Review: Mockingbird Lane
Mockingbird Lane was on last night. When I first heard about this darker more serious take on the Munsters I was sure that it would be terrible and as more and more information and photos came out about it I wrote it off completely. Then I was happy when I heard that it had been cancelled. The pilot episode was to be aired as a Halloween special. My wife is an Eddie Izzard fan, and I’ll try just about any show for an episode or two.
Mockingbird Lane was much better than I thought. It wasn’t really a darker more serious version of the Munsters, it used a much darker more serious humor. I appreciate dark humor, especially when you are dealing with a family of monsters.
The episode starts off with Eddie Munster’s scout camping trip being torn apart by a werewolf. The Munsters have to move to a new town to avoid questions. They find a new house at 1313 Mockingbird Lane. Herman and Lily have not told Eddie that he is a werewolf, Grandpa has decided to start drinking again, and Herman’s heart is failing.
That is a lot to cover in one episode and the story moves along swiftly.
Grandpa bakes a special batch of blood cookies in order to turn the neighbors into his ghouls. I really enjoyed all the vampire lore that is thrown in like Grandpa’s ability to turn into a Man-Bat, a swarm of rats, and telekinesis by extending his shadow. All nice touches, that added to my enjoyment of the episode.
I would definitely like to see more of Mockingbird Lane. Eddie Izzard’s performance as Grandpa is the main reason to watch. I hope that it did good enough in the ratings to justify a season of it.
