It didn’t take me long to figure out what I enjoy about The Firm. The bad news is that “Chapter Four” is lacking in those departments. The good news is that said dearth made me appreciate them more.
While obviously there’s a big old conspiracy elephant in the corner, I don’t see The Firm as being about that. It functions very well as a character-driven legal drama with a conspiracy element. I enjoy the show because I like its characters, who are just a little quirky, and because I enjoy thinking about the issues those characters tackle. Unfortunately, this episode’s characters were pretty unremarkable, and it hardly scratched the surface of the concept that could have been considered.
There were a few things that did work:
- As much as it looked like Mitch was giving his opening statement in the world’s emptiest courtroom, it’s not that weird. It reminded me of several courtrooms I used to work in. The TV one just had much nicer furniture.
- Ray’s scene with the son of Sarah Holt’s alleged murder victim, who happened to be a deputy sheriff. He almost seemed to enjoy poking the guy, which befits his history as an ex-con. And I never thought I’d say this after The X-Files: I Want To Believe, but Callum Keith Rennie is kinda charming.
- The show’s new title sequence. Call me old-fashioned, but I miss the days of title sequences and theme songs. And this one, all angles and dramatic underscore, was pretty neat.
But here are a few things I didn’t care for:
- I’m already tired of the flashforwards. I’m concerned that at some point the audience is not going to be able to keep up with them. On top of that, half of the flashforwards are just repeating from previous ones, taking up time that could be used for other things.
- The defendant of the week. I didn’t need her to be shrinking Mitch, and for a psychotherapist, she was pretty stupid when it came to handling her own business.
- Is Andrew’s only role on this show going to be as Alex Clark’s minion? There’s so much more that could be done with his character, especially since he’s the one villain with a personal tie to Mitch (even though I think he was never really Mitch’s friend). But after a fair amount of screen time in the premiere, Shaun Majumder‘s been relegated to running errands.
Watching “Chapter Four” taught me that The Firm needs to stick with what makes it work. I want to have more impassioned speeches for Mitch to give, more scenery for Ray to chew, and guest characters that I actually give a damn about. I want cases that make me think about things beyond the narrow scope of a guilty or not guilty verdict. This isn’t going to be Suits, but it could be a good lawyer show in its own right, if given time and if it stays true to itself.
There’s only one way to find out.
Photo Credit: NBC
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