Mettle is the third episode of Series Two of Spaced.
Overview[]
Sinister sabotage seriously threatens Mike and Tim's chances of winning Robot Wars, while Daisy gets a job in Hell's Kitchen and Brian faces the terrifying prospect of an exhibition.
Synopsis[]
Tim and Mike put the finishing touches to their fighting robot 'Private Iron', which has reached the quarter finals of the Robot Wars TV show. Before they can head for competition though, the robot is smashed by Dexter and Cromwell, operators of their main rival whom they knocked out of the competition. Confronting them, Tim and Mike challenge Dexter to a no-holds-barred fight at Robot Club, the underground robot fighting ring. Things go well for Tim and Mike until Dexter throws a flare under Private Iron. Mike responds by launching two concealed military rockets at Dexter's robot, destroying it.
Daisy has been having trouble holding down a temp job, and her last chance is working in a fast food kitchen. Although she tries hard, the kitchen manager is an authoritarian who keeps the rest of the misfit staff in a state of terror. After finally snapping and revealing herself as a writer and above such menial work, the manager reveals that everyone in the kitchen is a writer. On learning this, Daisy stages a coup and leads the rest of the staff in a walkout.
Brian is worried when a large gallery commissions a piece of art from him with almost no time to produce anything new. He quickly puts together a large art installation, but feels there is something missing: while trying to figure out the missing element he knocks a can of paint off a ladder and onto his head, rendering him unconscious. When he comes around several hours later he finds that the gallery patrons have mistaken his unconscious body as part of the installation, and hail him as an artistic genius.