Harry’s Law finds a veteran patent lawyer at her wit’s end with the suffocatingly dull world of patent law. On the same day she’s fired, Harry becomes the mattress of a suicide jumper and lands on a mattress after being hit by a car driven by what becomes the first associate at her new law-firm-slash-shoe-store set in a troubled neighborhood. Whew, that’s a mouthful. I can’t imagine the elevator pitch for that being too short. Still, beyond the terrible setting, woefully lacking character depth, and poor plot design is a series that might go somewhere. Probably to ABC Family.
The Good
Good cast. The four main characters play well together on screen. And now that the black kid’s drug problem is cleared up– probably the worst TV legal case ever– he’ll make a good pitch hitter for emotion, bringing in the local flavor from the neighborhood Harry’s new practice resides.
The junior associate’s opening statements. Channeling some Boston Legal enthusiasm, the lawyer’s assault on the court was a damn good scene.
Good court case payoff. Very important for a law procedural. If we the viewer wade through the lawyer speak and trial proceedings only to suffer a flat climax, that’s all she wrote for a law show that isn’t “ripped from the headlines” or Boston Legal. Harry’s Law, though predictable, punched that ticket well enough for me. Harry’s case was awful with a good ending. But the junior associate’s case was good through and through.
If the future episodes can continue to end court cases with the same impact, the series might survive long enough for the writers to get better or be replaced by better stock. Seriously, the moments after verdict, the camera locks on Harry, and I don’t know if it was in the script, or from the director, or the actress took it upon herself. But as you watch, you can see in her face that she discovered why exactly she quit her job and opened a law firm in a bad neighborhood. Like a bubble hiding under her heart rising to the surface saying “told you so.” That was a good bit of TV. But I’m calling it an accident since zero percent of what came before foreshadowed it.
The Bad
Only three of the four main characters make sense. The fourth, the patent lawyer that quits his job to work with/for/around Harry– after running her over– doesn’t have a good enough reason to be there from the start. He wasn’t blackmailed to help, he wasn’t facing a personal crisis, nor any other reason besides filling out the foursome. Now, after the first episode, having experienced the joy of helping someone in need, he has a great reason to give up his promising legal career path for a low-pay nothing-but-for-the-soul job at Harry’s law firm. It just happened an hour too late. It’s not an issue after the first episode, but still. Irksome.
So-so acting. It’s this area that really makes me think this was an ABC Family show that somehow made it through the NBC pitch screen. But then NBC has made many big budget failures in the last few seasons, they could risk some low budgets. Given time, the acting will improve from the secondary cast. The three principle characters (Harry, secretary, and the junior associate) have suitable acting abilities. And if the producers could get ahold of even one ex-Boston Legal writers, the show would dramatically increase in quality.
Poor exposition. This series used straight comedy to alleviate their exposition problem when the show isn’t a comedy, but only tease at absurdity. Harry is hit by a suicide jumper who first bounced off an awning from a six-story fall, then a minute later, Harry is hit by a car head on with enough force to throw her fifteen feet. In neither incident does Harriet suffer any injury other than jaw pain, of all things. The writers had to include a doctor repeatedly saying she was fine. (In the writing business, that’s called a plot hole!) In a show that’s going to make pseudo-points about the value of life, honor, love, blah and blah, it doesn’t do to have an immortal main character. It cheapens every line she’ll ever utter to another client or character about the value of life, honor, love, blah and blah.
A better solution would have been to start the show at Harry’s first criminal trial and use flashbacks throughout the episode to explain the situation, providing both timely pacing and allow for a deeper explanation of Harry’s past (and maybe why her secretary decided to quit her job and follow Harry). Plus, simply: don’t hit her with a damn car. Just have the guy almost hit her. Good enough.
Character reversals are too strong. The junior associate’s trial involves a man who runs an illegal protection service for the local businesses. He offers his services to Harry and is reversed conned into protecting her for free garnering free legal aid, which is utilized the same day. The character is first introduced as a thug, and indeed shoots someone, but the writers spin his character on a dime to portray him as a protector of the people. In the end, it worked out, and we’re touched and such. But the reversal was a big pill to swallow. The thug’s first impressions should have been less cut and dry, and the reversal tainted by his portrayal of someone playing both sides to keep people safe. With the completion of his reversal shown through the people who speak on his behalf (no one did in the show, I’m saying it would have worked better). In other words: don’t tell us, show us. Plus, that would’ve hit home the trial’s point that everyone deserve a protector, even if it’s a criminal. In short, the writer’s are weak.
The Crux
I’ll watch again. I went so far as to subscribe to the new episodes on Hulu. I can feel the quality hiding under a salty layer of first-time or just bad writers. At least one of the writers can write decent scripts, but so far none of them can pull decent plot out of their collective ass.