YMMV / Still Game

• Adaptation Displacement: Many fans of the show probably don't know that Jack and Victor first appeared in 1998 Scottish pop music documentary, Och Around The Clock, then appeared in sketches in Chewin' the Fat before spinning into a Still Game stage play that predates the show.
  • Even before Och Around The Clock, Kiernan and Hemphill had previously used the "OAPs get up to mischief" gag in their 1995 sketch show Pulp Video (which also featured future Still Game stars Gavin Mitchell and Jane McCarry). In these skits, however, Jack and Victor were called Archie and Finlay, and while there was a "Winston" (played by Mitchell rather than Paul Riley), he was depicted as a doddering, feeble old man with apparent dementia rather than the Magnificent Bastard he eventually became.
• Americans Hate Tingle: In Scotland, the series is widely considered to be one of the greatest sitcoms ever made, and in the rest of the UK it's become something of a Cult Classic; however, it remains largely unknown across the Atlantic, particularly when compared to other shows such as Limmy's Show.
• Awesome Ego: Many of the characters, but Winston in particular.
• Broken Base:
  • Methadone Mick: Some fans think he's a funny, welcome addition to the show, while others criticize his cartoonishness and list him as one of the things that is wrong with the more recent series.
  • The late-2010s revival has garnered this response to an extent, with a portion of the fanbase arguing that it doesn't hold up to the original classic run. Common criticisms are that the newer episodes rely too much on slapstick humor and Idiot Ball moments, with the characters becoming Flanderized as a result. However, the last series was generally well-received.
  • The Ambiguous Ending of the series finale—fans can't seem to decide whether Jack and Victor died while attempting to climb Ben Lomond or whether their vanishing is a metaphor for life going on as usual, though eventually without them in it. The fact that it's intercut with other characters also fading out supports the latter theory; however, the farewell live shows have Jack and Victor experiencing the afterlife—and seeing their skeletons still on the slopes of the mountain.
• Crosses the Line Twice: The many jokes about death are basically this.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: Navid is beloved by the fandom for his snarky attitude and constant trolling of his customers.
• Friendly Fandoms: With the fanbases of many other Scottish comedy series, but particularly Chewin' the Fat, Kiernan and Hemphill's earlier show.
• Harsher in Hindsight: In the episode Hatch, Winston's grandson Thomas is forced to stay with his grandfather while Thomas' parents are on holiday. Thomas continues to misbehave while staying with Winston, such as sleeping with a young woman under Winston's nose. Kevin Guthrie, who portrayed Thomas, was convicted of sexual assault in 2021, thus ended his acting career.
• Heartwarming Moments: This series isn't short of them.
  • Realising that Jack is upset over Victor forgetting their 60th Anniversary as best friends, Victor makes up for it the following day by taking his best friend to the city for a trip down memory lane and enjoy a special, yet unfortunately expensive, lunch.
    • How Jack and Victor both met; Victor managed to save another boy named Frank McCallum after he was hit by a tram after running into Jack's father's shop to get advice. During their day out, the duo run into Frank, and treat him to dinner. Unfortunately, ‘Frank’ (later revealed to be a petty thief named Davey) leaves as Jack and Victor are preparing desert, stealing a number of valuable items. He gets stopped by a bus.
  • When Jack and Victor go to Canada to visit Jack’s family, they are welcomed with tins of beer and pastrami sandwiches. And on their day out, Victor seemingly has a good time with Jack’s grandchildren, while Jack gives her daughter his wedding ring to keep.
  • After a Both Sides Have a Point exchange between Victor and his son John over the latter angry with his father faking an illness while the former upset over his son not making any visits, the latter promises to bring his family to Craiglang to visit his father in the summer.
  • Even though the two have a love-hate relationship, Navid remembers his wife Meena's birthday by buying her flowers and chocolate.
  • On Victor’s 75th Birthday, Jack takes Victor on a canoe ride with Winston tagging along with an acoustic guitar. While it starts off as a perfect ride across Glasgow, things change when the trio are unable to come ashore and are forced to go through mishap after mishap. Just when it seems that the Neds are about to punish them for eating their lunch, both groups find themselves in a ship with crates of alcohol. The Neds put their differences aside and drink together with Jack, Victor and Winston in celebration of Victor’s birthday.
  • Realising that his penny-pinching ways have driven off his wife Frances, Tam makes up for his error by buying Chinese food and a bottle of wine that’s not on sale, promising to treat her more nicely. The only downside for Tam is that Frances – despite being 64 years old - gives birth to a baby nine months later.
  • Rather than admit they forgot Boabby was attempting to throw a fancy-dress night at the Clansman (unaware that everyone else forgot too), Jack and Victor swap hats and coats in order to enter in "Victor and Jack" costumes.
  • The reveal after Pete's death that Boabby had been cooking him breakfast nearly every day for twenty years.
  • Despite having obvious objections and the fact its making him lose money, Boabby goes along with Jack and Victor's "10p beer" scheme to prove Tam faked his death. When he doesn't show up and they think they failed, Boabby is the one who calls them into the backroom to show Tam on the CCTV footage.
