--- description: Stephanie Hsu and Zosia Mamet lead the cast of Peacock's surreal rom-com about a woman whose exes keep dropping dead. title: Surreal Rom-Com 'Laid' Is the Perfect Holiday Binge image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8bc25704fe07b743/698b249a09208f21df424c33/NUP_204823_03048.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Television](/tag/television/) ## Television Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Stephanie Hsu's Surreal Rom-Com _Laid_ Is the Perfect Holiday Binge  by [Judy Berman](/author/judy-berman/)  ## Judy Berman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close TV Critic Dec 17, 2024 4:00 PM CUT  From left: Stephanie Hsu, Tommy Martinez, and Zosia Mamet in Laid From left: Stephanie Hsu, Tommy Martinez, and Zosia Mamet in LaidJames Dittiger—Peacock  by [Judy Berman](/author/judy-berman/)  ## Judy Berman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close TV Critic Dec 17, 2024 4:00 PM CUT The morning after a nice date that ended in bad sex, the heroine of Peacock’s new comedy _Laid_ takes stock of her love life. “Here I am, after 20 years of dating,” Ruby ([Stephanie Hsu](https://time.com/collection/time100-next-2023/6308501/stephanie-hsu/ "undefined")) laments to her best friend and roommate, AJ (Zosia Mamet). “Thirty-three years old, on the phone with a Lyft driver at 2 a.m. trying to figure out if I’m standing on the northeast corner.” That’s when AJ’s live-in boyfriend Zack (Andre Hyland from [_Barry_](https://time.com/6270454/barry-season-4-breaking-bad/ "undefined")) interjects: “It might be time to look inward.” Zack, a trollish layabout, has no right to criticize other people’s life choices, but you know what they say about stopped clocks. Still, it’s going to take more than just the armchair psychoanalysis of a failed video game livestreamer to make Ruby engage in earnest introspection. First, a college boyfriend she barely remembers has to die. And that’s where this otherwise grounded comedy, premiering Dec. 19, gets surreal. One by one, men (and a few women) Ruby has slept with drop dead—far more than could conceivably be a coincidence. As she scrambles to figure out what’s happening, save the lives of her exes, and safely bed other people, the raunchy, hyper-culturally-literate _Laid_ investigates why she can’t find lasting love.  Stephanie Hsu in Laid James Dittiger—Peacock For a show with such a quirky premise, _Laid_ (whose theme song is, predictably, a female-fronted cover of [James’ weird-sex anthem](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0trh9Y598fM "undefined") of the same name) feels surprisingly familiar. In tracking down old lovers to warn them of their likely demise, Ruby is on a journey similar to that of Dylan (Johnny Flynn), who has to inform his many past partners of his chlamydia diagnosis, in the British rom-com [_Lovesick_](https://time.com/6254600/best-tv-rom-coms-streaming/ "undefined")_._ [Zoe Lister-Jones](https://time.com/4797928/zoe-lister-jones-band-aid-interview/ "undefined")’ 2023 comedy series [_Slip_](https://time.com/6274712/best-tv-shows-april-2023/ "undefined")finds the creator-star awakening the day after each of several one-night stands in a new reality where she’s in a committed relationship with last night’s partner. _Laid_’s generationally specific mix of mystery and social satire recalls [_Search Party_](https://time.com/6137793/search-party-season-5-review/ "undefined")—and one of that show’s stars, John Early, appears here as well, playing himself as a narcissistic nightmare. (“Find me my [_Anatomy of a Fall_](https://time.com/6323274/anatomy-of-a-fall-review/ "undefined")!” he screams into his phone.)[_Russian Doll_](https://time.com/5509932/russian-doll-netflix-review/ "undefined")also deploys a distinctively millennial brand of surrealism in its exploration of characters trapped in self-destructive patterns. This isn’t a knock on _Laid_, really. Creator [Nahnatchka Khan](https://time.com/collection/american-voices-2017/4480476/nahnatchka-khan-fresh-off-the-boat/ "undefined") ([_Fresh Off the Boat_](https://time.com/3694113/review-fresh-off-the-boat/ "undefined"), [_Don’t Trust the B---- in Apartment 23_](https://time.com/3002175/logo-dont-trust-the-b-unaired-episodes/ "undefined")) doesn’t seem to be ripping off any of these predecessors so much as tapping into a sensibility that peaked a few years ago. Which is to say that the concept doesn’t feel quite as imaginative as it’s trying to be, or as it might’ve been in the late 2010s. Thankfully, the show compensates in sharp execution for what it lacks in originality. It may not be a revelation, but its eight-episode season is precisely the kind of fun, clever yet undemanding entertainment you could happily inhale as a distraction from, say, holiday travel or 2025 angst.  Stephanie Hsu and John Early in Laid James Dittiger—Peacock Hsu and Mamet make the perfect duo: a charming, if hapless, female Lothario and the loyal friend eager to use the skills she’s honed as a true-crime girlie to investigate the deaths that keep happening in what she calls Ruby’s “sex cluster.” (_Of course_ AJ makes an elaborate “crazy wall” whiteboard with strings connecting past partners and Sharpie X-es tracking who’s died.) Khan, who famously cast [James Van Der Beek](https://time.com/3730829/james-van-der-beek-csi-cyber-power-rangers/ "undefined") as an abrasive version of himself in _Apartment 23_ before doing something similar with Early, speaks pop culture as a first language, and _Laid_ has some of the funniest referential jokes this side of _30 Rock_. Ruby and AJ banter about the meaning of “Ruth’s Chris,” as in the steakhouse chain, and take turns purposely butchering the name of Ryan Murphy’s absurdly titled [_Dahmer–Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story_](https://time.com/6218411/jeffrey-dahmer-netflix-controvesy/ "undefined"). (Relatable!) They consider the possibility that Ruby is being filmed for a [Nathan Fielder](https://time.com/collection/100-most-influential-people-2023/6269978/nathan-fielder/ "undefined") [show](https://time.com/6196893/the-rehearsal-review-hbo-nathan-fielder/ "undefined"). Khan adds urgency and romance to the story by introducing a devastatingly handsome love interest, Isaac (_Good Trouble_ alum Tommy Martinez), who might well be Ruby’s perfect man. An event planner by trade, she’s organizing a 40th anniversary party for his parents—which gives them plenty of reason to discuss their own ideal marriages and other topics, like their love of musical theater, on which they’re almost spookily aligned. Her enforced chastity isn’t the only thing keeping them apart; Isaac also has a maddeningly impressive girlfriend. But we get the idea, common to the romantic comedies that fuel Ruby’s fantasies (though Khan is savvy enough about the genre’s tropes to give us reason to believe it’s not so simple), that only through making sense of her past will Ruby finally be prepared to settle down with a soulmate.  Zosia Mamet in Laid James Dittiger—Peacock In the end, the familiarity of _Laid_ becomes more of an asset than its high concept. There’s something delightful about the balance the show strikes between repeating comfort-food clichés and subtly subverting them. A parade of funny guest stars—Kate Berlant! [Simu Liu](https://time.com/collection/100-most-influential-people-2022/6177789/simu-liu/ "undefined")! Chloe Fineman! Mamoudou Athie!—doesn't hurt, either. I’m not sure _Laid_ needs the second season that the finale’s abrupt cliffhanger implies. 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