Claws: Season One (Review)

Claws
2017 TNT
Season One
Score: 8/10

I don't know how I ended up watching Claws. I remember being curious about what Niecy Nash had been up to since Reno 911, and seeing on Wikipedia that Claws was her current gig. I remember thinking about how good Jenn Lyon was in the insane short comedy film, Mario: Game Over, and finding she was on Claws,as well. Maybe that's all it took. Whatever the case, I just watched the first season of Claws.
The show immediately put me off. The premiere's tone veers around wildly. The show focuses on Nash's Desna Simms, who owns both a Florida nail salon in a dingy strip mall and big dreams. One day, she's going to get her crew into a nice place, where they can show their nail art to the world. Unfortunately, in trying to get ahead, she's gotten mixed up with the Dixie mafia. Meanwhile, she's caring for her adult autistic brother, Dean, and the two live in rat hole.
The premiere is extremely heavy on melodrama, mixed with some weird humor, and the two elements seem to clash together. To make matters worse, local Dixie mafia head, Uncle Daddy is...well, he's named Uncle Daddy, and he's way over the top. To make matters worse, Desna's dating Uncle Daddy's nephew, Roller. TNT says they "Know Drama(tm)," but this is all a bit much.
I weighed quitting on the show after that first episode. After all, there are so many options. Why stick with something you don't like?
Then it happened. The plate of Ho Hos.
Late in Season One's second episode, a funeral is held for a major character. It's an extremely trashy funeral, involving strippers and some ridiculous karaoke. Then, a well-dressed waiter passes around a golden tray of Ho Hos. Nobody says, "Oh, I love Ho Hos," or calls any sort of attention to them. They're just there. That's when Claws' tone clicks into place.
Claws is an over-the-top, trashy dramedy, that fully realizes it is an over-the-top, trashy dramedy. It wrings multitudes of laughter out of ridiculously specific details, like the bizarre nature of Desna walking in on someone giving themselves a Neti Pot, or a fake-kidnapping story devolving into an absurd incident involving peanut butter and one of those barnyard animal See 'n Say toys. The show never runs out of these outlandishly creative, Far Side-esque non sequitur details, showing a keen, observational eye and attention to very human mundanity. The rest of the show's wheelbarrows of laughter come from the characters themselves.
Desna's crew is populated by the aforementioned Lyons' loud and loyal Jenn, Carrie Preston's con artist Polly, Karrueche Tran's dimwitted, but sweet Virgina, and Judy Reyes tough and silent "Quiet Ann." All are hilarious, and their relationship and banter is the heart of the Claws. Surprisingly, once the tone settles in, all of these actresses are able to make the viewer not only laugh with, but care about their characters.
Special kudos go to Reyes. Best known for playing the sassy Carla Espinosa on Scrubs, Reyes give a performance on Claws that is mostly physical. However, when she answers a lover's question, "Why don't you ever talk?" with "Words are bullshit," it's clear that opinion has been formed from years of painful experience.
Of course, Nash carries the show, able to be both hilarious and easy to root for when she's facing the ever-present drama of her life. Her relationship with her brother, played by Harold Perrineau, also works as a major emotional vein. Perrineau has always had a strange energy that hasn't always meshed with the roles he's been given, but he absolutely kills this part, somehow not only giving respect to his disorder, but being hilarious and stealing half the scenes he's in. He also has great chemistry with Tran's Virginia.
The most divisive element of this show, though, has to be Dean Norris as "Uncle Daddy." Norris played it straight as the moral center on Breaking Bad for five years, but here he's over-the-top unhinged, with an outrageous southern accent, a mermaid carving hobby, and the propensity to shoot people with little provocation. I had a tough time getting used to Norris' Uncle Daddy performance, but once it sinks in, it really sinks in, and becomes one of the very funny Claws' funniest elements. Norris is particularly great at making Uncle Daddy's periodic genuine shows of emotion hilarious, as they harshly clash with his violent oafishness.
However, as a Louisiana native, I have to say, the true star of Claws is the city of New Orleans, which is shot here for the Florida coast. I've long had a contentious relationship with the Crescent City, which I'll always contend is the weirdest place on Earth. That weirdness permeates Claws, from the shooting locations, to the extras, to the general bizarre vibe spilling into every nook and cranny of the show. For any resident or frequent visitor, it is inarguable:
Claws could not have been filmed anywhere but the Big Easy.