Running Wilde: It's a Trade-Off

If I had to guess, I’d say this episode was conceived and executed after all involved had a pretty good sense that they weren’t going to be doing this much longer. The whole episode, as well as last week’s, which I didn’t get to review, feels rushed, poorly planned, and just thrown out there. Sure there are some laughs, no one is saying that the people involved in this show aren’t funny, but overall it’s just a mess. No one will be mourning this show when it is gone.

I think Running Wilde is trying to achieve the screwball romantic comedy vibe by doing everything at lightning speed, as though the pace alone could make everything funny. It can’t. The underlying jokes, and romance, just aren’t there, and it’s obvious to any viewer with an ounce of discernment.

In most countries it’s considered rude to speak ill of the dead, so let’s not pile on Running Wilde too harshly. It was an ill-begotten attempt to take the style of Arrested Development to the masses, bound to please no one and tick off people who might have been its biggest fans. I would like to Keri Russel in a more traditional television comedy. I thought she showed the potential to be very funny, but the pacing here was unflattering. And Peter Serafinowicz, who played Fa’ad, absolutely deserves a platform in this country going forward.

I’m going to watch the rest of Running Wilde’s episodes, however few there are, because, well, why the hell not? But I may not bother writing reviews. Try not to be too heartbroken.