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!

Red Widow- Pilot

Trust no one but yourself. Now its up to you.

ABC's new drama, Red Widow started off its series premiere with solid ratings and in my book a solid review. Not only was I completely immersed in the show within a few minutes, the characters were relatable to me, especially as a European woman. I will say that always subjecting the Russian nationality to a life of crime and drug smuggling is a little overrated, but its a minor detail I can over look. Some blogs and reviewers have said that although the writer of Twilight (and the creator of Red Widow), Melissa Rosenberg, has steered from mystical, glittering vampires, she has failed to write a compelling storyline anyways, I must disagree.

Marta is the epitome of a woman that cares about her family and a woman that's left with nothing, completely broken and a will to get to the bottom of what happened to her husband. Her relationship with her husband seems a bit strained at the beginning and who could really blame her? As a kid she grew up in a family with a father that was in the "business" and by this we mean the cocaine business. She than married and her husband got sucked into the business as well, despite the fact that he wasn't Russian, which makes no sense to me but was mentioned in the episode I guess for emphasis. The biz allowed them to live a easy life, money wise, but it put a lot of strain on their relationship and made her constantly fear for everyones safety. Its no surprise that her one wish was for her husband to get out of the business. When they made a deal to drop everything and run away, she finally realized that he was on her side fully and they an opportunity to start a new life.


They always say when things are going too good, its bad. That was the case. As their relationship heated up displaying their affections on the frontline, Evan was brutally murdered in front of Boris and died holding Marta's hand. So many shows on TV now show people getting shot and killed, yet this moment and scene tugged at my heart and made me weep like a baby. And any writing that can do that deserves an A+ in my book. The connection that was formed between the couple was short but deep. She loved him and he loved her. That's all they knew. Now left alone with three children, how does one pick up the pieces? If only it were that easy though. Aside from her being widowed, she now has to make a decision to take over the business and finish her husbands job, or to cut herself off from it completely. Truthfully though, in order to get to the bottom of anything and keep everyone safe while paying back her husbands "debt", she has no choice but to get completely into the nitty gritty of the business. 

But lets rewind to the night of her sisters wedding, when her husband was still alive to find out some crucial details about the business and why it might have been hard Evan to walk away clean. There is a man named Schiller, whose pretty much the most feared drug lord. Not even Marta's dad would mess with him and he is an established man in the business from what we can tell. Well Marta's brother Mike, was not so smart and stole lot of cocaine from Schiller, while killing two of his men. This was basically asking to be sentenced to death. Mike stated that he had a buyer, for the product but Evan (Marta's husband) wanted out. While Vincent, the other partner, didn't trust Evan, he blamed him for ratting out Mike, when Mike was arrested going to meet the buyer. This fact was also confirmed by Officer Ramos, so its safe to say Evan did rat him out. Vincent than threatened to kill Evan, just a day before he actually was killed. Suspicious. Neither of the "partners" are trustworthy. Especially when Marta goes to visit her brother, whose clearly an idiot, in jail and he has the nerve to tell her that stealing Schiller's products was all Evan's idea. Easy to put the blame on someone when their dead. Than Vincent is found on the boat, with all the cocaine missing. Sketch.

Than of course, the storyline with the children comes into play. Boris, the youngest one is already having problems in school being bullied. When he brings a gun to school to scare the bully, that calls attention on the family. The principal tells Marta that he would rather not get Boris involved with the authorities because that would mean an investigation on the family and we know she wouldn't want that. But how does the principal know? Is it a known fact that Boris belongs to a drug dealing family? I thought things like this were suppose to be secrets. Than Boris must deal with the fact that he see's his father get shot multiple times and killed. A lot for a little tot to gripe with. The eldest son Gabriel must deal with finding out that his father wasn't really the guy he thought he was when he cracks open the dads secret USB to find a lot of information on all of the family members. Gabriel believes that the father was trying to sell the family out, but thinking back to what Officer Ramos mentioned to Marta, the father talked about getting the family into witness protection. Although we are taught never to trust cops, in this case I think thats a more fair assumption. Evan didn't want to be involved in any of the drug smuggling and when he found out what Mike did, he needed help. 

When Marta watched the tape that Evan left in case he passed, he told her to trust no one. And that's probably what he should have done. Now as she jumps into her husbands shoes, she takes on a life so distant from her but all to familiar at the same time. But how far will she go and what does Schiller exactly want from her? It would be too positive to say that he will stop after just one run of import. It will be exciting to see how the storyline evolves and hopefully gets picked up for more than just 8 episodes. All in all, a strong opening for Red Widow, despite all the hate its receiving. Sometimes I wonder if people actually watch the same show I do!


Memorable Quotes

• Father: There is no away. Not for Schiller. 
• Evan: Marta. I'm praying you'll never see this cause if you're watching, something went really wrong. 
• Schiller: May I ask you a question? Why would I kill your husband?
• Schiller: I want my property back. 
• Marta: I don't know where it is.
• Schiller: But your husband did, so why would I kill him?
• Schiller: Once you loose trust you can't get it back.
• Schiller: Remember what matters; money and trust. 

Is it ever gunna be enough?