The Season Two premiere of TNT’s Claw was famously melodramatic and comical, but it left out the passion that allows the audience to relate to the show.
Claws ended season one with the Husser family being overthrown by the Ostrovsky Russian crime family: they killed Uncle Daddy’s (Dean Norris) wife Juanda Husser (Dale Dickey), leaving Uncle Daddy mourning a great loss. Desna (Niecy Nash), Virginia (Karrueche Tran) and Jennifer (Jenn Lyon) were stuck in a messy situation, again. Meanwhile Polly (Carrie Preston) started her new family with Dr. Ken (Jason Antoon) and their illegitimate foster child. And Quiet Ann (Judy Reyes) had finally spoken about her love affair with a nosy cop.
Season two premiered with Uncle Daddy, incapacitated because of grief. His sons Roller (Jack Kesy) and Bryce (Kevin Rankin) are useless without his guidance. The sight of it all was more sweet than it was bitter. Roller went from being a womanizing villain to a dead beat womanizing father who was then forced to marry his Russian baby mama. On one hand he’s getting what he deserves, so is his father, and on the other hand you know the writers are going to give him some form of power once again which will be an interesting plot twist in the future.
With the Hussers momentarily out the way and the Ostrovskys running things now, Franka Potente from Run Lola Run entered the season premiere as Zlata, a hostile member of the Russian crime family who moonlights as a self-help author. Potente’s character is the scariest; she killed her sister Riva (Andrea Sooch). She forced Roller to marry her daughter in order to become family with the Hussers and get their respect. She’s asked the Hussers to push cocaine instead of “prescribed’ opioids, and is forcing Desna (Neicy Nash) to be her prodigy. The upside to her is that she’s pushing the women characters into a more empowering role by shifting the business from male-dominated to female dominated.
If Zlata continues to mentor Desna, this presents an opportunity for Desna to protect her family and friends in a more sophisticated way than before. The stakes would be way higher, but Desna has shown to be pretty wise in the toughest situations.
Claws is overflowing with theatrics and ridiculous plot twists, that’s how the show picked up its following. But where was the passion that sucked people in last season? Where was the heart-wrenching, cringe-worthy interactions that left us on the edge of our seats? Is everyone all cried out?
Outside of Bryce’s love for Jennifer and the quirky relationship Dr. Ken and Polly have, this episode was lacking emotion. Too many scenes felt forced. Even though Zlata was basically holding everyone except her daughter at gunpoint, the characters weren’t exhibiting their true feelings out of her line of sight and that was odd.
The show still needs to address Roller’s feelings for Desna. Desna doesn’t know Greg’s (Jimmy Jean-Louis) diabolical secret, yet and Karrueche Tran’s character, Virginia, is still secretly pregnant with Dean’s baby. This evening soap opera has a lot to reveal and I hope season two delivers.
Rating: 6 out of 10
Claws airs Sunday nights on TNT.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIS4AUydqMU
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