Year of the Rabbit (TV)
**This review is only for Season One, which debuted on Topic on June 18, 2020.**
The highest compliment I can give “Year of the Rabbit” is that it makes me genuinely curious to watch Season Two when it comes out. The six episodes of Season One establish the main characters really well, get us hooked into the character dynamics, and deliver a narrative that ends in a way that sucks us in to see where it goes afterwards. That’s the mark of a good TV show.
The scripts for Season One by Kevin Cecil and Andy Riley set up a Victorian-era London with a somewhat bawdy, contemporary attitude. The main character is Inspector Rabbit (Matt Berry), a detective with a propensity for bluster and messing up; that said, he always manages to get the job done, and is well-connected with the lower class. As the series begins, he is given a new partner (Wilbur Strauss, played by Freddie Fox) whom will learn the ropes from Rabbit. Tagging along is Mabel (Susan Wokoma), the daughter of the Chief Inspector (the very funny Alun Armstrong), who does everything he can to keep Mabel from being a police officer (because of the traditions of the time), but eventually relents. Though most of the episodes are one-off cases, a larger arc regarding a secret society is afoot, and it might involve the women’s group Mabel becomes a member of, and its leader (Lydia, played by Keeley Hawes). Will Rabbit figure it out? Not in time, but in general.
I think the moment this show won me over was when it introduced John Merrick (aka The Elephant Man) as a recurring character. Played by David Dawson, this isn’t the sad, heartwarming soul of David Lynch’s film but a ringleader and promoter of a freak show who comes off as an opportunist, though he always has something valuable for Rabbit, Wilbur and Mabel when they go to see him. It’s quite a hilarious performance, and one of the things I like about this series so much is how off-the-wall loopy it is. The tone reminds me, somewhat, of “Hot Fuzz,” with a rogue’s gallery cast around its main characters that serve both a narrative, and comedic, purpose. Merrick is one, and Detective Inspector Tanner (played by Paul Kaye) is another one. He is a rival of Rabbit’s, and it starts when he is staking out a same drop point, tries to beat Rabbit to the punch, only to find that he’s taken a bomb. He survives the explosion, but he spends the rest of the season as a darkly funny and malicious shadow of Rabbit, wanting to get back at Rabbit any way he can.
Ultimately, the show wouldn’t work if the three main characters didn’t have chemistry together, and they very much have that. Whether they are chasing down leads together on a case like the elusive Brick Man, or having to go undercover individually on separate cases, or having to protect a Prince, Rabbit, Wilbur and Mabel make for a hilarious team. Dare I say, I’m looking forward to see what next season brings for them.
