If you've seen episode two of Laid, check out a few specific thoughts I have after the jump. Spoilers ahead!
It’s a nice little show, Laid. I’m didn’t laugh as much as last week, but I was still thoroughly entertained the whole way through and curious to see what will happen from this point on.
The plotting in the first two episodes has been fantastic – killing off five of Roo’s ex-boyfriends in various ways while also moving pieces into place for her inevitable choice over whether to risk sleeping with Abe Forsythe’s character and also using the pattern to force her into revealing her dalliance with EJ’s boyfriend.
Speaking of that dalliance, I saw it coming a mile off as soon as the pair ended up on the car hood drinking but it was still a nicely played scene between the both of them. I really love how none of the actors involved have any ego whatsoever – it’s all pasty skin and flabby bodies as far as the eye can see – and that feels real. That adds to the bizarre nature of Roo’s predicament when her surroundings are all so normal.
Graeme Blundell played Roo’s Dad in the opening scenes and while I liked his presence it did feel a little shoehorned in – he didn’t appear in the rest of the episode and his scenes didn’t have any real relevance to the rest of the episode. Shaun Micallef fared better in the now relatively derivative ‘inappropriate gynaecologist’ role – never overplaying a role it would have been so easy to overplay. Plus, he’s Shaun Micallef.
Andrew, Roo’s terminally ill ex was played by Septimus Caton who as well as his famous family connections is the voice of ‘My Kitchen Rules’. Which will now add an unintentional level of gravitas to My Kitchen Rules for me. Certainly puts all those undercooked mushroom dramas in perspective. (Not so crazy
As far as the central mystery goes I really have no clue where the story is taking us. I've always been terrible at guessing these kind of things but so far I'm assuming it is a curse of some sort - some kind of ex-boyfriend serial killer seems too implausible given the terminal illness. Everything else could be explained away (though with much, much effort) but terminal illness is a bridge too far for human interference. (Unless any 'killer' discovered Andrew was terminally ill and took that as a stroke of luck. That would be stretching it beyond breaking point, though.)
So if it is something supernatural - a curse, a spell, something larger - would that spoil the show and provide an easy way out? Possibly, especially if it was badly executed. It's a very, very high bar the writers have set themselves and I'm still skeptical they're going to clear it.
But I'm still enjoying the ride, still laughing, still love Alison Bell and still curious to see where everything goes. Very good show.
