Review: Peacock’s Laid

An insufferably intriguing first season

Inspired by a 2011 Australian series of the same name, Peacock’s Laid was released for streaming in late 2024. The series follows Ruby Yao (Stephanie Hsu), a 33-year-old single woman, who discovers all her previous sexual partners are dying in mysterious and outlandish ways. Throughout the eight-episode season, Ruby and her best friend AJ (Zosia Mamet) venture to solve Ruby’s curse and warn all of her exes before it is too late.

Michaela Cabot – Argosy Illustrator

I was originally drawn to the show because of the cast. Hsu, known for her roles as Joy Wang and Jobu Tupaki in Everything Everywhere All at Once, and Mamet, known for her role as Shoshanna in HBO’s Girls, are personal favourites of mine. Additionally, the show features cameos from several well-known celebrities, like actor Simu Liu and singer Finneas O’Connell, who play some of Ruby’s exes.

With a solid cast and a morbid, yet intriguing, premise, I was expecting a great watch. Unfortunately, it did not land. The problem? I just could not root for Ruby. Ruby is a hopeless romantic with a bad-luck streak when it comes to love. About 10 minutes into the pilot episode, viewers get a sense of why. When Ruby laments about her latest bad date, her roommate’s boyfriend suggests she “look within.” Though I do not typically take the male side character’s word as gospel, it ends up being a pretty apt suggestion. 

As we meet Ruby’s first few exes, we quickly learn that most of her relationships—casual or not—ended because of her narcissism. It would be one thing if her season-long arc showed her breaking those patterns, but the show’s premise only reinforces her behaviour. Ruby never really grieves her ex-partners, making her hard to resonate with. In fact, she is pretty nonchalant about the deaths, only ever expressing momentary shock. 

Her urgency to break the curse really kicks in when she meets her love interest Isaac (Tommy Martinez) and wants to have sex with him. Exes be damned, I guess. This is particularly frustrating when one of the exes is her best friend’s on-again, off-again boyfriend (who she slept with, after knowing it would literally kill him). Ruby’s relationship to her best friend could have been her saving grace, but because of her actions they spend the second half of the season fighting. I am typically all for an “unlikable” character but they need something to ground them in reality. And Ruby, well she’s pretty detached from reality the whole way through. 

Ritchie (Micahel Angarano), Ruby’s “sex loophole”—her only ex that is unaffected by the curse— added some much needed levity. Thinking he will die, Ritchie quits his job, breaks up with his girlfriend, buys a motorcycle and attempts to give himself frosted tips. Only, he does not die and instead ends up helping Ruby in her attempt to break the curse. While Ruby and her best friend are not talking, Ritchie fills in the partner in crime role. He was the only character who had a believable chemistry with Ruby. However, though they were planting some very obvious seeds for a season two romance, Ruby ultimately set her eyes on Isaac.

As for the season’s ending? There was not much payoff. The show did a good job of having me anticipate a resolution, but ultimately left many questions unanswered. If done well, this premise could have made for a must watch show. However, I was left unimpressed with the execution and longing for a character to root for. I might have to give the original Australian series a try and see if it is any better.



Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related Articles