The L.A. Complex 1.01 ‘Pilot’ Review (Mostly spoiler free)

Hulu’s advertising paid off because when I saw the ad for The L.A Complex while catching up an episode of The Daily Show, I made a mental note to myself to check it out. I was under the impression that it was new series that had been commissioned by the CW, but after doing some research, I realized it was a Canadian show that aired up north in January this year and got picked up by the CW to air down here, starting April 24th. The first season has 6 episodes.

For those of you who haven’t seen the trailer, the show follows a group of youngsters trying to make it in LA in a variety of fields. Abby Vargas is the main lead. An illegal immigrant from Canada, she’s, as mentioned several times in the episode, severely broke and desperately trying to become an actress.  I found her to be kind of an unsympathetic main character and definitely the least likable of the bunch. She came across as a bit of a bubble-headed hot mess that wasn’t taking her career seriously and kept depending on her friends to drop their own lives to help her out. Other members of the cast include Connor Lake (an Australian who’s playing the lead in a show that has just been picked up), Nick Wagner (a cute, struggling stand up comedian with absolutely no talent), Tariq Muhammad (a wannabe hip hop artist that is currently an abused intern at a recording company), Alicia Lowe (a sweet, supportive dancer who moonlights as a stripper), and Raquel Westbrook (an arrogant, older actress who is having trouble finding work, despite having enjoyed great success at a younger age). The characters are all residents at the run down, young wannabes-magnet  The Deluxe Motel, affectionately called the Luxe.

I’m gonna just take a moment to mention how AWESOME Raquel is. I love her bitchiness and the scene where she yells about black girls always being cast as the bff of the white girl TO A ROOM FULL OF BLACK AUDITIONERS was perfection (“Do any of you have a white best friend?“) Doubly hilarious because I instantly thought of the Vampire Diaries’ Bonnie Bennett, which also airs on the CW.

Anyways, in terms of overall content, I thought the pilot was very, very solid. It had some laugh out loud moments, built some really solid characterization that left you curious to know more, and ended with a steamy stripping sequence. What more could you ask for? The show was also definitely more mature than many of the other offerings that the CW has, showcasing strippers, casual rooftop sex, birth control, and ecstasy. I wholeheartedly approve.

I would give the pilot a solid B+ and am looking forward to the next episode. In the future, I’d like to see more twists and more exploration of the characters. Check out the first episode now on Hulu for free if you can’t catch it on TV.

Has anyone else seen the pilot? If yes, then a) What did you think? b) Do you plan to keep watching?