Okay. Desperate for something intriguing to watch and really REALLY itching to immerse myself in a thrilling, well-acted Brit murder mystery, I honed in on "MayDay." Looks good, I thought. A lot of familiar all-star type Brit actors. (Who doesn't miss Littlefinger of GoT and Harry Pearce of Spooks?) Plus, it looks like there will be a bit of hocus pocus thrown in, to spice things up. Let's go.
Sadly, watching this production was like someone took a piece of silk and sort of lightly ran it across my irritable, inflammed desire to satisfy that itch for masterfully done Brit theatre. Uh . . . Where was the drama and gasp-worthy twists and turns I yearned for? Where was that wonderfully satisfying ending?
Not here.
This thing dragged on. And for some reason, Sophie Okonedo absolutely annoyed the crap out of me in every single episode. And she gets plenty of screen time, too.
I don't know what it is about her. I know I've seen her in other series and thought she was okay. But in this series? She was SO BAD. Her over-acting had me talking to the screen. I kept urging her to knock it off with the cringey bad posture and mournful looks and chewing up of the scenery. Everything about her performance was so unpalatably awful, it actually gave me indigestion.
The other actors were fine. Even bordering on excellent. The scenery wasn't bad, although it seemed an inordinate amount of time was spent staring up at some 1/2 blurry forest canopy swaying in the breeze while we were supposed to feel spooked by the "whisperings" of the woods (or whatever).
Toward the end, I thought I had it all figured out. I decided SPOILER ALERT (sort of) that the dark-haired Goth wannabe twin had actually done away with her prettier, more popular fairies in the forest blonde-haired sister. Yep. That was my "plot twist." Goth girl kills Glinda the Good Witch twin and then takes her place. But can't hack it. Wouldn't that have been a helluva surprise to everyone?
But then I couldn't explain why she would want to change places (other than blondes have more fun) or how wimpy little Goth chick had hauled her sis up into a tree nor could I figure out where all those mysterious pebbles were coming from. Disclaimer: I never said I was a writer of mysteries. (Just overblown reviews.)
Anyway. You can watch this if you want. Maybe Okonedo won't make you want to slap her upside the head every time she's on screen. If you do watch this, please tell us all what Littlefinger did to Fiona/Okonedo in his drunken stupor. Did he date rape her and she's just now, 20 years later, confronting him?
And why didn't Malcolm/Firth stop Fiona's hubby from killing Hattie? And who honestly believes that Everett/Gillen was in a hetero relationship?
Sadly, watching this production was like someone took a piece of silk and sort of lightly ran it across my irritable, inflammed desire to satisfy that itch for masterfully done Brit theatre. Uh . . . Where was the drama and gasp-worthy twists and turns I yearned for? Where was that wonderfully satisfying ending?
Not here.
This thing dragged on. And for some reason, Sophie Okonedo absolutely annoyed the crap out of me in every single episode. And she gets plenty of screen time, too.
I don't know what it is about her. I know I've seen her in other series and thought she was okay. But in this series? She was SO BAD. Her over-acting had me talking to the screen. I kept urging her to knock it off with the cringey bad posture and mournful looks and chewing up of the scenery. Everything about her performance was so unpalatably awful, it actually gave me indigestion.
The other actors were fine. Even bordering on excellent. The scenery wasn't bad, although it seemed an inordinate amount of time was spent staring up at some 1/2 blurry forest canopy swaying in the breeze while we were supposed to feel spooked by the "whisperings" of the woods (or whatever).
Toward the end, I thought I had it all figured out. I decided SPOILER ALERT (sort of) that the dark-haired Goth wannabe twin had actually done away with her prettier, more popular fairies in the forest blonde-haired sister. Yep. That was my "plot twist." Goth girl kills Glinda the Good Witch twin and then takes her place. But can't hack it. Wouldn't that have been a helluva surprise to everyone?
But then I couldn't explain why she would want to change places (other than blondes have more fun) or how wimpy little Goth chick had hauled her sis up into a tree nor could I figure out where all those mysterious pebbles were coming from. Disclaimer: I never said I was a writer of mysteries. (Just overblown reviews.)
Anyway. You can watch this if you want. Maybe Okonedo won't make you want to slap her upside the head every time she's on screen. If you do watch this, please tell us all what Littlefinger did to Fiona/Okonedo in his drunken stupor. Did he date rape her and she's just now, 20 years later, confronting him?
And why didn't Malcolm/Firth stop Fiona's hubby from killing Hattie? And who honestly believes that Everett/Gillen was in a hetero relationship?