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" gives "Devious Maids - First Episode" a 6."
Written by on 3 July 2013.
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Devious Maids - First Episode

To be able to appreciate something you first have to rate its value. The same goes for ‘Devious Maids’, the new Lifetime series produced by no one other than Eva Longoria. But is ‘Devious Maids’ a horrible caricature or is it something camp that doesn’t really take itself seriously? Anyway, it's clear that this show will grind the audience's gears or that this series will amuse the audience because of the way the series is executed. Both parties, however, can enjoy one of the most gorgeous casts on the television, existing of Ana Ortiz (‘Ugly Betty’), Dania Ramirez (‘Heroes’), Roselyn Sanchez (‘Without a Trace’), Judy Reyes (‘Scrubs’), and Edy Ganem (‘Livin’ Loud’).

Devious Maids’ is about five housekeepers (Marisol, Carmen, Zoila, Rosie, and Valentina) of Latin-American descend who work for the richest of the rich in Bevery Hills. Amidst it all is the murder on a housekeeper which grabs Marisol Duarte’s (Ana Ortiz) attention; she starts working for the Stappords effective immediately. Marisol appears to have a special interest in the murder and the motive behind it, something which the others notice as well. Besides that, we also get to know three other housekeepers and we follow their experiences on the job. All of the housekeepers have their own ambitions and motives and, as the series’ title suggests, they will not refrain from doing anything deviously to achieve these goals.

For the vast majority, the opening sequence will determine whether the audience will leave their television on or whether they will turn it off immediately. The monologue that the filthy rich Evelyn Powell (Rebecca Wisocky, ‘The Mentalist’) unleashes on her housekeeper is so inappropriate that every housekeeper with at least a grain of self-respect would have fought back with her dustpan and brush. The scenes that follow are accompanied by latino music with a rising volume (and a rising level of danger) while the main characters show off their most archetypical sides. No, ‘Devious Maids’ is not afraid to open a can of clichés (nor to use them to their advantage). When the title finally appears on the screen, the audience has a pretty good impression of the direction the series will go in.

You can easily describe the pilot as exaggerated and over-the-top but an audience with a trained eye will soon notice that this is exactly what the creators are trying to do. The conversations are often delightfully inappropriate, no one cares about an extra cliché or two, some actors’ performances are over-the-top, the music is inappropriate, and some characters are nothing more than caricatures. The same subtleness of caricatures applies to stereotypes. Which is also the biggest problem for ‘Devious Maids’. You will notice that they don’t take themselves too seriously but they have to mind that they don’t take it too far. Playing with clichés and archetypes can be fun but it has to stay resourcefully. On top of that, the material with which the cast has to work has to be (and stay) good as will, if the creators want the audience to be able to live with these exaggerations. That’s not (yet) the case for ‘Devious Maids’ for the plot is still rather predictable as the plot continues and (besides the beautiful women) nothing that really stands out. The music that accompanies the scenes (just too many times) can get on your nerves and it is astonishing how many times they can use that effect. Even with just cinematography and acting (which is supposed to be the most important thing) they should be able to convey emotion and to mark significant events. To achieve exactly that, you don’t necessarily have to start playing this tune whenever a character does something.

Some storylines will provide the audience with some background information on the women but the personalities are never explored in such a way that you get the feeling you are getting to know them. Since the series revolves around five women, of course, there is not enough time to explore the characters like that in a pilot that’s only 43 minutes long, but we do get to know what we’ll get to see in the upcoming storylines, respectively. Marisol’s storyline is by far the most interesting one by the glimpse we get to see for it seems to be related to the main happening in the episode the most. That storyline, and Rosie’s, immediately puts things at stake and gives the characters something to fight for. You’d want the creators of the show to give Marisol the most screen time and just have the other girls be extras. Some characters’ motives (and not Marisol’s or Rosie’s) may come across as trivial and lack certain “importance”. It’d be great if the creators of the show would play around more with social class and status and how they’re intertwined. Having to watch thirteen episodes of employers not giving their employees any grain of respect and employees getting closer to hitting their employers in the face with their dusting equipment would not be very interesting with the material we’re working with right now.

The pilot just works because it’s not the kind of series that requires that much brain capacity but it doesn’t make clear why exactly you should watch again next week. The execution is just not exciting enough. The cast does some proper acting (except Dania Ramirez who sometimes just doesn’t know how to act for a moment) and most actors have found their way to work with the material. And that is why ‘Devious Maids’ is one of those series you can easily watch on a lazy Sunday. But only after you’ve seen all episodes of that quality show you do actually look forward to every week.
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