Killer Women – Pilot

This season ABC is airing a new series called ‘Killer Women’. This time they’re working together with executive producers Ben Silverman (‘The Office’ and ‘Ugly Betty’) and Sofia Vergara (known for her role in ‘Modern Family’, this is her first time as an executive producer). With these names you would expect a certain quality of the show. So I was curious to find out if that was the case with this series.

The series is bases on the Argentine crime-drama ‘Mujeres Asesinas’ and adapted to take place in Texas. There were a lot of southern and Latin influences in the show and at some points it even had a western feel to it. ABC promoted the show a lot on their channel with regular promos but even though I saw few of those watching online I still had no clue what the show was really about. Something to do with crime, and a bit of love. But that’s it…

‘Killer Women’ revolves around Molly Parker (Tricia Helfer, ‘Battlestar Galactica’). A Texas Ranger who, despite her good looks, has made it all the way to the top of this organization which is a pretty big deal. Her boss is Luis Zea (Alex Fernandez, ‘Devious Maids’) and he tries to keep an eye out for her. About six months ago Molly moved in with her brother Billy (Michael Trucco, ‘Battlestar Galactica’) and his wife Nessa (Marta Milans) after leaving her husband Jake Colton (Jeffrey Nordling, ‘Desperate Housewives’). Jake is a State Senator who refuses to divorce Molly, despite her efforts to convince him. We find out why this is during the first episode.

The series focuses on women involved in crimes. All the cases involve women and it is made clear multiple times during the pilot episode that it’s very unique to have a woman that high upon the chain of commands within the Texas Ranger bureau. A nice theme, but unfortunately that’s all it is. The story seems good on paper but I just couldn’t really relate to it during the first episode. I didn’t feel any compassion when I heard the sad stories, there was no tension during the exciting parts and everything just seemed a bit plain. I wouldn’t call the acting bad or anything, but the chemistry between the cast members just wasn’t there.

During the pilot we witness a case of a woman committing murder during the wedding of the victim. She is considered to be the groom's mistress, which, of course, isn’t the case in the end. Molly tries to find out what really happened and is helped by DEA agent Dan Winston (Marc Blucas, ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’). We soon learn that their relationship isn’t just a professional one. Of course romance is involved and with that leverage over him she can get him to do almost anything, even though it could cost them both their jobs. How predictable. But even though this all sounds very romantic, there weren’t any sparks flying around as far as I could tell. There were some looks here and there but other than that you wouldn’t even know they were in a relationship to be honest. Again the chemistry just wasn’t there.

The stories I’ve seen so far could’ve come from any crime-drama on the TV. Other than some influence from the Texas and Latin community there wasn’t anything unique about ‘Killer Women’ compared to other similar shows. The lack of originality and chemistry between the cast hasn’t exactly made me enthusiastic about the series after watching the pilot episode. Molly comes across as an impulsive, somewhat naive and cold woman instead of the sexy role model, workaholic and good interrogator she should be. Because of bad ratings ABC has announced not to air eight but six episodes of the show and I can understand why. I’m sorry to say, but unfortunately ‘Killer Women’ just isn’t what it should be.