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Clawing Your Way Up In the Media

Meredith Quill

By Meredith Quill
in Claws

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Keepitmoving

Keepitmoving

(edited)

I didn't know Rashida Jones was a producer on this show, good for her. I know she's got a show that she stars in called Angie Tribeca I think. I've never watched it, but it seems like it's been on for a while now.  

Edited by Keepitmoving
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Ohwell

Ohwell

I don't regard the show and the characters as nuanced.  I wouldn't want to be within 100 yards of any of these people in real life, not even Desna.  I watch this show like I'm watching a car wreck along the side of the road, and because there's not much else I want to see in that time slot.  

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Chick2Chic

Chick2Chic

Obviously mileage varies regarding enjoyment of Claws on its own entertaining merits or for adverse reasons but I don't think disliking the characters automatically makes them simplistic or not nuanced. 

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Ohwell

Ohwell

While the characters might be nuanced to you, they aren't nuanced to me.   Furthermore, as you said in a previous post, maybe others will feel differently.  And I do.

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2727

2727

Interesting review from Variety that does a little deeper than other pieces I've read:

"Claws is a story about petty criminals, but it stands out because it portrays a culture that most television uses only as a cipher. A character in a network drama who walked in with inch-long acrylics and knee-high lace-up boots would likely be treated in a very specific way.  In Claws, the style is not shorthand for something else, it is the story. The characters are engaged in the art of crafting and distributing an element of that style: They own it."

I agreed with a couple of critics who wished the show would focus more on the salon and less on small time hoods: '"The premiere quickly gives itself over to the crime side of the show, allowing its overbearing men and their boring brand of ugliness to have too much presence." (Entertainment Weekly)

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Ohwell

Ohwell

I agree with those critics.  I was expecting this show to be a television version of the movie Beauty Shop, which focused on the salon employees and customers.  

The whole money laundering stuff just turned me off.    

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sugarbaker design

sugarbaker design

4 hours ago, 2727 said:

'"The premiere quickly gives itself over to the crime side of the show, allowing its overbearing men and their boring brand of ugliness to have too much presence."

I think that particular critic is missing the point, there isn't a crime side to the show, it's a crime show, it's modern noir set in Florida.  Like classic noir, there aren't heroes, there are anti-heroes like Desna the money launderer, Polly the con artist and the others, their morals are supposed to be questionable.  It's how they use their questionable morals to deal with the villains (Uncle Daddy, The Coombs', The Russians) that make for an interesting show.  Will they sink to their level or rise above it.  Stay tuned.

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jhlipton

jhlipton

On 7/14/2017 at 11:25 AM, 2727 said:

allowing its overbearing men ... to have too much presence." (Entertainment Weekly)

The boss of the Russians is most likely a woman; The Coombs' were male & female; and is there any doubt that Juanda would be worse than Uncle Daddy? 

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Chick2Chic

Chick2Chic

On 7/14/2017 at 3:35 PM, sugarbaker design said:

I think that particular critic is missing the point, there isn't a crime side to the show, it's a crime show, it's modern noir set in Florida.  Like classic noir, there aren't heroes, there are anti-heroes like Desna the money launderer, Polly the con artist and the others, their morals are supposed to be questionable.  It's how they use their questionable morals to deal with the villains (Uncle Daddy, The Coombs', The Russians) that make for an interesting show.  Will they sink to their level or rise above it.  Stay tuned.

I concur. The show is noir and I think it's playing out as it should, though with more comedy that the typical noir. I believe the disappointment or confusion in the show comes from missing that it was always noir and thinking it would be something else, line a true comedy or a feel-good dramedy. I think the twists and turns are highly entertaining and well-acted plus seeing if Desna, Jen, Polly, and Quiet Ann - AFAIC, Virginia can choke - can survive the stuff thrown their ways keeping them down is interesting to watch unfold. 

On 7/14/2017 at 11:25 AM, 2727 said:

The premiere quickly gives itself over to the crime side of the show, allowing its overbearing men and their boring brand of ugliness to have too much presence." (Entertainment Weekly)

This makes me wonder if the reviewer has watched beyond the premiere as it seems to be a complaint specifically about the pilot ep (a complaint which I disagree with). 

