Season 1
Red Widow is an American drama television series developed by Melissa Rosenberg and based on the Dutch series Penoza about a widow who learns that her husband was a mobster and soon finds herself in the world of organised crime as she takes her revenge on those who murdered him and continues his work to protect her family.
The series aired in the USA on ABC from 3 March to 5 May, 2013. There are eight hour-long episodes in one season.
Red Widow originally premiered in South Africa on M-Net (simulcast in HD) on Friday 31 May 2013, at 20h30. It later aired on M-Net Series Zone. See "Seasons" below for seasonal broadcast dates and times.
The series originally aired on M-Net from 31 May to 19 July, 2013, on Fridays at 20h30. New episodes broadcast weekly.
Red Widow premiered on M-Net Series Zone on Wednesday 1 January 2014, at 20h30. New episodes broadcast in a double bill, weekly.
Synopsis
Marta Walraven seems to have an idyllic life. A stay-at-home mom in tony Marin County, just north of San Francisco, she is devoted to her three children and her husband.
Behind this perfect façade, however, is a more complicated story: Evan, Marta's husband, supports the family by exporting marijuana.
Marta is familiar with the world of organized crime: her father, Andrei Petrov, and his loyal bodyguard, Luther, are Bratva – Russian gangsters – in San Francisco. It's a world from which she and her sister Kat always wanted to escape, though they never quite did.
But when Evan is brutally murdered in their driveway, everything changes. Marta's first concern is to protect her children – and yet when FBI Agent James Ramos promises Marta justice in exchange for her cooperation, she cannot go against the Bratva code. She refuses his help.
Slowly, the truth about her husband's murder begins to emerge: Evan's business partners – Marta's scheming brother, Irwin Petrov, and their best friend, the hapless Mike Tomlin – were involved in the theft of millions of dollars of cocaine from the formidable international crime boss, Nicholae Schiller.
Evan paid with his life, but as far as Schiller is concerned, his debt is not clear. It falls to Marta, as Evan's widow, to navigate the criminal underworld in order to repay this debt – in whatever way Schiller sees fit.
Hounded by the FBI on the one hand and by Schiller on the other, while also trying to raise three grieving kids on her own, Marta discovers a tenacity she never knew she had.
As she hunts for the truth about her husband's death and struggles to keep her children safe, she'll rely on her resourcefulness, determination and her Bratva DNA like never before.
But just how far is Marta willing to go in order to beat her adversaries at their own deadly game?
Red Widow stars Radha Mitchell as Marta Walraven, Sterling Beaumon as Gabriel Walraven, Clifton Collins Jr. as FBI Agent James Ramos, Luke Goss as Luther, Suleka Mathew as Dina Tomlin, Erin Moriarty as Natalie Walraven, Jaime Ray Newman as Kat Castillo, Jakob Salvati as Boris Walraven, Lee Tergesen as Mike Tomlin, Wil Traval as Irwin Petrov, with Rade Serbedzija as Andrei Petrov and Goran Visnjic as Nicholae Schiller.
Based on the Dutch series Penoza, Red Widow is executive-produced and written by Melissa Rosenberg (Dexter, Twilight Saga films), and executive-produced by Howard Klein (The Office, Parks & Recreation) and Alon Aranya.
The series is produced by ABC Studios in association with Endemol Studios.
Seasons
db = double bill
Season 1 (8 episodes)
Channel: M-Net | Premiere: 31 May 2013 | Finale: 19 Jul 2013 | Fri, 20h30
Channel: MS Zone | Premiere: 1 Jan 2014 | Finale: 22 Jan 2014 | Wed, 20h30 (db)