The Mysteries of Laura (2014–2016)
5/10
Lost in Translation?
18 September 2014
As a Debra Messing fan, I will pretty much watch anything if I know she will be in it. Her ability to play slapstick comedienne is only outshone by her ability to play dramatic roles. (As we often saw in "Smash" and "The Starter Wife") Unfortunately this time, the writing isn't strong enough to support it. Seeing as the series has been brought to American TV from its Spanish counterpart "Los misterios de Laura", its seemed to have retained most of its original Spanish, shall we say, nuttiness. The issue, however, is that the American public isn't used to this kind of series. At least not in a cop show. The closest we have to this type of thing would be "Castle" which sometimes itself can get a little too schmaltzy. And even though having actually brought the original writers from the series to create the American scripts, it has somehow missed the mark. Unlike many British TV series that are brought to America, this one is not going to be one we complain about changing the tone. Here is some things that could change just a bit that would improve the show greatly but still keep it original to its premise.

=Control those kids. Or at least make them a little less annoying.

=Don't make Meredith be a one note character that simply humphs around spewing rules. Show a soft side. Someone we love to hate.

=Get rid of that trench coat! I'm sorry but I see a whole "Prime Suspect" fedora thing happening there.

=Most importantly, balance. It was so tough to become interested into the crime aspect of the show because suddenly we were ripped away to see what was happening with the terror twins. And when we finally came back to it, it was tough to remember what was actually happening.

All in all, I don't think this is a show that is destined to fail. Since Debra Messing will always give us a great show to watch, I think it just needs a little tweaking to make it a fun and quirky series.
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