User Reviews

When I was forced to watch the first episode of Claws I admit to rolling my eyes. I had preconceived ideas about what this would be. I thought it would be inaccessible claptrap with a political agenda thickly smeared over it. I was wrong. Claws is funny, clever & original with the right amount of quirky thrown in the mix which all goes to accessible entertainment. Well done to the writers. So much female fronted entertainment of late has been simple plagiarism of previously male fronted outings (we've all seen it), thankfully there's still some original writing out there for females.

All the actors do a good job but a special mention must go to Niecy Nash & Carrie Preston – excellent work ladies.

Overall the show is growing in strength & folk should give it a chance.

So everyone is going on about the sex and yes maybe it is a little graphic, but it was originally intended for HBO so that's to be expected. It's nothing worse than the sex scenes in Game of Thrones, maybe even a little better because the actual genitals are not flopped in your face, and that's an Emmy winning show with lots of critical acclaim so I fail to see why one show deserves a low rating while the other continues to be praised. Now onto the things I think are good.

The diverse casting is a pleasant surprise and the inclusion of LGBT characters is great! But what I really appreciate is the character of Dean Simms, played by Harold Perrineau. Dean is an autistic man and so far the characterization of him has been pretty accurate. His mannerisms and behaviours are well portrayed and the character certainly isn't a joke character. It's nice to see adults with aneurotypical brains being treated seriously on TV.

The wardrobe is out of this world almost. I can't decide whether or not everything is artfully tacky or if it looks good. Most of Niecy Nash's outfits hit and Judy Reyes looks hella sharp in her suits! AND THE NAILS! You know a show about a nail salon has to have awesome nails and they do. Overall I dig it.

The humor is dark, but that's not a bad thing. In the second episode Nash and Karrueche Tran are loading a body into a boat to dispose of it and they discover another body! "Who is that?!" screams Tran only for Nash to go "I don't know!" I laughed out loud. And the funeral strippers had me in tears.

On the not so well done side of things, the repeated racial attacks on Tran's character by some of the other characters is getting questionable and Dean Norris' accent is BAD. Like BAD BAD. Plus some of the writing isn't as polished as it could be and they seem to be having a hard time finding things for some of the characters to do that are related to the plot so there is some time spent there that could be better directed elsewhere. Still it's early in the show and everyone is finding their feet right now. I find more I like than more I don't.

Overall this is a fun criminal romp in the playground of a Florida nail salon. I expect good things from it. As long as you don't take the show too seriously, I think you'll have fun watching it.

This is a new TNT series that is trying to compete with HBOs raunchy, sexually explicit, violent series The Sopranos. It's about Desna Simms, the owner of a south Florida nail salon and her 5 employees. She's juggling the salon, her co-workers, her autistic brother, and the mob. She wants to move to a more upscale salon but doesn't have the cash. She made a deal with the local mob to launder money for a clinic that will give prescriptions to any addict that walks in the door. Russian men are always in the clinic. They appear to be observing, not partaking in the festivities....yet. I liked the pilot, but I don't have to see explicit sex scenes. Couldn't they just leave that to the imagination? I don't feel it moves the story forward to see someone getting their carpet munched! I love all the characters, except Roller and Uncle Daddy. They are SO one-dimensional. They should practically have BAD GUY stamped on their foreheads. I love Ms. Nash. She was fantastic in "Getting On". She's great here too. Very sympathetic character. She's doing bad things for the right reasons. Still not a good combo. Never get in bed with the mob. it could be fatal.

So far I'm giving this a 7. As some people say, it does has somewhat of a Breaking Bad feel to it; the serious undertones, rare but gritty violence, and the presentation of how their drug operation works while staying under the radar - which I like. If you look at Breaking Bad, what people enjoyed so much was the visuals of making the drugs, the clandestine distribution, and secretive sales operation. Those details are like juice in a steak.

I'll admit it does "feel" like Orange is the New Black at some points, mainly because it's an all-black female cast who are criminals, but that's about the only comparison. This isn't really meant to be a comedy and falls more along the lines of Breaking Bad than OitNB (SO FAR).

I have a few pet peeves so far with this show though: - Dean Norris, who played the DEA agent in breaking bad, is now the top bad guy in this show. Why they would jump to giving him such an opposite role than what people have so ingrained in their minds of him, I don't know. That was and still is really hard to overcome. Plus he does overact it bit, making it such a polar opposite to his role in Breaking Bad that it detracts from the show because you can't help but struggle with the transition.

• (Spoiler Episode 2): Niecy decides that once she kills Roller, the best way to dispose of the body would be to put him in the boat, push down the throttle, light the boat on fire, and let it take off by itself. When Roller is so connected to so many aspects of her life and business (as we later see), it just seems so contrived of the writers to make her choose such a dumb decision. Obviously that boat will be found and the body (which was still in a body bag) would be found, at least parts of it, then she would likely be narrowed down as a suspect. Why wouldn't she just drive the boat out and sink the body, then drive back, and leave everything as it was. Where Roller went, when he disappeared, and where the body ended up would take people forever to discover, and by that time she could develop an alibi or something..

• Then, once all the above happens (which happens with Virginia alongside her), Virginia disappears, making it obvious she had something to do with it. Instead of Niecy tracking her down and dragging her back into it, why not just blame it on her, it would have been perfect. Then let the bad guys try to find her... if they ever would.

But, overall still interesting. I just hope it doesn't veer too close to Orange is the New Black over Breaking Bad decision, because then I will have to discontinue...