Synopsis:

In the first hour of the premiere, "Pilot" (9:00-10:00 p.m.), Marta Walraven, a stay-at-home mom in tony Marin County, near San Francisco, has spent most of her life staying out of her father's world of organized crime. But when her loving husband, Evan, who supports the family by exporting marijuana, is brutally murdered in their driveway, everything changes. Marta's primary concern is to protect her three children - and yet when an FBI agent promises justice in exchange for her cooperation, she hesitates to go against the "Bratva" (Russian mob) code. Evan's business partners - Marta's scheming brother, Irwin Petrov, and their best friend, the hapless Mike Tomlin - were involved in the theft of millions of dollars of cocaine from a formidable international crime boss, Nicholae Schiller. Evan paid with his life, but as far as Schiller is concerned, his debt is not clear. It is up to Marta, as Evan's widow, to navigate the criminal underworld in order to repay this debt - whatever way Schiller sees fit.

In the second hour, "The Contact" (10:00-11:00 p.m.), in exchange for his stolen drugs, crime boss Schiller tells a still grieving Marta he wants her to import a shipment for him. But she doesn't know when or how he will contact her. She believes if she is successful, she will be free from Schiller's control. While waiting, she enlists Mike and her father, Andrei, to teach her the criminal business. Their first step is to find a customs official to pay off - requiring an uncomfortable Marta to use her feminine wiles and rethink how far she is willing to go to protect her children. Meanwhile, her young son, Boris, is still reeling after having witnessed his dad's death; Andrei has his bodyguard, Luther, keep watch over Marta's family; Marta's sister, Kat, steps in to help out at the house, causing conflict with her new husband; Marta's brother, Irwin, fights for his life while in jail for gun possession; and a suspicious Natalie asks FBI Agent James Ramos if her father was involved in illegal activities.



Read more: Listings - RED WIDOW on ABC | TheFutonCritic.com http://www.thefutoncritic.com/listin...#ixzz2MVAf1HfB


Starring:

Radha Mitchell (The Crazies, Silent Hill)
Goran Visnjic (ER)
Jaime Ray Newman (Grimm, Eureka)
Clifton Collins Jr. (The Event, Southland)
Luke Goss (Death Race 2, 3)
Lee Tergesen (Desperate Housewives)
Rade Serbedzija (24, Taken 2)

Guest starring: Anson Mount (Hell on Wheels)

Created by Melissa Rosenberg (Dexter, Twilight)

Trailer:

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/cZbQHeYLQwQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>


8 episode season. 2 episodes are airing tonight.

So, anyone going to roll the dice and try this tonight? It's a really short season. And Radha Mitchell is a decent actress. The premise sounds interesting. I know it's Walking Dead Sunday, so this may not get watched right away.

Not interested and mostly because OTA TV is dead, IMO for shows like this. AMC and FX have completely ruined me for dramas... They push the envelope to places OTA cannot go.

Nope.

They already lost me at Radha Mitchell. ABC is so predictable in their mediocrity.

What's your issue with her? I know she's not really a huge actress in the U.S. and doesn't have a big resume on U.S. productions. But from everything I've seen with her like Man on Fire, Silent Hill, and Pitch Black, she's been decent and has given durable performances. I'd rather they cast someone who can act that a huge well known star.

Not expecting this show to be a big hit. Especially since it's going to be on at 10pm.

Any buzz? Haven't heard much besides the previews.

It's a personal feeling, I simply don't want to watch a show with her as the lead actress on a weekly basis. She is perfectly fine as an actress, but I've seen her in enough movies where I'm always wondering how much better the role would be with a different actress. She doesn't leave much of an impression in her roles.

I'm also burnt out on the current crop of ABC executives and what type of shows they are airing, from the casting to their typical writing.

It's 4.6 right now on imdb...

Okay so I watched the Pilot and 2nd episode after The Walking Dead.

The 2 hours felt like 2 1/2 hours. I'm not saying it's necessarily a bad thing, but alot of it dragged. But they did have to set up alot of storyline with Marta, Evan and how his shady dealings screwed up their family. It's okay. I would probably give it a B-. Considering the tastes of most of the posters in this forum, I think this may not appeal to alot here. I kind of agree with a review I read that some of the content is kind of neutered to a network TV audience. If this was on FX, they would have a little more room creatively with the language and violence. But this is a network show and was developed as a network show, so it's silly and pointless to nitpick that now.

I liked Radha Mitchell as Marta. As I mentioned before she gave a good performance. Good actress, decent looking even though she's not particularly hot. I guess they are trying to portray her as an anti-hero similar to Walter White on Breaking Bad. She's put into a bad situation (non-health related) and has to resort to a going into her husband's shady business to help her family. on the eye candy side, at least they cast Jaime Ray Newman as the sister. I love her, she's just gorgeous.

Don't really like Goran Visnjic as the main villain. He comes across as cartoonish and over the top. He was the big baddie on Leverage a few seasons ago and came across the same way.

at how Marta was trying to seduce the shipping guy.

Considering it's only 6 more episodes, I'll stick with it until it ends.

Thanks for the write-up DJariya. I may check it out later this week after I get caught up with everything else.

Yeah, thanks for the analysis DJ. I dvr'd it so I'll give it a go now...

Pretty boring, but that's par for the course for broadcast TV fare nowadays. But I have to say that the MILF lead has great legs.