Red Widow- The Consignment

I don't want to bash Red Widow, like most sites are doing. The ratings could definitely be better at this point. "Consignment" came in at a Nielsen rating of 1.1, which is pretty mediocre for an ABC show following the likes of "Once Upon a Time" and "Revenge". I think the reason is the Red Widow hasn't developed its niche or its core audience. Its trying a little bit of everything from crime fighting drama, to drug trafficking, to family issues and its just a bit jumbled. In a way it reminds me of the CW's Ringer. It had so much potential, yet it couldn't really establish itself with the viewers. 

The third episode was kind of dull. Although it was suppose to be this big deal in Marta's life as it was her first consignment to Schiller to pay off all her husbands debts, it moved quite slowly and without much action. She ran into every problem she could, solved it while her partner in crime was snorting cocaine and his wife was stupidly oblivious to the fact that he's in the drug business in the first place. Than Marta's wingman Logan got shot after she brought him to the delivery of the cocaine because Schiller saw him as a liability. In Schiller's mind your either a liability or an asset to him and Marta is an asset because of her keen sense at fixing problems and her Petrova bloodline. He assigns her another job, which establishes that she is basically working for Schiller now.

Agent Ramos is on the scene at the Marina because he has been keeping close watch on Marta and trying to keep her from doing something stupid, which is obviously whats happening. He has no leads on her and is unable to stop the shipment from happening-- good for Marta because Schiller would probably kill her if the feds got involved. But with a family of three, she is in no position to be a mob drug boss. Her only way out is to run. Now if she confided in agent Ramos, maybe he would be able to help her and her family disappear, but there's no guarantee that it would keep her father or sister safe as well. Plus Schiller would hunt Marta down until he found her and killed her. She knows the in's of the business now, so therefore she's a liability.

The most interesting characters on the show are the children. Boris is dealing with seeing his father get murder, except that he doesn't really remember anything. All he knows is that whenever he hears a motorcycle, he hears the gun shots. He's being tormented by nightmares because his subconscious wants him to remember. Eventually, he reveals to big sister Natalie that he remembers the killers shoes had a yellow stripe on them. Natalie is also a captivating character because she's no longer a girl, but not really a teen; she's a pre-teen, who see's her mother freaking out and talking about guns. She has an idea that her mother is in some danger and involved in something bad and when no one will give her any answers or advice, she takes Boris and goes straight to agent Ramos. Bad for Marta, who clearly cannot juggle the stress of drug smuggling and raising a family. She is missing all the signs that her children are in danger and scared for her. I think that incorporating the children in to the mix will create for a very twisted and dangerous storyline. I can see them being put in witness protection or something of that sort.

Like I said, Red Widow has potential, but the writing has to stop being monotone. Its passive and not aggresive. When a Russian mob show becomes predictable (I mean everyone knew Logan was about get shot) it takes away from the mystery, the fear and the excitement. The writing needs to be less Twilight, because the audience isn't young pre-teens. There is a lot of competition on those networks and we need to be able to fall in love with the characters, fall in hate with them and fear for them without knowing what will happen next. So far Schiller doesn't scare me one bit and I don't really care if the brother dies in jail. Step it up!