A bi-weekly roundup of legal television
Week of October 1, 2015 – October 16, 2015
Episode Grades (according to the Osgoode Bell Curve)
A – The Good Wife Episode 1
B+ – The Grinder Episode 2
B+ – HTGAWM Episode 2
B+ – L&O:SVU Episode 1+2
B – The Grinder Episode 3
B – The Good Wife Episode 2
B – L&O:SVU Episode 3
B – HTGAWM Episode 4
C – HTGAWM Episode 3
C – L&O:SVU Episode 4
Welcome to TV L Rev, a bi-weekly review column of scripted legal television shows currently airing. Because of the volume of TV that comes out every two weeks, I’ll be focusing my review of only one episode per series that airs during the week. However, all aired episodes in the timeframe will be ranked at the end.
Minor spoilers for How to Get Away with Murder, The Good Wife, Law and Order: SVU, and The Grinder below.
How To Get Away With Murder
Airs: Thursday, 10pm – CTV; ABC
The Pitch: Intimidating law professor and criminal defence lawyer Annalise Keating hires a bunch of her first year law students to help out her firm, but the legal lessons become practical as they become a little too involved in a murder case of their own.
Episode 2 – She’s Dying
What I appreciate about HTGAWM is its forward momentum. Instead of drawing out the storyline of Nate’s trial, Annalise’s extramarital lover and the person she has framed for the murder of her husband, the story resolves itself in this episode. That said, HTGAWM suffers from a bloated cast, whose members unfortunately don’t all pull the same weight in terms of being interesting; fortunately this episode focuses on the more interesting ones in Annalise and Connor, and occasionally Wes.
We also see the continuing of the Hapsdal murder story, which has a pair of adopted siblings accused of brutally killing their wealthy adoptive parents. While clearly it will be an ongoing plot this season, it is the most boring of the storylines so far. Anyway, my prediction is that the sister did it.
Also, HTGAWM continues to kill it with its flash-forwards that bookend the episodes (pun-intended).
Law and Order: SVU
Airs: Wednesday, 9:00pm – CTV Two; NBC
The Pitch: Sexually-based offences are especially heinous; the stories of the police and district attorneys that investigate and prosecute these crimes.
The Law & Order series is what first got me interested in law. It used to be you couldn’t turn on the TV without bumping into L&O or one of its spin-offs. Today, only SVU remains as the last standing, entering its 17th season. While I’ve seen my fair share of SVU, I haven’t kept up with the most recent seasons so I was surprised to see the changeup to the cast and their roles. Detective Benson (Mariska Hargitay) is now Sergeant, Fin (Ice-T) is still there (though someone I can’t look at the same after seeing comedian’s John Mulaney’s bit about Ice-T’s character), Detective Rollins (Kelly Giddish) plays the junior detective to the team, and relative newcomer Detective Carisi (Peter Scanavino) rounds out the “Order” side, with irascible ADA Barba (Raul Esparza) on the “Law” side.
The “ripped from the headlines” plots keep the show topical (early episodes cover the Durst affair, transgender hate crimes, and police shootings of unarmed young black men) despite the tendency of SVU to veer into afterschool special territory. I won’t go into depth given SVU is in its 17th season, and you’re either a fan or you’re not, but the early episodes this season has SVU on good form if you’re into the not-so-subtle social commentary and melodrama (I swear the second episode with the transgender hate crime storyline has non-stop emotional swell music playing under every scene).
The Good Wife
Airs: Sunday, 9:00pm – Global; CBS
The Pitch: Alicia Florrick tries to balance being the political wife of the Governor of Illinois and her own legal career.
Episode 1 – Bond
This first episode back from the 7th season shows why The Good Wife is the premier legal show on television. It simply outclasses all the rest in terms of comedy and drama, and does so without being corny. The Good Wife certainly can misstep (I’m looking at you latter half of the 6th season), but its sheer confidence pushes through the blemishes as if they never happened. The season opener showcases everything I appreciate about The Good Wife: wacky judges, quippy dialogue, and legal twists.
The new status quo is Alicia (Juliana Marguiles) struggling as a sole practitioner, Peter (Chris Noth) is making a run for President (so he can become Vice-President), and Agos Lockhart Lee is getting a behind-the-times reputation. A bunch of new regulars are added to the cast: Ruth Eastman (Margo Martindale) as Peter’s new campaign managers and Eli (Alan Cummings) new arch rival; Lucca Quinn (Cush Jumbo), as Alicia’s new Bond Court lawyer buddy; and Jason Crouse (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) playing a new investigator and potential Alicia love interest.
The Good Wife is one of those shows that deserves its accolades. If for some reason you’re not caught up with the series, a Netflix binge is an absolute must, like right now. Trust me, law school can wait.
The Grinder
Airs: Tuesday, 8:30pm – CityTV; Fox
The Pitch: A former television lawyer starts helping out his actual lawyer brother in his legal cases: sibling rivalry in a courtroom setting.
Episode 2 – A Hero Has Fallen
The second episode opens meta, commenting on the difficulty of new shows like The Grinder maintaining quality and interest after their first episode. Fortunately, The Grinder comes out strong in its second outing. The technical issues that bothered me in the first episode are gone, and a new female lawyer Claire (Natalie Morales) who is willing to call BS on Dean’s fake law antics and helps even the odds between the Dean and his enablers, and from the exasperated Stewart.
The two brothers represent the journey through law school. Dean is the 1L on the first day who believes in the high ideals of justice; whereas Stewart is the typical 3L who has been worn down and is jaded, cynical, and realistic about law’s capabilities. It’s possible the shtick will get old, but so far, I’m enjoying the sibling rivalry dynamic.
Best Legal Moment:
Some decent legal arcana being used out there: The Grinder had a funny gag about (mis)identifying hearsay which students currently taking Evidence would appreciate. There was also another CivPro reference on HTGAWM. But this week’s winner goes to L&O:SVU which uses the line “more prejudicial than probative” to explain why multiple counts of murder got severed into individual trials.