Laid review: Stephanie Hsu shines in this deadly comedy

Laid is a zany fantasy series about a woman whose ex lovers begin to die in strange ways – in the order that she slept with them. Stephanie Hsu and Zosia Mamet star as best friends who struggle to figure out what’s happening and find a way to stop it.

Laid uses a crazy premise, but once you accept it as the story base, the rest of it flows like magic. The series was developed and written by Sally Bradford and Nahnatchka Khan, based on the Australian series Laid. Six of the 8 episodes were directed by Nahnatchka Khan.

Ruby Yao (Stephanie Hsu) was 33 and single. She’d been with many men and a few women. Long term relationships were not her specialty. She loved the idea of love but didn’t know how to do love. She remembered everyone she’d been with, even quickies in bar bathroom stalls.

More importantly, Ruby’s best friend AJ (Zosia Mamet) had all of Ruby’s text message going back forever. She was able to use that to put together a timeline of Ruby’s sex partners on something like a murder board.

Ruby was self-obsessed and basically a terrible person and friend. Yet there were a few people who loved her. AJ was a true crime nut obsessed with Amanda Knox. AJ, her boyfriend Zack (Andre Hyland), and Ruby were all roommates.

Ruby was a party planner. About the time she realized that all her exes were dropping dead, she met Isaac (Tommy Martinez), who hired her to plan a 40th anniversary party for his parents. She really liked him, but there was this problem of people dying after she slept with them. He liked her, too. Careful there, Isaac.

Ruby and AJ were finding Ruby’s exes and trying to warn them. It didn’t help. They died anyway. Except. Except. There was one guy, Richie (Michael Angarano), who didn’t die. A loophole! She could have sex with him! Richie really liked Ruby. Unfortunately, she didn’t return the feeling beyond sex.

Zosia Mamet and Stephanie Hsu were terrific together in this. Great comic timing from them both and good emotional scenes. There were so many pop culture references – homages to Billy Crystal’s abs and Kristin Chenoweth’s shows and on and on. Much of the humor was built around pop culture jokes.

Some of the folks who only showed up in one episode were impressive. Especially Alexandra Shipp! John Early appeared as himself. Amanda Knox appeared as herself.

After Ruby had struggled to learn why this was happening for several episodes, her assistant Brad (Ryan Pinkston) provided a clue. That changed the direction of things and opened up an avenue for a second season, too. Laid is silly and superficial, but fun. A second season would be welcome.

Laid is streaming on Peacock. All of the season is available now.