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jhlipton

jhlipton

2 hours ago, Chick2Chic said:

I concur. The show is noir and I think it's playing out as it should, though with more comedy that the typical noir.

The "Florida noir" of Carl Hiaasen is usually pretty funny -- n o "Dixie mafia" but enough other rifff-raff to be entertaining.  And the swamps are a regularly featured character.

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callie lee 29

callie lee 29

Yeah, it does have a very specific "Florida noir" feel to it, and admittedly that can be hard to describe and translate. I always thought this was a crime show, it just was marketed like that, at least what I saw. I also disagree with the idea that the men have taken over (or whatever the critic was trying to say). As opposed to the women, the men only seem to exist as they relate to the women.

Have the Russians even really been relevant since the first episode?? I feel like maybe that idea has been dropped to a certain extent.

For me, at the end of the day, this show is hella entertaining, campy, and had a great chemistry among the women. Added to that it's a female driven show, with a multiple amount of women of color front and center. I also like that the characters seem to be rather nuanced.  (I really like that Mandy has been portrayed with layers just as the other women have, It would have been very easy to place her in the frigid, white bitch category. It would have been easy to place the bridal party who came in, got the nails done and them went to hang with them at a strip club.

I may be overthinking this, but I like that the impression is that these are all women dealing with their different shit in various ways. At some point when the nail tech, ex-con, business owner; the enforcer; blonde agency owner; ex-stripper (I think Virginia stripped before...); and uptight/out of comfort bridal party can go hang out together at a dive as fuck strip joint in Manatee County. It's beautiful. I live a few counties of here larger in size but pretty close in population, and I could see this her.

 

Florida Noir. That shit needs a whole separate category.

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Giselle

Giselle

I posted this in Batshit" but thinks it belongs here.

I love the show and it's rooting for the "bad girls" escapismbut I also have mixed feelings about Desna and the crew.  They are criminals, the stupid idiots got involved with money laundering, blackmail and attempted murder, they caused the deaths of 3 people, granted two of them deserved worse. While I love these wild characters and cheer the nail crew on in this crazy show in the end I want to see them all go to prison or turn state's evidence. I don't want to see them get away with it. I want to see them go down and for Desna to come out the otherside, be it prison or witness protection to care for Dean. 

I also had that conflict with Breaking Bad. My favorite character was Mike. I liked him cheered him on and didn't want him dead but also in the end but I didn't want him get away with it.

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Syndicate

Syndicate

On 7/14/2017 at 8:34 AM, Ohwell said:

I agree with those critics.  I was expecting this show to be a television version of the movie Beauty Shop, which focused on the salon employees and customers.  

The whole money laundering stuff just turned me off.    

I recall hearing that the show was originally pitched as a salon only type comedy show that was only supposed to be a half-hour weekly show on HBO. I think HBO turned it down and TNT took hold of it with stipulations: Apparently, expand it to an hour and infuse crime drama elements.

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Syndicate

Syndicate

Hey! There are episode summaries available for the remaining episodes of the season. Google Claws episodes and click on those titled: Teatro, Ambrosia, and you can navigate a bit to find the season finale episode called Avalanche. The summary for this finale episode has me scratching my head a bit. See for yourselves, if interested.

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Chick2Chic

Chick2Chic

Does anyone else find the official Claws twitter account problematic in general or is it just me?

I feel like whoever manages it tries to hard to be "down" and most of the tweets fall flat (and some tweets even get story beats wrong).  This was just tweeted out and ... bae? Not rapist or kidnapper? Ok.  I am still side-eyeing them for using Black love as a punchline last week with Desna and her forgettable gynecologist guy. 

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link417

link417

(edited)
9 hours ago, Chick2Chic said:

Does anyone else find the official Claws twitter account problematic in general or is it just me?

