Summer sleuthing: The Firm season 1, episode 11 rewatch

Watch The Firm season 1, episode 11 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 Tubi. This week, we open the book on Episode 11.

The Firm season 1, episode 11: “Chapter Eleven” (originally aired March 24, 2012)

The eleventh episode of The Firm opens with, still, Mitch McDeere (Josh Lucas) and his family trying to escape the hired killers who are in their house.

At this point, the problem with doing these flash-forwards in pieces is apparent: the dramatic momentum of this whole scenario has kind of petered out because viewers are getting it in pieces (which, at the time, meant waiting a whole week to see what happened next). At least by now, Mitch has his hands on a gun—but will he be able to use it? Lucas is great at being utterly shocked and yet determined to protect his family at the same time.

Skip back two weeks earlier, as everyone is discussing what they learned last time out: that Martin Moxon’s list was a list of recently deceased folks, including Sarah Holt’s client, Margaret Whitaker. Noble Insurance had been re-issuing them new numbers when they died; it’s a massive insurance scam, and Sarah was in on it—possibly because her old Army CO was Noble CEO Kevin Stack (the returning Martin Donovan).

“Chapter Eleven” finally spells out in no uncertain terms what The Firm has been building toward all this time, both for the characters and the audience. Unfortunately, eleven episodes is way too long, even back in 2012.

Elsewhere in The Firm, Mitch gets involved in the case of a death row inmate. Convicted of a home invasion murder 14 years earlier, he wants Mitch to argue that he can donate his heart to the victim’s daughter, who needs a transplant. This case is interesting because it references the case from the previous episode—not only is our hero’s reputation getting around but the show is trying to set up a kind of canon.

Plus, the inmate is played by John Pyper-Ferguson (Suits, Alphas), so you know this is going to be good. Whatever else you can say about this show, it consistently attracted some great actors over its run.

This is an incredibly creepy B-story, and to the script’s credit, “Chapter Eleven” doesn’t shy away from it. There’s the scene where the daughter is horrified at the idea of having the heart of the guy who killed her dad, and we get to see how uncomfortable Mitch is even attempting to persuade her. Then there’s the scene where the family wants to meet the inmate, and how angst-ridden that is.

And that’s before factoring in two different hostage situations—great to watch on TV, sure, but Lucas and Pyper-Ferguson keep them grounded. This episode factors in all of the emotions that are involved in this odd issue, and shows again how much promise this series had when it really committed to something. The Firm was so well-acted, and its writing shone from time to time. It just struggled to get out of its own head (or the house).

Next. What happened in The Firm episode 10?. dark

The Firm is available to stream on Tubi and Amazon Video, and available for purchase on iTunes and DVD.

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