Summer sleuthing: The Firm season 1, episode 6 rewatch

Watch NBC’s The Firm season 1, episode 6 starring Josh Lucas.

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 Amazon Video. This week, we open the book on Episode 6.

The Firm season 1, episode 6: “Chapter Six” (originally aired Feb. 2, 2012)

“Chapter Six” is notorious for being the last episode of The Firm that NBC aired in its regular time slot before banishing the show to Saturdays—essentially giving it the axe well before its cancellation was made official in May 2012.

Mitch McDeere’s case of the week is defending a man who’s accused of burning down a nightclub after he was thrown out of it an hour earlier. So why is his fingerprint on a can of paint thinner that was found inside—is he being framed because he’s Serbian?

The presiding judge seizes on the situation to suggest that Mitch’s defendant Zoran (guest star Alex Karzis) could waive his right to a jury trial…which would conveniently place his fate solely in Judge Walter Dominic’s hands. And it’s just a coincidence that Judge Dominic is up for re-election. Savvy crime drama viewers can see where this is going, but it works because the judge is played by the always exceptional Victor Garber (DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, Alias, and Eli Stone).

The Firm takes a turn here and goes into the subject of padding stats. Just like lawyers can try to pad their numbers by taking easy cases, the judge is trying to make up for sentencing a majority of black defendants to prison by now swinging the other way. Racism and political corruption have been common themes in TV crime series, but not quite like this.

The way Mitch has to solve the problem is another instance of why Josh Lucas is so great in the role. He’s not just out for justice for his defendant, but he swings for the fences and wants to see justice done for everyone. And Lucas’s reaction when Zoran is freed from lockup is a wonderful moment that the audience can’t help but share in. The show is at its best when it focuses on a topic that matters and how Mitch is genuinely fighting for something, and “Chapter Six” is one of those episodes.

Elsewhere, thanks to Ray (Callum Keith Rennie) breaking into her apartment the previous week, Mitch realizes that Sarah Holt (guest star Alex Paxton-Beesley) was lying to him—she knew more about Margaret Whitaker than she let on. But his attempt at digging deeper just reveals to viewers more of the Martin Moxon puzzle: he was a vice president at Noble Insurance, and it’s their behind that Kinross & Clark are covering. After their meeting, Moxon slips Mitch a list of numbers. What do they mean? Well, of course that’s for another week.

There’s still some stuff that doesn’t work (the subplot about Claire going missing feels like it was thrown in there just to give Molly Parker something to do), but this episode is a vast improvement on the one before it and shows that Mitch McDeere is a TV hero worth rooting for. Unfortunately, The Firm didn’t enjoy the same success.

dark. Next. What happened in The Firm episode 5?

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

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