Laid

First.. watch the original 2011 New Zealand show (same title - same premise).

This incarnation of the concept is decent.

Hsu does a fantastic job. No complaints with any of the cast really. The acting across the board is pretty good.

However, the writing is a bit lackluster.. funny in spots for sure, and it shines when the focus is comedy or the dark humor. Unfortunately, this show moves a bit too far into the "sappy" side of things. It's a bit too much of a "love story" overall. Seemingly just sticking with dark humor was not enough. In addition, it gets a tad tiring listening to every single character berate Ruby episode after episode after episode.

If anyone has seen the original NZ version of the show, it's based on the same premise.. "killer v"... but is far, far, far less "sappy" or "love story" oriented. That was the charm of the show originally, the dark nature of the humor without all the over indulgent self-reflection and apparent need to create some drippingly sappy love story.

In this series, by the end of episode 6 the series ending starts getting fairly predictable. It becomes so easy to predict how the last 2 episodes will play out.

Overall.. if they removed all the "love story" stuff it would have been a MUCH better series, but even with that in mind, it wasn't that bad. I don't regret watching it once, but will probably never watch it again. I'd tune in to a renewal, but wouldn't be surprised if one season, ending on that ever-present cliffhanger, is all it gets. The NZ series did have (only) 2 seasons, so there's precedent for that.. we'll see.

Zosia alone is worth watching the series. She eats up every scene she's in. Her humanity and warmth to Ruby's vapidness and self absorption plays so well. It took me a few episodes to understand how I was supposed to view Ruby and once I caught on? I was down for the ride! I liked each episode better as they went on. I'm not sure there is redemption for Ruby but would like a second series to see where these characters go. I have many questions about Issac, I have a feeling there is a lot more there not yet explored. Ritchie isn't done yet either. Fun celeb pop ups with Simu Liu and Chloe Fineman.

I love a good romance and I love true crime, this show was a nice blend of the two in a way that was, yeah, kind of over the top, but ultimately fun. Ruby isn't really likeable and she's not meant to be but that was kind of endearing and I enjoyed the show from start to finish. She was incredibly selfish but people are and I don't think the heroine in a rom-com needs to be perfect and bubbly and all that each and every time.

I loved her best friend, AJ (back to my own true crime obsession) and her dry delivery of every single line. The dark and raunchy humor was a nice twist and I hope there's a season 2.

I laughed harder at a show than I have in years. (I went to business school...) We had to rewind so many times to hear dialogue we'd missed because we were laughing too hard. Or crying. We did some of that too.

The first one or two episodes moved pretty slowly as the writers took their time in demonstrating the self-involvement of the lead character. But the show picks up quickly and is worth every minute. Every episode brought more laughs than we've had from most comedies. The story arc is almost entirely character-driven, but there is real revelation and development rather than the rinse and repeat cycle of most TV dramas.

We can't wait for a second season.

The show was okay for me. It's a fun premise, but it just didn't stick the landing. The cast is good but for the most part, the chemistry between most of the actors seemed off. A lot of the jokes (visual or verbal) didn't land. The story had a habit of forgetting storylines or not fleshing them out. For example: the storyline with the cop never goes anywhere so why bother having it. The show did focus on a lot of banter between characters and little on story development. Ruby didn't do much to save her boyfriends and they were dying in too rapid-fire fashion to have any meaning. There's a lot of pop culture references dropped during the series and quite a few seemed out of place for characters in their 30's. It highlighted the show not being as finely honed as it could've been.