By Jana Monji
Sex sells but in the case of Stephanie Hsu’s character, Ruby, sex with her kills.
Laid is a romantic comedy where lust gets in the way of love, but not in the way of laughs. Based on an Australian TV series of the same name, the US version is more tightly written, and its characters are more peculiarly lost in their search for love. The eight-episodes for the first season are available to stream on the Peacock today, December 19, 2024.
The 2011-2012 Australian series, written by Marieke Hardy and Kirsty Fisher, ran for two seasons with a total of 12 episodes. The protagonist, Roo McVie (Alison Bell), is a self-centered market researcher who leads groups of strangers through various in-person questionnaires about products like weird-smelling soy milk. She’s single, sharing an apartment with her best friend EJ Griggs (Celia Pacquola).
The US version makes a few changes. The cold open is a cringe-inducing scenario sure to bring police involvement, but before that can fully develop, there’s a flashback three months prior. Living in Seattle, the 33-year-old Ruby bemoans her singlehood and 20 years of dating.
“I am done relying on the internet for love,” Ruby says.
She has been sexually liberated by excessive liquor, leading her to wake up with questionable companions. When she learns that three of her former sex partners have passed away, the boyfriend of her roommate and bestie AJ (Zosia Mamet), Zack (Andre Hyland), tells her that two is a coincidence, but three is a pattern.
Ruby or at least her vagina is a possible serial killer. Beginning with Post-its, AJ soon uses her TV gleaned knowledge to build a crime board of Ruby’s sex timeline with oral sex overlay.
While AJ is analyzing Ruby’s sexual history, she’s also attempting to break up with her boyfriend Zack whose fashion sense makes no sense in either the US or Australia. Yet Zack isn’t a totally off-center. He tells the self-absorbed Ruby, “Your choosiness suggests a much prettier woman.”
He’s not the only one critical of Ruby. Ruby is in therapy avoidance, having her sessions online. Her therapist asks, “I just want to make sure you’re not having our sessions remotely to avoid like really doing the work. Until you actually deal with the baggage from your past, you’ll keep running into the same obstacles.”
At her work as a party planner, Ruby is thirsting after the handsome Isaac (Tommy Martinez) who has hired Ruby to plan his parents’ 40th wedding anniversary party. Isaac already has a girlfriend, but that doesn’t prevent Ruby, in her high heels and too short skirt, from practically drooling over him.
Created by Nahnatchka Khan (Fresh Off the Boat) and Sally Bradford McKenna (Ghosted), unlike Fresh Off the Boat, this series isn’t focused on Ruby’s ethnicity. Fans of the original series will recognize some events, but there are also changes including the theme song. The Australian original series used My Girl’s P*ssy (R. Crumb & His Cheap Suit Serenaders) but Laid, (by Tim Booth, Larry Gott and Jim Glennie), a song used in “American Pie” film series.
During a panel discussion after the premiere of the two first episodes (Brandon from College and FB to the T) on Monday, when asked what attracted her to the script, Hsu, who also produces, said, “I love characters who are messy.” From the chaos created, you can “land on something gentle and earnest.”
Khan, who also directs, noted that because there’s a precarious balance when blending morbid dark humor with romantic comedy “finding the tone has been a collaborative effort.”
Mamet found the script fresh and unique and even though it is sometimes extreme, she felt it was really relatable. And while there are plenty of cringe-worthy moments, Martinez felt that at its core, the series was about the weight of our past relationships and while he hopes viewers will laugh and cringe, but also that they’ll have a moment of self-reflection.
Laid is currently available to stream on the Peacock. The original Australian series is available to stream on the Roku Channel or can be purchased on Amazon Prime Video. Both are cringe-inducing binge-worthy TV.
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