Rain Dogs, BBC
Daisy May Cooper has to be on TV. There is no one that better displays and communicates what it means to be British and working class: to be rye in the face of a system cripplingly rigged against you, to never be more than three sentences away from a dick joke. Her performances are her own and might appear crude from some angles, but Rain Dogs shows her off as an actor capable of unique and sophisticated performances.
It's a completely unflinching show written by Cash Carraway (the novelist that came to prominence with Skint Estate), one that isn’t afraid to reference rape and suicide. May Cooper, as you can picture, is the perfect person to deliver the lines and you believe every second of her as a single Mum down on her luck. You admire her sardonic resilience and root for her to find a way out.
A second great performance in Rain Dogs is offered by Jack Farthing who plays Costello’s (Daisy May Cooper) best friend and simultaenous worst enemy, Florian Selby. The two’s relationship forms the backbone of the show and is definitely the programme’s most original component, something it’s hard to recall seeing before. Florian and Costello are pathologically abusive to one another, yet also capable of saving each other’s life. They are worryingly but un-romantically co-dependent. All each other has.
Neither do the two characters as individuals conform to TV archetypes or bare reference to characters you might have seen on TV or met in real life before. Even their names are weird. Florian Selby is a tortured rich boy with a personality disorder and violent tendencies. Costello Jones is a sex working writer who sleeps on lilos so that her daughter doesn’t have to. As characters, they are not easily recognisable, but they do somehow work in the main and find ways to be compelling. Florian and Costello’s friendship is beautiful and the way that Florian saves Costello from herself in the show’s finale has a deep emotional impact.
Perhaps Rain Dogs biggest draw is also its biggest flaw. That’s to say: not helping us understand why Costello and Florian have to be apart at all? Their characters are elusive but it’s clear from the first minute that they are better off together. When they go their separate ways in the middle of the series, the most frustrating question for the audience is understanding…despite their tendencies to hurt one another from time to time…why?
These are the overriding feelings you get by the end of Rain Dogs. The originality of Florian and Costello as characters, as well as their unique relationship, create a lot of moments to love in the eight-part series. But the elusive nature of their relationship can also be frustrating and lead to things feeling convoluted at times. Rain Dogs was individual, bold and indulgent to its merit, but maybe could’ve given us a bit more of what we expect from a drama of its kind.
