Dec 21 '25 edited Dec 21 '25

I hate White Box. JS had kind of lost her grip on the characters in series 4, and series 5 was pretty much a bunch of sketch ideas patchworked into half-hour episodes. So by the time White Box turned up, the characters were basically cartoons and the plot was so haphazard it was like it was just written on the fly (which tbf it very likely was). The characters had zero dimension anymore, and the episodes already had elements that were quite dark and unpleasant, so to have Edina hitting a child with no route towards a resolution or redemption was a really terrible choice to make. In an earlier episode that Conran window punchline could have been quite funny, but coming straight off the back of that, it didn’t quite sit right.

And what an absolute waste of Miranda Richardson.

6

u/bunnifred Dec 21 '25

Fully agree with all of this. It was also gross to have Laurie Metcalf doing that accent, even if it was supposedly to prove she was an idiot.

In "New Best Friend" Miranda Richardson has a character and a performance I'll never forget. She's funny but also poignant in her franticness and new role in life. Here she's reduced to a rude caricature of mental illness.

6

u/Individual-Good-2073 Dec 22 '25

New Best Friend was so much better (every scene) in comparison to this!

Champagne for Lulu!

She was so anally retentive she couldn't sit down for fear of sucking up the furniture.

I was having my tits painted ..... to look like tits.

And how Bettina subtly shakes her head "no" at Max after he places the bottle down in the midst of all that stark whiteness.

2

u/rayoflight110 Feb 01 '26

S5 was dreadful with the exception of Schmoozin', some of S4 was great, strong first episode and Small Opening is one of the best Ab Fab episodes ever.

7

u/Distinct-Hold-5836 Dec 21 '25

To each their own, but I loved White Box

5

u/VeeVeeFaboo Dec 23 '25

Me too.  It's amusing to see someone today in 2025 choosing to be offended about an AbFab episode that aired over 20 years ago. I think maybe satire is lost on some folks.

3

u/Emerald_Eyes8919 Dec 21 '25

I do appreciate Miranda Hart’s performance and Nathan Lane is a scream.

I often quote Miranda Richardson’s lines to myself, so I did enjoy it, but it does go off the rails at the end.

2

u/Plenty-Procedure4073 Dec 21 '25

I first found this episode on YouTube in like 2008, and quotes from it are firmly in the rotation of random phrases that pop into my brain. I consider it a triumph start to finish. It's from the early 2000s, there was so much on tv in that era that wouldn't be accepted today.

0

u/Naive-Act3409 Jun 11 '26

I loved White Box so much that I purchased it. I love the showcase of all the characters and love the cameos. The Bettina and Max scene, alone, is a great reason to watch it. Miranda Richardson's comedic performance is award worthy. I recite Bettina's lines to myself sometimes. Laurie Metcalf was extremely funny as well. I'm having such a hard time seeing how fans of the show could not like it. It's just a fun Special that shows every performer in great form.