Steve Calls From the Trough, Explained

What happens

A cancellation frees the two men from sharing a bed. One inspects room 7, trading the view and a fairy tale for a Michael Caine impression, then takes a call about Doctor Who. He refuses British TV, says he has done ten films, and wants good ones. From the Trough of Bowland he calls it a trough, literally and metaphorically.

What's really going on

The gum bit is a contest. One man calls receding gums "a honey trap for morsels of food" and dreads kissing a girl with chicken in a molar; the reply is that it is odd for men their age to be thinking about kissing girls at all. A cancellation then separates them for the night, and "I'll drink to that" lands like relief. He still tours the other room: the view, Andersen, a nasal Michael Caine, and how long the staffer has worked. Asked about Rob, he says they work together "Very rarely", "If I can avoid it", and that it is "purely platonic". Doctor Who wants the villain; he wants films, good films. Offered momentum, he answers "you get momentum when you're going downhill", then stands in the Trough of Bowland "literally and metaphorically". Asked if Mischa is enjoying it, he stalls on "Yes, she's... yes, she's... yes, she is, yeah." The place name admits it for him.

Key lines & what they mean

“Rather appropriately, Greg, I'm in a trough, literally and metaphorically.”

He has just named the Trough of Bowland. Keeping the word trough, he judges the work and the trip together: both have bottomed out, not only as geography.

“Yeah, you get momentum when you're going downhill.”

Someone has just praised the momentum behind him. He accepts the image and ruins it: that kind of speed arrives on the way down.

“See that strikes me as odd, that a man at our age would be thinking about trying to kiss girls.”

Chicken stuck in a molar has just made kissing sound risky. This moves the objection up a level: at their age, planning those kisses already seems strange.

“It's all right, but the relationship's purely platonic.”

They have just been told they seem to know each other quite well. He blocks the hint: familiar enough, but not romantic, and not a tie he will own.

“I want to be in films, good films.”

British TV, including the villain on Doctor Who, is what is being offered. He states the only standard he cares about: good films, not merely more work.

Theme

• Ambition — He turns down Doctor Who, insists he wants good films, then admits momentum only comes while going downhill, and that he is in a trough.
• Dark humor — Receding gums are called a honey trap, separate beds earn a toast, and a real valley is flipped into a career joke.