Still watching: Dirty Mama

I was quite surprised when I took such a liking to this show after episode one. However, like a badly mis-judged relationship, now the initial attraction is over, all I can see are the faults.

Nagasaku Hiromi is fine as the unconventional detective (it helps that I think she's very pretty) and, surprisingly, the former Quiz Hexagon regular Kamiji Yusuke is good in his role as the policeman disillusioned by his girlfriend's sudden rise up the ranks.

But apart from that, not much else makes sense as this drama drags from one pointless scene to the next. The methods used by the detective Maruoka Takako are more absurd than unconventional, and there never seems to be any implications. For example, faking a shooting in a public place should have landed her in trouble for the psychological damage done to the people who saw it. In fact, after it's over, the whole set-up isn't even mentioned.

The crimes, too, aren't really given much time. The fact that Takako's son makes a "Da" noise whenever someone lies is too convenient to be believable. Sometimes there are occasional moments where they do some proper detecting, but mostly the crime is solved by getting the suspect to confess by Takako's amusing methods of threatening them.

By now, the viewer knows the relationships between all the characters and the situation they're in, so either that has to develop or the detecting has to be more entertaining. At the moment, the show is just treading water.