  • Despite usually being unable to stand Isa, Jack, Victor and Winston are more than willing to rip into Isa's deadbeat husband Harry for abandoning her whenever he returns. Jack and Victor teach him a painful lesson when he tries it again, and Winston immediately acts as though he's the new boyfriend Isa claimed to have in a later encounter.
• Ho Yay: Although Jack and Victor are generally portrayed as Heterosexual Life-Partners, they can occasionally cross over into this; for example, in "Hatch," Victor apparently feels comfortable walking around Jack's flat bottomless (which leads Isa to think that they're gay).
• Informed Wrongness: A few examples, typically involving Tam.
  • His taking Joe Douglass' mobility scooter after beating him in a game of cards is treated like a Moral Event Horizon by the other characters. While depriving a man of his only means of getting around is an undeniably lousy thing to do, it was Joe's own decision to gamble the scooter away, and Tam did win it fair and square.
  • The car being destroyed by Manky Frankie as soon as Tam has bought it from Victor is stated to be Tam getting karma for his penny-pinching ways by the regulars in the Clansman, even though it mostly happened because Jack and Victor spent the episode routinely mocking and antagonising Frankie over them getting the car instead of him.
• Jerkass Woobie:
  • Although he's generally portrayed as a Magnificent Bastard, Winston is subject to this on occasion, most notably when his leg gets amputated. He initially struggles with life as an amputee, especially when he gets a women's prosthetic as a replacement, resulting in his being widely mocked by his friends and neighbors.
  • Michael, the lonely and depressed B & B owner in Finport, whose wife left him some years previously. The man is clearly desperate for company and business, but runs a fairly poor and unwelcoming hotel, receives no sympathy from his very few customers and has had guests leaving without paying. However, he also is shown begging Jack and Victor to share a nightcap with him and then charging them for the drinks. It is possible the reason Michael gets no sympathy in the first place is that he has cheated other customers in a similar manner.
  • Boabby is a jerk a lot of the time, but he's frequently treated by his customers in a manner that ranges from derisive to downright cruel, so it's not too hard to feel a little sorry for him when, say, a porno he starred in at age eighteen is gleefully passed around and watched by all the pensioners.
  • Pete the Jakey gets a moment in 'Recipe'. While off the drink, Pete is a self-employed car cleaner and recognises his one-time boss Henderson the baker. Pete attacks Henderson, prompting Jack, Victor and Winston to pull him back, leaving Pete despairing yelling insults after Henderson. By the time they get to the pub, Pete almost breaks his sobriety and tearfully agrees on an orange juice. It turns out Henderson stole Pete's idea for the Beefy Bake and cheated Pete out of the profits. This sent Pete on a downward spiral into alcoholism and poverty.
• Memetic Mutation:
  • "Two pints, prick!"
  • "Get it up ye!"
  • "That's plenty."
• Moral Event Horizon:
  • Stevie the Bookie when he does a runner with the £32,500 Winston rightfully won from him.
  • If Vince Gallagher, the snack bar owner, didn't cross the line when he sabotaged the soup in Navid's shop (thereby giving a huge portion of Craiglang food poisoning), he definitely does so when he crashes his van through the wall of Navid's shop, particularly since he could easily have killed Navid, Jack and Victor, all of whom were inside.
• More Popular Spin Off: Is generally better known than its parent series, Chewin' the Fat.
• Nausea Fuel: On many occasions, and always Played for Laughs.
  • Jack rooting around in his own excreta for Tam and Frances' wedding ring.
  • Victor accidentally covering Jack in a pot of their friend's urine.
  • Eric throwing up on the window of Victor's car, followed later by a lingering shot of the chunks on the dashboard.
  • Eric pushing his finger into his leg in "Doacters".
  • Manky Frankie's flat, the mess and grime of which spreads halfway across the landing outside.
  • The titular "Big Yin" leaving a "big yin" in Isa's toilet large enough for it to stick out.
  • Winston stealing a copy of War And Piece from Tam and later personally returning it to Tam. Who later discovers Winston took a massive dump in it.
• One-Scene Wonder:
  • Mark, the overly aggressive quizmaster. (Who proved to be so iconic that he got brought back in the revival.)
    Mark: Aye, Buzz Aldrin, that's right. But I'm no giein ye it, cos you were ootae time! Nae points, PRRRRICK!!!!
  • Martin, the guy who starts laying into his mother for not getting the kind of biscuit he wants.
    Martin: Nae snowballs? You stupit auld COW!!!
• Values Dissonance:
  • In a scene at the end of "Doacters," Jack and Victor are horrified to discover that their skin has turned dark brown due to side effects from drinking multiple pints of lager on top of their antidepressant pills. While the overall intent is obviously harmless, such a scene would probably not be greenlit in the present day, when the use of blackface—intentional or not—is seen by many as a Career Ending Misdemeanor.
  • Aside from a brief moment at the end of the episode, "Dial-a-Bus" largely treats Davie the bus driver's bipolar disorder as a source of comedy. Nowadays, the idea of such a topic being Played for Laughs would generally be frowned upon.

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