Lynch focused on fiction and psychedelia, the creators of this series decided that detective and psychology should be at the forefront. The mystical component of the series plays a small role, although it would be possible to do without it.
"May Holiday" is about who you know your neighbor, "positive" and friendly. How easy it is to make a mistake judging someone superficially. Not to mention the fact that a person is generally able in an extreme situation to split off such a number, which he did not expect from himself.
In a small English town, a schoolgirl disappears. Under suspicion are several men who saw her last – a ruined architect, spending all his free time in the woods and angry at others; an aging “informal”, whose wife died under mysterious circumstances; a strangely nervous policeman who came home the next morning in a bloody uniform; a local crazy kleptomaniac who considers himself a “pagan”. Who is to blame for the girl’s disappearance?
In this series, unlike Twin Peaks, there is no charismatic protagonist leading the investigation. In the role of the investigator, it is proposed to act as the viewer himself - we are gradually shown the lives of suspects and, especially, their relatives. And the further the “investigation” goes, the more difficult it is to understand who is still guilty.
There are no owls here - people are not what they seem. Even the most “positive” heroes, when their interests are affected, suddenly show their “dark side”. And sometimes writers openly play on stereotypes. Here is Seth, the “fool” – seemingly a child of nature, a harmless psychopath, sincerely loving the forest. We are preparing to defend and justify him, and he tortures animals, steals a toy from a child. So maybe he's the killer? Maybe someone is not a suspect?
However, the identity of the killer is not important here. "May Holiday" is akin to Dostoevsky's novels - the crime here is only an excuse to show the most terrible corners of the human soul, where terrible ideas are born and cruel decisions are made. The town is plunged into paranoia, someone dreams of lynching a murderer, someone tries not to fall under suspicion, someone himself suspects his loved ones.
Somewhat disappointed the ending, which the creators of the series tried to soften - it is painful "noir", or, simply speaking, black, it turned out. The nerves of the audience, of course, spared - but fell into banality. Although the general idea of the series does not spoil, it would be possible to do without mysticism - a story about people.
The result: a good thriller, a kind of “Twin Peaks”, but with a rational explanation of events. Alas, but partly it is "Twin Peaks" "for the poor" - mysticism here is banal and rudimentary, there is no humor and abstract philosophy in sight, the "shock" ending was seasoned with Hollywood vanilla. But, despite this, the series is quite worthy of viewing, and for fans of the genre “psychological thriller” May Day can be a real celebration.
8 out of 10
Original