As If

Alex: Oh what a tangled web we weave, When first we practise to deceive! Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832) wrote the poem Marmion: A Tale of Flodden Field in 1806. Alex quotes him directly. Essentially, the point being made is that as soon as you start to lie about something, you have to lie again to avoid being found out for the original lie. Then you have to lie again to cover up the second lie, and so it goes on, as Alex himself discovered in Series 1 in his relationship with Dan.

Darna: I didn't know the beast with two backs was on the menu. In Shakespeare's Othello (Act I, Scene 1) Iago speaks in inflammatory terms, vulgarly telling Brabanzio that his daughter, Desdemona, and Othello are having sex by saying that they are "making the beast with two backs". Two people coupled this way (or just kissing, as Rob and Nicki were) create the illusion of a single creature which has two backs.