Laid

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 understand the hate that some people have for this show. It is tough in the beginning to like the characters and the best friend's obsession with the deaths of her ex's can feel like it's lacking empathy but as the show goes on I think it really grows. I like that her ex's are calling her out on being a selfish person because I think we always see ourselves as the one doing the right thing or being the good one in a relationship. I like that it makes the Ruby analyze her relationships with others in her life and her relationship with her father. I just wish it didn't end on such a cliff hanger!

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.

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.

Binged worthy entertaining series. The show's humour had me laughing in stitches at times, thanks to good choice of casting who can delivered strong believable performances for unbelievable plot.

The pacing was generally well-balanced, keeping me engaged throughout. I appreciated that the storyline wasn't predictable, keeping me on my toes.

The tone remained consistent throughout the series, which helped maintain the show's momentum. The soundtracks was absolute highlight, perfectly complementing the episodes.

My only criticism lies with the season finale. The approaching climax ending didn't quite match the pace of the preceding episodes and felt it was rewritten to allow for possible renewal.

Overall, I'd highly recommend Laid for its entertaining story, memorable characters, and tracks.