I must say I was not convinced at first when I read the pitch, not sure what to expect really and I will admit after seeing the pilot, I wasn't sure of what I'd seen. But there it was a great spoof, as simple as that.
Forget you typical buffoon / idiot that you feel sorry for, none of that here. Using the plot device that the "hero" is in fact the villain, you get embarked on a dark comedy where everything he says or does can be "excused" and accepted as the wrong doing of a criminal sociopath. To emphasis the comic effect, his partner is quite the opposite, but never limited to simply be "the" counterpart. This gives us great jokes and we avoid the usual idiotic stuff that is now common in the genre. For that full credit to the writer, Alan Spencer, the jokes are well constructed and don't feel imposed or forced on us.
The cast is great and really committed, with the exception of Neil Napier's character in the pilot. Don't know if it was the actor or the director's fault but he was all over the place.
Why not 10 out of 10 ? First, there's the German accent, if you do it for comic purposes, go easy on it. The same could be said for the French accent, but since that character is playing a double role it can be interpreted as device to dissociate her two persona. The other problem was the over usage of a plan where the camera is not horizontal, don't know if it was for style purposes but the faded colors and the dark comic aesthetic were enough in my opinion.
