Sometimes, the mere presence of a certain actor or actress as part of an ensemble is enough to flip a title from a potential pass to a must-watch for me. Stephanie Hsu, the actress who took everyone’s breath away with her performance as the daughter in Everything Everywhere All At Once, is one such example of what I’m talking about. Seeing her name alone as part of a cast is an automatic stamp of approval for me, especially considering the excellent projects she’s taken on lately — like The Wild Robot, Netflix’s Blue Eye Samurai, and the new Peacock rom-com Laid.
I don’t know about you, but Laid, in which Hsu plays a young woman who finds out her former lovers are dying in unusual ways, has been all over my TikTok lately. But that ubiquity isn’t the only thing that’s intrigued me about the show. Laid, which debuts on Thursday, also is starting out with a perfect 100% critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes, which has been the pattern of several recent Peacock shows (like the recently released second season of Kaley Cuoco’s Based on a True Story).
Nahnatchka Khan and Sally Bradford McKenna are the co-showrunners and writers behind Laid, the creation of which was largely a product of them wanting to get back to the kinds swoon-worthy romantic comedies that don’t seem to get made as much anymore. “When we started to develop Laid,” they explained in a note to the press, courtesy of Peacock, “we were intrigued by the idea of bringing back the old-school, traditional romantic comedy (swelling music! kisses in the rain! Anne Hathaway or someone who is also appealing!), but because we were living in such a dark time (pandemic! industry strikes!), we felt it needed to have some kind of twist.
“Sure, it could be optimistic and heartwarming and make you believe in love again, but it should probably also have suspense and death and blood. The premise of Laid — a woman discovers all of her exes are dying in mysterious ways — seemed exactly what we were looking for: A f*cked-up rom-com.”
Overall, Peacock has had quite a solid run in 2024, especially for being one of the smaller streaming services with nowhere near the resources of a rival like Netflix. I certainly remain a happy subscriber, and it’s thanks to the nice variety of original shows — from spy dramas like The Day of the Jackal to more lighthearted fare like Laid. “Hsu is to die for in the new high-concept romcom Laid, giving us one of the year’s most fun and memorable comedic characters,” raves one Rotten Tomatoes critic about the new show.
