Mad Dogs

Heartily concur with the review submitted by DemonSpencer. Can't wait for a new series.

The Majorcan settings were gorgeous,the acting superb and the tension palpable throughout. What a pleasure to watch a production that only relied on superb acting, good direction, clear well articulated dialogue and brilliant lighting without any (noticable) Special Effects. The characters were recognisable as fallible human beings doing their individual best to deal with a bizarre situation so that by the end, one felt one knew them, warts and all.

I am sick to death of hyped up films where the whole affair looks as if it were shot in sepia and the dialogue is almost incomprehensible, overlayed with inappropriate music and with no real narrative and where, at the end, one is left to wonder why anyone bothered to make make it in the first place. Conversely, I am equally sick of films where it only seems that the only object is to outdo the previous "car flying through the air and exploding in flames as it collides with an aircraft coming in to land on a speedboat full of criminals etc ad nauseam."

I watch a lot of English police and crime series, and this one is quality, but certainly not one of the best. I'm surprised that it's from 2011, it seems much more recent.

I liked it, it is a black comedy and I think it is a pantomime about crime and mafia series. My review is based on the 1st and 2nd season.

The episodes are short, and although at first I was frustrated by the level of testosterone, the truth is that I couldn't stop it, due to all those continuous and unexpected twists and turns that addictively ask to see more.

The actors are really good, as are some of the dialogues and the creativity of the story, although it is also somewhat tiring to see this group of men arguing about their problems and increasingly distrusting each other while they have other much bigger problems. The humor is good, but it's not something to burst into laughter, but rather bland.

The photography in the Balearic Islands and the landscapes are wonderful, which gives the series a bitter tone almost like the series Death in Paradise, which by the way I like a lot! By the way I am not comparing anything, because they are two very different series.

Judge for yourself, it's refreshing, disturbing and different.

It would be nice if they turned this into a full TV series because each episode leaves you wanting more. I wish American TV would start making shows of this caliber. Instead they give us the same boring dribble over and over again. US television will take a successful series and clone it 4 or 5 times and the only thing they change is the city in which it takes place (ex. CSI, CSI Miami, CSI NY, CSI Los Vegas, Law & Order, Law & Order SVU, Law & Order LA, Law & Order Criminal Intent, etc etc.). UK TV actually respects their audience enough to give them characters with depth, writing that embraces new ideas, and a genuine attempt to engage and capture the viewers attention with intelligent stories and unpredictable plot twists. They seem to understand that you don't need big explosions, car chase scenes, and unrealistic gun battles to have a successful show or movie. When the story is well written and you cast great actors that know what they're doing, all of that big budget fluff stuff isn't necessary. I have only seen the the first 3 episodes so far, and I can't wait to watch the last installment.

Bottom line, this mini-series get's two thumbs up from me. If you're not pulled into this show after the first episode, then something is wrong with you. I'm so glad I ignored the 1st guys review that was posted on this page. He said it was boring, nothing happens, and it was a waste of time. ***PLEASE DON'T LET THAT 1 REVIEW DISCOURAGE YOU FROM WATCHING THIS SERIES***!!! You'll thank me later... trust me.

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Bit slow to begin with but its worth it! It mixes funny with scary! what a story and with great actors! I hope there is a season 2!!!! It was daring and hilarious and the same time! The end of the first episode really sets the scene and as it goes on you start wondering how on earth they are going to get out of this situation! The situation builds up and up and up and you are on the edge of your seat in the last episode. God knows how season 2 will start but as long as it has the same writers i don't doubt that it will be amazing! Never seen anything like it! Wish i could erase it out of my mind and watch it all over again!! :)

My headline is a bit of an overstatement, as I don't watch much British television, but through my work as a subtitler I've subtitled quite a few British series. Usually, I find that British shows pale compared to the best American series. When it does work, I simply find American pop culture a lot more exciting. British shows most often seem a bit dull, slow, old-fashioned and depressing compared to the American equivalents. Therefore, it was a joy to find something like "Mad dogs". I subtitled both seasons (each containing only four episodes each), and I'm hoping I will get the next season too if there's a third season at some point. The show is actually exciting, thrilling and well-made. Only once or maybe twice did I find a few light plot holes or something that didn't make so much sense. The acting is good, the characters believable, and the script is great. Someone else here on IMDb said the show was funny too. I might have laughed a few times, but then I also laughed at one scene in "Schindler's list" (the scene where Schindler hires secretaries) and I wouldn't say that's a funny film. "Mad Dogs" achieves what it set out to do, which was to create a thrilling character-based series about dilemmas that we all might face under the right circumstances – a little bit like a modern noir taking place in glaring sunlight.

From here onwards, this is an update to my original review, which I wrote after having watched season 1 and 2. I then gave the show 8 out of 10. After having finished watching the entire show I was filled with a feeling of having watched one of the greatest TV shows ever! There has been some debate about how the show ended, however, but I will leave that up to the viewers and the users here on IMDb to delve into. I've grown accustomed to having to watch never-ending perpetual motion machines from Hollywood, where every episode is a single episode (usually about a police officer solving a case) with little connection to the ongoing plot line, which is dragged out forever and ever, until it's all either so watered down that you don't bother watching it anymore, or they cancel the show and you get no proper ending (or a very poor ending to a show that started out great). "Alias", "Prison Break" and "White Collar" are prime examples of this. You can't watch one single episode of "Mad Dogs" and get any meaning from it. There are no 'single episode' plot lines, only an ongoing plot line – and all the seasons are different, as the story keeps unravelling. They had most likely written an entire season before starting filming it (or maybe the entire show from start to finish), which is what made it so great: A story, not a money-making machine. Thank you :-)