Sky1's new sun-kissed thriller is entertaining but like 24 and Lost you're left wondering if things will ever be resolved
Sky1's glossy new drama Mad Dogs may seem unashamedly blokey after one episode, but it's certainly intriguing. An all-star cast, Philip Glenister, Max Beesley, John Simm and Marc Warren (whose two-sizes-too-small Speedos are a recurring joke) have flown to Majorca to visit a fabulously rich friend Ben Chaplin, whose character Alvo has made his fortune and retired to a capacious Mediterranean villa. Alvo's geezerish banter descends into relentless one-upmanship and his behaviour quickly becomes unsettling, to say the least. Events take a sinister turn when the friends spot a dead goat in the pool: "Decomposition; the new fragrance by John Paul Goatier" Glenister's character jokes as Beesley's Woody manfully digs a hole to bury it.
As the show goes on it raises more and more questions, without really giving any answers which is unusual for a first episode of any drama ? they tend to set out their stall. Think of most successful shows, from The Sopranos to The West Wing, from Prime Suspect to Our Friends in the North and they usually give you some idea of where they're coming from pretty swiftly. But there's very little in the way of exposition here. The viewer has absolutely no idea what is going on.
So how many dramatic cul-de-sacs and interlocked mysteries that increasingly characterise exciting and innovative new shows can the viewer cope with before they became an exercise in frustration? With shows such as Lost, Alias and 24, the viewer was left wondering if things would ever be resolved ? so many mysteries, so little time. Even Desperate Housewives is beginning to feel like they're toying with us. At least there's nothing quite so bizarre as a polar bear in Mad Dogs, although the man in the Tony Blair mask was pretty surreal. So is Mad Dogs tantalising? Or does it make you want to turn off? Here are some intriguing questions that should make it worth tuning in tonight.
What on earth was the dead goat doing in the pool? If that happened to you on holiday wouldn't you ask a few questions? Who was Chaplin's character Alvo yelling down the phone to on the second night while Speedo Man was energetically "socialising" (he's all class this guy) with the girl from Bradford upstairs? And is she a plant? Why, the next day, did Alvo reveal in passing that he'd put the villa in the names of his four friends? Whose was the yacht he then stole?
Hopefully it will become clear exactly how Alvo made his money. And if he is a criminal, what kind of criminality is he into? The viewer is being led to believe he's a retired drug dealer, but is it even his house? Usually in dramas, criminals associate with other criminals, but he has a middle class set of friends ? an accountant (Speedo Man) an university lecturer (Glenister), a lawyer-turned antiques dealer (Simm). And why is he constantly needling them? Who is the mysterious assassin, "Tiny Blair" in the climactic close of the episode. And, of course, why oh why does Warren's character wear those microscopic Speedos?
At some point, all will be revealed ? audiences compulsively desire ? even demand answers. Everything hints at interesting things ahead, but sometimes, a show's early promise doesn't play out. Other times the questions can just become wearying. Remember how lost you felt following Lost? The red herrings in Twin Peaks? The lack of closure in 24? If there are no answers, audiences can feel they're being strung along from week to week, with nowhere special to go. Am I right to fear that the answers, when they eventually come, will not be satisfactory, or is it good to keep the viewer guessing?
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/tvandradioblog/2011/feb/17/mad-dogs-sky1-drama
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