'Claws', Reviewed

In many ways, TNT's Claws is the perfect summer TV fare. It is at times violent, at times and at times humorous. It is also sexy, it's trashy, and it's set in Florida. 

Whether the combination of those elements works or not is a different matter. Set largely in a strip-mall nail salon, Claws is a pastiche of many television genres: the sitcom, the crime series, the soapy melodrama,... For my money, I'd say that it would work a lot better as a single-camera sitcom than it does in its actual form.


Niecy Nash's performance as the owner of the nail salon, Nail Artisan of Manatee County, is what's keeping me watching. Her character Desna is a contradictory character that only becomes believable thanks to Nash's efforts. Apart from running the salon, Desna launders money for her boyfriend Roller (Jack Kesy). And this where the main contradiction lies: Desna is a spunky, strong-willed woman who could do a lot better than Roller. Their relationship at the beginning of the series is so hard to believe that I had to rewatch their scenes together to fully comprehend that she was supposed to be in love with him.

The money laundry scheme Desna sees herself involved in works as follows: Roller runs a clinic in the strip-mall where his associate Dr. Ken Brickman (Jason Antoon) illegally prescribes drugs in exchange for cash. Desna and the friends who work for her at the nail salon, Jennifer (Jenn Lyon), and Quiet Ann (Judy Reyes) then launder than money.

If that weren't all as insane sounding as it is, wait until you hear about Uncle Daddy (Dean Norris). This bisexual mobster who runs the so-called Dixie Mafia happens to be Roller's uncle. Audiences will recognize Dean Morris from Breaking Bad where he played DEA agent and Walter White brother-in-law Hank Schrader. Norris is not the only thing that Claws and Breaking Bad have in common; at least, superficially, the TNT show feels a lot like its AMC predecessor. 

Claws could be described as both quirky and excessive. Tonally, it is all over the place. It can be hard to stomach that in the same episode you can have an extremely violent scene featuring Desna and Roller, while also being moved to tears by the constant care and attention Desna is willing to his her adult Autistic brother Dean (Harold Perrineau).

Everything in this show is excessive, with characters like Desna and Uncle Daddy competing in quirkiness. The problem is whether so much excess can be sustained over many seasons. And as for quirkiness, that's even harder to sustain without falling into ridiculousness.