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Reviews
Mayo (2006)
Brilliant strange British detective series is like a weird acid trip
This series was too creative for its time. It was created in 2006....had some bad reviews and was cancelled. But it certainly plays brilliant today. Beginning with the quirky mid century hyper stylized red, orange and black credits with percussive tango music.... to the show underscore... the music establishes a light tongue in cheek feeling. The core detective team characters are human, flawed, and most likeable. The suspects are quirky and odd. Take Rector Beaver.... this very British Rector has a very furry beard and side burns and an extreme overbite. With a name like Beaver... you can't help but react with the unprepared detectives to his facial expressions and delivery. Odd scenes abound.... one of the young detectives, always on the search for attractive woman, makes a pass at a very attractive sexy nurse at a costume party.... only to find out she is 15 and in high school. The directors are always playing with the audience. The locations in the small British town are hyper realistic views of middleclass life. From the interior of a small budget apartment with rusty pipes and deteriorating plaster, to an upwardly mobile cul-de-sac home with tacky furnishings... there is extreme attention to subtle detail. Much of the humor is visual... and it is easily lost to the nonobservant viewer... but if you enjoy hyper realistic sets verging on camp this show is for you. There a brilliant seen with the detectives interviewing the parents of a child who found a dead body in the garden. The parents are in the foreground bickering back and forth as they answer the detectives questions... while in the background down the hall, is their child beating her toy doll with a weapon. Between the sets, music, odd characters, odd settings, and innovative editing, the show plays out like a weird acid trip. This show isn't for everyone... but for those that see it's brilliance.... it's one you'd like to own on a DVD to enjoy over and over again.