From David Bowie being reincarnated as a kettle to Reese Witherspoon in space, our writers list the TV head-scratchers they can’t get enough of
With a gun to my head, I couldn’t tell you with any degree of accuracy what Tim Robinson’s The Chair Company is actually about. In terms of straight plot, it’s the story of a man who is drawn into a conspiracy after a chair breaks when he sits on it. But beyond that, it’s honestly anyone’s guess.
So much of it defies logical explanation. Why does that one guy only listen to recordings of men screaming at each other? Why was there a vampire in it, and why did it lure people in by inventing a brand new shape? Why did the show’s big antagonist end up having a baby’s head? None of these questions will ever be answered properly, because The Chair Company would clearly prefer to splash around in its Lynchian weirdness. This is by far the most baffling television show I have ever loved, and I say that as someone who has watched Lost all the way through four times. Stuart Heritage
The finance jargon of Industry is impenetrable to the likes of poor me. I could not tell you a single financial transaction that took place on the trading floors. When I naively recapped the first season for another outlet, I apologised more than once for having “no idea what Harper does”. Even when they’re not talking shop, I need the subtitles on for this verbose lot.
