Fairly Legal: Win-Win (Mostly)
by Marcilene St. John
Here’s what we know so far. Former lawyer Kate Reed (Sarah Shahi) has just returned to work, as a mediator, at the law firm that her recently deceased father founded. She works, albeit grudgingly, with her “wicked” stepmother Lauren (Virginia Williams), the managing partner of the firm, who appears to be similar in age to Kate. Luckily, Kate has her very capable and loyal assistant Leo (Baron Vaughn) to help her out and provide a bit of a buffer between her and Lauren. Leo is just the right combination of helpful, quirky and snarky; and you can’t not love his geekness and ingenuity. Gifting himself with the iPad for Kate’s birthday was pure genius on his part, though I doubt Justin would agree. Kate also seems to rely heavily on her semi-ex Justin (Michael Trucco) for support and the occasional sleep over. Justin is completely endearing and in the most recent episode, “Bo Me Once”, we were allowed to see much more of his depth of character. We still haven’t seen a lot of Kate’s brother Spencer (Ethan Embry) and I really hope they make better use of him in future episodes. And though Kate sees Lauren as her “wicked” stepmother, she has had several moments that have made me feel for her. There’s clearly more to Lauren than initially meets the eye. All of the characters we have met so far bring something great to the show and all have a definite, if sometimes differing, depth of character that makes each of them interesting to watch. Even Kate’s neighbor Andrew (Tim Fellingham) seems to have an interesting backstory to share. I can’t wait to learn more about each of them.
Throughout each of the first four episodes, we clearly see Kate’s strong ability as a mediator. So far she’s had cases that run the gamut from a DUI traffic incident that could destroy a buyout agreement the firm had been working on, a $10 million dispute over a botched marriage proposal, attempting to put a price on what 22 years in prison is worth for a man wrongfully convicted of murder, a case involving a high school football coach that isn’t at all what it seems, to a case involving a squabble over barbecue sauce, which also turns out to be much more of a story than it first appears. Kate has an amazing ability to not only get to the heart and truth of the matters that appear before her, but to also find a reasonable, and often very creative, solution to the variety of disputes she mediates. Win-Win! Kate is definitely one of my favorite characters on television today. She just jumps off the screen as someone that you would like to be, for her benevolent manipulative abilities, or as someone you would like to be friends with, so she could get you out of a jam.
I must touch on something that really bothers me about the show, however. In the pilot episode, Kate had a Wizard of Oz ringtone and picture for each of the important people in her life, and I loved it. From the Wicked Witch Theme to warn her that her stepmother Lauren is calling, to the use of the Scarecrow for her brother Spencer, the Cowardly Lion for her assistant Leo, the Tin Man for her almost ex-husband Justin, and the Wizard for her father Teddy. All of these ringtones say so much about those of import in Kate’s life and how she feels about each of them, and I found this to be an amazingly creative and fun way to express that to the audience. Unfortunately, all but the Wicked Witch one didn’t continue into the following episodes. I have to say that I greatly miss the ringtones and since they seemed to be an integral part of who Kate is and how she sees the people in her life, as evidenced by Justin’s comment in the pilot where he asks her if she has a “new Tin Man”, I find it very disappointing from a character continuity perspective for them to have just been disregarded. I really hope they rectify the issue and somehow make the disappearing ringtones make sense.
I also need to make further mention of the relationship between Kate and her semi-ex Justin. I happily declare them my favorite new TV couple. I really look forward to seeing a lot more of them interacting with each other, as they light up the screen when they’re together, as well as learning more about their history and what caused them to become almost divorced. In the majority of the interactions we’ve seen them in thus far, they seem to work well together and they clearly love each other. There’s definitely an interesting backstory here and I desperately want to know what it is. Yes, I’m hooked on them.
Photo by Alan Zenuk – © USA Network
And, let’s not forget David Smith, who was revealed in the second episode, “Priceless”, as the fourth person, outside of Kate, Lauren, and Spencer, to receive a share in Teddy’s will. He hasn’t been mentioned since the reading of the will and I think that’s unfortunate. It seemed to be a set up for a season long, or even a series long arc, but only mentioning him the one time and not referring to him again at all seems very odd to me. I’d think that this family, especially being a family of tenacious lawyers, would be all about immediately finding out who this mystery man is and why he’s receiving an equal share of Teddy’s estate. Hopefully they’ll at least bring up the issue of him again sometime soon, before the viewers forget about him entirely. I don’t expect, or even want, a resolution of who he is anytime in the near future, but a mention of his existence is at the very least only reasonable.
So, all that to say, I’m still very much loving Fairly Legal, despite the issues I mentioned. The show is charming, quirky, movingly dramatic when it should be and laugh out loud funny when you least expect it; overall it’s a complete joy to watch. I’m thrilled to say that I have a new favorite show on Thursday night and this is it!
