Mammals

This is well-trod subject material, but the show is quirky enough to make it seem original. The character development isn't spoon fed to the viewer. It gives us a view and asks us to dig deeper. The acting was terrific. I don't understand the criticism regarding James Corden. He gave an accurate portrayal of the spurned husband, and Colin Morgan is always an understated treat whose brilliant micro-expressions flawlessly develop interest and depth. Sally Hawkins' "Lue" was this bizarre, otherworldly character which was done to perfection, and Melia Kreiling was both charming and dastardly in turns as "Amandine". This is one of those stories which sticks with you for awhile and I actually watched the last episode twice just to take it in again.

...obviously so did some other people making a futile attempt to review the series. It's quite interesting, and even ironic when observing how so many of us miss the point, getting caught up in the dissolution that things must be as they are presented in form, genera, concepts and even trivial things as our subjective opinion about the actors. I was very surprised by all the negative reviews, so I decided to give a shot at balancing it out with a more objective approach. I'm still in the process of wrapping my head around the dreamlike storytelling and symbolical nature of the series, but I believe we're dealing with a profound and deeply important problem that is rooted within our collective consciousness and culture. I really love the way they address this in an almost mythological manner, and delighted by all the hints that this is something far beyond a trivial comedy surprised . On the contrary, it's touching something way way deeper than we would like to admit, and I think this is intentionally made to make us feel uncomfortable. It's really brilliant when you start to get the the idea, and the biggest clue for me, was when, and in the context Amandine mentioned Albert Camus, and of course the whale and Moby-Dick references.

PS: my native language is Norwegian, and I apologize for any misspelling and bad formulations.

I echo the surprise at the poor reviews. I'm guessing they're driven by Mr Cordon's media personality? But! If you dislike someone don't watch their work.

Mr Cordon, I'm sure, at times, can be disagreeable; as can we all. I'm not American, therefore don't watch his chat show, so, I've come to this untainted and think the show is okay. It's decent.

Cordon does a good job in this retelling of a story old as time. The show has that English sense of mirth in misery; which gives it a realistic touch. No insincere Hollywood dramatisation here.

It's not a jolly old comedy romp and it's not supposed to be. In my opinion, it's a dark comedy that will make you feel uneasy and occasional smile.

Well I was decently gripped from start to end and I wanted to finish the whole series in one session. Nice and short at just 30 mins a piece so not a hard task. The acting was slightly over the top by Cordon but Hawkins was standout and the fantastical side plot drew me in.

The locations and cinematography were great, it shot the beautiful aspect of cities and countryside.

There seems to be a lot of negative reviews and I was almost put off watching this pretty decent series based on these however I am glad I flicked it on the box last night. Definitely worth a watch, even for a non James Cordon fan.

Until I watched Mammals and read the references to James Corden, I'd never heard of him. I still don't know much so this review is based only on the show, nothing else.

The story is nothing special, boy-meets-girl, fall in love and then out of love (will they get back together?), but the low-key presentation and somewhat laconic humour make it mildly amusing. Corden's strength in Mammals is not humour though, but a searing, almost child-like, emotional honesty. This is more interesting than the somewhat 'modern' reliance on bathos (think The Office, or Fleabag). A lot of what passes for humour here is bathetic, but if comedy is the art of saying something serious in an amusing way, then there is enough here to entertain.

Where it falls down, and quite hard, is the meandering fantasy of one of the characters that doesn't seem to serve any purpose in the story arc.

No one comes out of this particularly well, and I was left a bit deflated and wondering why Mammals had been presented this way (the advertising photo is utterly meaningless). It's okay, but there is much better out there.