Red Widow

Mitchell’s coolly understated performance makes it all slightly more believable and worth a few episodes to see where it leads.

In the light of Monday morning, a lot of what goes on in Red Widow is probably going to seem pretty silly. But shows like this are all about the chemistry, and the chemistry between Mitchell and Visnjic is everything you'd want in an essentially unequal relationship between a recent widow and the megalomaniacal drug dealer who can end her life at any moment.

The thriller elements are mostly nonstarters, but the show does offer some genuine pleasures, thanks to the overqualified cast. [8 Mar 2013, p.73]

Only Visnjic, immaculately groomed and vaguely continental, seems to understand that this over-the-top story requires not only a constant flame to boil the plot but a flirtatious sense of fun. [11 Mar 2013, p.45]

Visnjic's smooth and mysterious turn in just a handful of scenes instantly emerges as the best thing Red Widow has going for it. That's either the sign of a series with fundamental flaws, or the roots of a show that will only get better as it goes.

Red Widow isn't as compelling as Last Resort was in its early episodes. But it's appreciably better than those other two. Still, consumer confidence in Red Widow's staying power should be rightfully suspect at best. And in Sunday's second half, the premise already shows some signs of unraveling on the road to potential ridiculosity.

Yet, for all its exciting twists, Red Widow recycles too many gangster-movie cliches.

Adapted from a Dutch series that was surely better than this, Red Widow is trite and tedious.

Executive producer Melissa Rosenberg has crafted an off-putting start to a series that may have worked better in the Netherlands.

After two hours of Red Widow, I can tell it’s more watered down than it should be, but not if it’s watered down to the point of uselessness. If it can get at, to any extent, the way being a lawbreaking, badass, antiheroine might be fundamentally, complicatedly different from being a lawbreaking, badass, antihero I’ll keep watching.

[A] very silly mid-season drama.

All told, there's enough here to stick around a little while, but this is one of those premises almost designed to strain plausibility over time.

Red Widow might leave you feeling blue over the waste of time and talent.

Marta as Mob Mom is not fully believable or recognizable or (for that matter) relatable on any level. Without empathy, this "red widow" is just plain dull.

ABC's high-aspiring but poorly executed Red Widow.

The odds are better that viewers will see Red Widow as a formula series trying desperately not to be a formula series. In the process, it's not very exciting. Or compelling.

Red Widow has an interesting cast, over all, for a midseason replacement series. Unfortunately, the best performance in the premiere is given by Anson Mount as her husband. Enjoy it while you can.

If Red Widow were more psychologically twisty or more excessive and over-the-top, it could be more engaging. As it is, the show is ludicrous and not much fun.

[Red Widow] threatens to box its characters into a dead-end world from which viewers see no escape.

Bland and toothless, this drama, about a woman who ends up working in organized crime, attempts to meld suburban mommy drama with a mob story but fails to come up with anything that’s remotely interesting to watch.

Good dramas have been made from much less, but Widow's indifferently performed, dishwater-dull opener give us no real clue as to who Marta is or what she wants--or why anyone would want to watch her pursue it.

Red Widow staggers into an already listless mid-season Sunday on ABC with a premise borrowed from Dutch TV, a second-tier cast and consistently unconvincing writing throughout.