Summer sleuthing: The Firm season 1, episode 13 rewatch

Watch The Firm season 1, episode 13 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 13.

The Firm season 1, episode 13: “Chapter Thirteen” (originally aired April 14, 2012)

No surprise here, but after the last episode involved his home getting invaded by armed henchmen, this week’s hour of The Firm is about Mitch McDeere (Josh Lucas) deciding to get revenge on Kinross & Clark.

Mitch and his brother Ray (Callum Keith Rennie) officially join forces with Andrew Palmer (Shaun Majumder), who’s flipped sides from being Kinross & Clark’s mole to wanting to help Mitch take them down. Of course, he starts this episode looking down the barrel of a gun, as Mitch, Ray and Tammy (Juliette Lewis) interrogate him.

This is kind of a cool scene, because Mitch realizes Andrew’s true role in the conspiracy and Shaun Majumder gets to switch emotional gears. However, it doesn’t realize it’s true potential because of the fact that it’s a three-on-one confrontation. Every time Ray or Tammy interrupts the back and forth between Mitch and Andrew, it takes the tension out of the scene. It would have been much more intense to just let Mitch unload and not break the flow of dialogue.

“Chapter Thirteen” is where The Firm pivots away from being a TV crime drama and turns into a full-on thriller; it jettisons the flash-forward opening and focuses almost entirely on the insurance and murder plot. Suddenly there are unmarked rooms, secret meetings, and plans to literally take out Kevin Stack (poor Andrew; he becomes the fall guy for that one).

It’s a huge shift in tone, and it doesn’t resonate between all these plot twists and some incredibly wooden dialogue where everyone seems to forget apostrophes (“I fail to see the career advantage in choosing to tie yourself to a mass murderer”).

We do get more of Tricia Helfer, as Mitch goes right at his boss Alex Clark for her involvement in the scandal. Helfer turns out to be one of the best parts of The Firm because she has the strength to give Alex some personality and backbone to go with her various misdeeds.

Meanwhile, it’s understandable that Mitch’s wife Abby (Molly Parker) has taken their daughter into protective custody—what else would you do with your spouse and child after they could’ve been killed? At the same time, that kind of limits what the character can do; it’s hard to get her out of the “loved one in distress” trope when she’s in such a narrow plotline.

Abby does provide Lewis (Paulino Nunes) information on Noble’s next target, which gives him more screen time as well; he’s always been a fun character to see pop up. Unfortunately, The Firm then goes and shoots him. And the ending, in which Stack’s goons are able to overpower a few U.S. Marshals and abduct Abby, is fairly implausible and pretty obvious.

Keep in mind, there are still plenty of episodes left in the season. This was a full 22-episode order, so this wasn’t a season finale cliffhanger. While it’s entertaining purely from the standpoint of TV action, it also loses what made the show a great crime drama. The Firm always seemed to have an identity crisis, and this was the episode where it flipped sides.

Next. What happened in The Firm episode 12?. dark

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

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