Summer sleuthing: The Firm season 1, episode 5 rewatch

The Firm was NBC’s imperfect crime drama, but the John Grisham adaptation starring Josh Lucas is worth a summer watch. Return to The Firm episode 5.

With TV crime dramas winding down their seasons, what should genre fans watch over the summer? In our Summer Sleuthing series we’re going back to old favorites, starting with one you probably missed the first time: NBC‘s The Firm.

The Firm was largely ignored when it premiered in 2012. It was a follow-up to the John Grisham movie of the same name, with Josh Lucas assuming the role of lawyer Mitch McDeere. But it was not a lawyer show; it was a crime thriller with strong performances and a few plot twists.

Every week we’ll revisit an episode from The Firm‘s first (and only) season. You can rewatch the entire series on Hulu. This week, we open the book on Episode 5.

The Firm season 1, episode 5: “Chapter Five” (originally aired Jan. 26, 2012)

Mitch McDeere’s latest murder defendant is Judd Grafton, a would-be lawyer turned illegal casino operator who’s on the hook for killing “gangster” Jack Riggs. Grafton is insistent that he acted in self-defense, and so is determined to go to trial, sure that he’ll be acquitted once the jury realizes what kind of a guy Riggs really was.

This is one of The Firm‘s least interesting cases, because it has a fundamental flaw: the characters involved just aren’t that likeable. The audience doesn’t care what happens to Judd, and there isn’t a real hook until the third act plot twist that reveals why he’s so desperate to go to trial—because he actually is innocent (just not in the way you think).

Even then, it’s more about Mitch and his moral quandary dealing with the information. There’s a solid scene between him and the trial judge as Mitch is desperate to find a way to get the truth out and legally, everyone’s hands are tied. Remember how people always ask what happens when a defense attorney has to defend someone they know is guilty? It’s kind of like that, but

doesn’t spend enough time digging into that issue; there just aren’t that many minutes left in the episode by the time it comes up.

While all this is going on, Ray McDeere (Callum Keith Rennie) meets with Sarah Holt (Alex Paxton-Beesley) and tells her that there’s a second suspect in the Margaret Whitaker murder, and Mitch’s wife Abby (Molly Parker) shows up at his firm—but not to see her husband.

Abby is hoping to convince Mitch’s new BFF Andrew Palmer (recurring guest star Shaun Majumder) to help them with the tort case they got short-changed on in the pilot. Andrew has his biggest episode yet here, and you have to hand it to Majumder for finding that perfect balance between genuinely seeming like the nicest guy and the audience knowing that he’s actually in on everything.

Cynics who have watched enough crime dramas know that Kinross & Clark is doing something nice for the McDeeres to win them over, and keep them blindsided to what’s really going on. The Firm doesn’t have subtle bad guys, but the show made up for it to an extent by casting good actors in Shaun Majumder and Tricia Helfer. You want to watch them as actors even when you know what their characters are up to.

Then there’s the flash-forwards: Mitch gets confronted by the cops and winds up being arrested. They’re brief, but effective, and probably the most punchy part of an otherwise slow episode. But they can’t all be winners, and things are about to get a lot more interesting.

Next. What happened in The Firm episode 4?. dark

The Firm is available to stream on Hulu and Amazon Video, and available to own on iTunes and DVD.

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