I feel like whoever manages it tries to hard to be "down" and most of the tweets fall flat (and some tweets even get story beats wrong).  This was just tweeted out and ... bae? Not rapist or kidnapper? Ok.  I am still side-eyeing them for using Black love as a punchline last week with Desna and her forgettable gynecologist guy. 

Some gifs are more straightforward, WYSIWYG-types but I think this one is just more of an analogy -- she's breaking shit and getting just a 'k' from your bae (god, I hate that word) would make you want to break shit. They also use a clip from that same scene in a gif about being frustrated with slow walkers (PREACH!).

But given the fact that the show really hasn't framed Roller's rape scenes as rape scenes, just as another example of madcap Swamp Lady's country-fried eccentricity (right along with her pube art), I can see how one would expect the worst from them in anything relating to that entire situation. Just my $.02, though.

Here's an interesting short film about Jack Kesy (Roller).

Edited by link417
Because I don't know how to internet.
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formerlyfreedom

formerlyfreedom

I'm liking this casting news!

Quote

 

No stranger to playing tough-as-nails badasses, Franka Potente has landed a juicy role on TNT’s Claws.

Sources confirm to TVLine exclusively that the Run Lola Run actress will recur in the crime dramedy’s upcoming second season as Zlata Ostrovsky, the newly reformed, former black sheep daughter of a powerful Russian mob family who does business in Florida. 

 

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formerlyfreedom

formerlyfreedom

This probably shouldn't surprise too many people - TVLine's Performer of the Week: Judy Reyes
 

Quote

Quiet Ann wasn’t so quiet this week on TNT’s nail-salon dramedy… and we’re so glad she finally spoke up. The stoic, baseball bat-wielding enforcer definitely found her voice in an unexpected showcase episode, and Reyes took the opportunity and ran with it, beautifully shedding light on facets of Ann’s personality we’d never seen before.
...
Reyes probably had more lines — and more emotional transitions — this week than in all other Claws episodes combined. And it was fascinating to see Ann blossom into a full-fledged character before our eyes: surprisingly feminine and funny, with a huge heart. We’ll never see Quiet Ann the same way again… and we have Reyes’ remarkable performance to thank for that.

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Dee

Dee

(edited)

'Claws' Has the Best Politics on Television

Quote

So much of television has become self-consciously political in the age of Trump. You have your late-night comedy shows delivering regular doses of righteous indignation. Then you have your feel-good boomer liberalism on shows like The Good Fight, and you have the progressive plotting designed to tackle the issues of the moment on Gen Z-friendly shows like The Bold Type, Dietland, and Vida. And shows like Roseanne and Last Man Standing (R.I.P. LOL) try to speak for the half of America that is currently in power but somehow still angry.

Despite all of the attempts to capture our political moment on TV, the show with the best politics also doesn’t wear its politics on its sleeve. This show navigates politics, race, and class with charming, hilarious, and seemingly effortless ease. That show is Claws.

The Niecy Nash-led TNT hit that follows the exploits of a nail salon-turned-drug front was always political, but in its stellar second season, the show has reached a whole new level. Showrunner Janine Sherman Barrois understands that a real discussion of politics begins with diversity. Throughout the first season, she painstakingly introduced and developed one of the most diverse casts on television, and now, in the show’s sophomore season, she is reaping the rewards.

Edited by Dee
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link417

link417

On 3/17/2019 at 6:20 PM, AnimeMania said:

That certainly ruined the suspense about whether a certain someone was dead after what happened in season 2.

They did pretty well . . .

Spoiler

until the scene with the feather fans

. . . the shots showing Virgina full-on are recycled from last season.

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VelvetDreaming

VelvetDreaming

Aww, I'm sad to see it end. This season started off slow and while I need to watch the finale, I can't imagine how many other crime organizations the group will run into. I'm glad it won't decay like Weeds did during the last 5 seasons but I still think they have so many stories to tell. I really enjoy the diversity in the cast and I need my female led crime dramas! This show's humor, fashion, and high stakes storytelling made it one of a kind for me.

I wonder if it has to do with the HBO stuff. I feel like TBS and TNT are doing a lot of shuffling.

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