RED WIDOW Brings Russian Mob Hijinks To ABC

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Network-homogenized thriller faces plenty of hurdles.

We’ll call it the flip side of The Good Wife just to keep within the parameters of the pithy analogy.  ABC’s upcoming drama, Red Widow, puts a new spin on the whole behind-every-good-man-is-a-good-woman concept.  Only, rather than focusing on the life of a dutiful wife standing tall for her flawed husband, who is a sitting public servant, Red Widow will follow the dutiful wife of a drug-ring middleman who is a dead body out in the driveway.

Yeah, probably a whole different paradigm there.  Whatever.  It’s late.

The gist of the story, as revealed in the Washington Post, is as follows:  The daughter (Radha Mitchell) of a Russian mob heavy (Rade Serbedjiza) loses her shady husband to a shady deal with a rival gang, and will now use everything she learned growing up in the family business to protect her children and bring her husband’s killers to justice.  Here’s the trailer:

http://youtu.be/M6gdlcLQJV4

Thus far, the only thing I don’t like is the fact that Red Widow will air on network television, which is no way to treat the Russian mob.  Especially not in the post-Eastern Promises world in which we now live.  I suppose I’m also not so into Mrs. Mob’s children mucking up my gangland epics with all their playdates and gummy fruit snacks.  And I guess if I’m going to be completely honest, I’m probably not all choked up with the idea of a female lead in this particular idiom in the first place, anymore than I’m into Pam Ward announcing college football games.  Not trying to be a chauvinist.  Just takes me out of the moment, that’s all.

And maybe, just maybe, I’m not willing to spend ten more minutes watching Rade Serbedzija light up the screen with that crazy energy until he washes his goddamned hair.

Okay, so maybe I’m not into the whole Red Widow thing at all, and maybe it’s for all the wrong reasons.  But they’re my reasons, and I’m sticking to them.  At least until somebody tells me I’m wrong.