A man comes to a crumbling, sea-side tourist trap named Blackpool, searching for the people who murdered his mother. He’s stripped and robbed upon his arrival, but even worse, the killers are on his tail. He finds refuge in the locked basement of a creepy, repressed taxidermist. A young couple rents a near-by hotel room, hoping to spice up their sexless marriage. The same night, the milquetoast husband racks up a huge debt at a poker game. The other players abscond his wife to perform seedy acts for them as payment. Meanwhile, various corrupt officials and strip club owners double-cross each other in a power play for control of the town. Welcome to Funland! It’s a BBC mini-series obviously inspired by the dark dramedy and quirky characters of Twin Peaks. While never quite as weird (and never straying into the supernatural), Funland is every bit as twisted as anything David Lynch has imagined. The complex entanglements between supposedly unrelated residents and visitors will make your head spin. Over the course of a few days, most of them succumb to acts of depravity, sometimes without even knowing it. And why exactly does everyone seem to have a gorilla suit in their closet? The show is structured like an extreme soap opera, filmed in grainy and claustrophobic angles and close-ups. With each episode I felt as trapped in the black hole of Blackpool as any of the doomed characters. A generous dose of tongue-in-cheek humor keeps the misery in check, making for real indulgent fun.

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