The Thick of It: the finale

SPOILER ALERT: This weekly blog is for those who have watched The Thick of It series three. Don't read on if you haven't seen tonight's final episode. There will be swearing – obviously

So is this how Armando Iannucci and his team are going to take The Thick of It into the Tory era? By giving the opposition a Malcolm Tucker of their own?

Tonight's finale was a strange one, and definitely wrongfooted me after my predictions last week that Malcolm would now bow out of the programme.

Certainly it looked that way at the beginning of the episode, as Malcolm (Peter Capaldi) found himself contemplating a future in TV with palpable despair. Appear on Dragon's Den for Children in Need, Malcolm? "I'd rather fuck a real dragon." Write a children's book called – in a beautifully surreal touch – The Angry Spider? No ...

To a BBC producer, the sacked spin chief muses: "This could be the highlight of my career – and I've taken a dump in the White House."

But after Lord (Julius) Nicholson calls Malcolm back to, in his own words, "mop up the fucking splatter from my own assassination", Tucker is in his element again.

He expertly manipulates Julius (a great, arch performance from Alex Macqueen, the "man who makes the bhaji go away", feeding ducks in a mysterious manner whenever necessary) and rival spin doctor Steve Fleming ("What's up Boo Boo?" is the most nauseating of his series of nauseating lines) to make Nicholson look bad and exact exquisite revenge on Fleming, covering his tracks with a seeming 180 degree change in personality.

This new Malcolm wears a 40-tog fleece, makes tea for his colleagues and puts a tenner in the kitty, and flatters – even flirts with – Terri. The master of the dark arts is now "yestermalcolm". "Christ, is he dying or something?" wonders Glenn.

Far from it. But enjoyable though Tucker's swift return is, it does much to undermine the genuine drama of last week's conclusion, which depended for its impact on the finality of the PM's decision. And it leaves unanswered the questions about the programme's continued topicality we discussed here last week.

And so to the Fucker, real name Cal Richard, played by Tom Hollander, whose first act is to fire the modernising neophile press chief Stewart Pearson – or is it? With this about-face he shows he is crueler than Malcolm, much less likeable, and somewhat more thuggish, with his estuary English and charmless bullying. "I'm sensing a change in management style here," opposition MP Peter Mannion notes, "from touchy feely to smashy testes."

So the series ends with Tucker and the Fucker lining up their forces for an ultra-macho election showdown. When will we see them next? I foresee a couple of specials around election time, and then a new series to usher in the new government. But what do I know?

Best swearing

Julius: "As my nephew would say: 'This shit just got real.'"
Malcolm: "Your nephew?"
Julius: "Yeah, he's at Charterhouse. Only a day boy, not a boarder … "

Best insult

"I despise him as much as fucking James May presumably despises himself." - Malcolm on Steve Fleming.

Best description of Malcolm

Buddha – "if Buddha had been on the cover of fucking GQ magazine". - Malcolm.

Most tasteless allusion to Josef Fritzl

"You're all emerging from the cellar, pleased that the beatings have stopped, scared of what the future might hold." – Steve Fleming.

Best telephone greeting

"Hello, Philip Schofield, I fuck lobsters for money." - Malcolm.

Most unconvincingly zen motto

"Life is just a succession of five minuteses." - Malcolm.

Best offer of a job at the Foreign Office

"They're always looking for cleaners." - Malcolm.