Spaced: 10 Things To Love About Edgar Wright's Hidden Gem

2. Satisfyingly Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms

spaced frost pegg
Channel 4

Stress gets to all of us, a fact of life that Spaced does not ignore.

There are many ways of dealing with that stress, from herbal tea to regular exercise, or even the Little Book of Calm.

Spaced does not give us any good examples. On the contrary, what it gives us are a wealth of deeply unhealthy, undeniably satisfying coping mechanisms.

The very top of the list includes, though is not limited to: benefit fraud, vandalising derelict cars, shooting your ex’s new boyfriend in balls with a paintball gun, getting drunk to avoid problems, getting a dog to avoid problems, stealing a tank from the Territorial Army, and finally attempting to invade Paris.

If yoga is chicken soup for the soul, these are a night of binge drinking and an 18 inch pizza for one. They aren't good for you and the consequences will be dire, but god damn are they a lot of fun.

Some days are just too stressful to be healthy.

Contributor

My passion for all things Sci Fi goes back to my earliest days, when old VHS copies of Thunderbirds and Captain Scarlet gripped my tiny mind with their big, noisy vehicles and terrifying puppets. I'd like to say my taste got more refined over the years, but between the Warhammer, Space Dandy and niche Star Wars EU books, perhaps it just got broader. I've enjoyed games of all calibre since I figured out that dice weren't just for eating, and have written prose ever since I was left unsupervised with some crayons next to a white wall. I got away with it by calling it "schoolwork" for as long as I could, and university helped me keep the charade going a while longer. Since my work began to get published, it's made all those long hours repainting the walls seem worth it.