Housewife Marta Walraven (Radha Mitchell) was a happy woman, enjoying life in Northern California with her husband Evan (Anson Mount) and her children. Her idyllic existence is shattered when Evan, a Northern California smuggler with ties to the Petrov crime family is murdered. Marta, the daughter of former crime boss Andrei Petrov (Šerbedžija), finds herself having to call up strength she never knew she had in an effort to keep her children safe.
Marta spent her marriage in denial about her husband’s activities. Therefore, she has no idea that Evan, her brother Irwin (Wil Traval) and associate Mike Tomlin (LeeTergesen) stole a significant amount of cocaine from crime boss Nicholae Schiller (Goran Visnjic). It was shortly after that theft that Evan was gunned down in front of their home.
Not surprisingly, Evan’s murder in front of their home made the FBI very interested in Marta’s activities. FBI agent James Ramos (Clifton Collins) sees an opening to learn the extent of Evan’s criminal ties and activities. Ramos believes that with Evan dead, Schiller will now expect Marta to pay him back for the stolen cocaine. Meanwhile, Irwin, Mike and her father are putting heavy pressure on Marta to sell the cocaine, thus taking Schiller’s place at the top of the criminal pyramid. Under heavy duress, Marta is forced to accept her new role as a criminal, her increasingly uneasy coalition with Schiller, and the scary thought that Evan’s murder might have ties very close to home.
Red Widow had the potential to be a solid show. It had a great cast and an interesting premise. Unfortunately, it seemed to take a couple of episodes before things really got going. If Red Widow had hit the ground running so to speak, viewers may have tuned in and kept the show alive. It really wasn’t until the fifth or sixth episode that it felt like the characters and the narrative had a strong sense of who they were, and where they were going.
Radha Mitchell is excellent as a wife who turned a blind eye to what her husband did for a living until she was forced to confront it. She struggles to maintain her “supermom” image in front of her children as she getting deeper into the criminal world.
Red Widow looks fine on these 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen transfers. Detail quality is very strong, color accuracy is well balanced and there are no digital anomalies to be found.
The Dolby Digital 5.1 sound mixes fit the show perfectly. Dialogue is audible throughout, the musical score is full and when the surrounds do kick in, they’re immersive.
English SDH, French, and Spanish subtitles are included.
The special features are standard stuff, a featurette entitled Red Widow: The Journey (14:00), a set of deleted scenes and a blooper reel.
