By Chrissi DiMartino ‘18
Staff Writer
“No one will blame you! Dads get a free pass. No one will judge you if our boys are eating gluten or high fructose corn syrup or dirt.”—Laura Diamond
Single parents are superheroes; they handle raising their kids, household duties, work, and sometimes dating on top of all that, and they still manage to stay sane. At least, in Laura Diamond’s case, they try to. Though Mysteries of Laura (starring Debra Messing as Laura) is another cop show, it is different from some of the other popular ones on TV.
Laura Diamond’s boys, Nicholas and Harrison, (Charlie and Vincent Reina) are twin terrors. In the very first episode, they cover their preschool classroom in red paint and, as this is not their first incident, get expelled. Laura’s ex-husband, Jake (Josh Lucas), is no help at all with the boys; he unintentionally encourages their bad behavior, and is more about winning Laura back than doing any actual parenting. His plans for working his way back into Laura’s heart as made more complicated by the fact that she wants nothing to do with him. Jake’s new job as captain of her precinct only adds more complications to Laura’s already messy life. Though she never hesitates to put him in his place, he keeps trying to win her back. Thankfully, Laura is as tough as a diamond, and her equally as strong coworkers keep her on her toes.
Mysteries of Laura is light and funny without missing a beat, and not only does it also shine a light on some of the truly scary criminals detectives deal with every day, it shows what kind of balancing act single motherhood can be. Season one is on Netflix, and season two is currently airing on NBC.
Fun Fact: Debra Messing and Josh Lucas have been on screen together before, in season eight of Debra’s hit show “Will and Grace.”
