Every Inside No. 9 Twist Ranked
32. Empty Orchestra - It's The Boss Who's Leaving
Plot: A group of colleagues gather in a karaoke bar to celebrate a promotion.
Throughout this low-key episode of Inside No. 9, it's clear that someone is about to be made redundant. Partway through the episode it looks like it will be Fran (Sarah Hadland) when her name is found circled on a list that the boss Roger (Pemberton) has but in fact, she's getting promoted. Roger is the one who's leaving, and he's doing so voluntarily.
This is quite a dull twist and come to think of it, it's the least-interesting twist in Inside No. 9 history in many ways. So, why is it above several of the others?
Because a minor twist was what this lightweight and gentle episode needed. Pemberton and Shearsmith needed a twist that fitted the narrative and this one did that nicely. It also keeps the light-hearted tone of the episode intact and in what is normally such a dark show, that was very nice to see.