I caught the first episode of the new Fox drama, ‘Justice’. Starring Victor Garber and Kerr Smith, the show is a behind-the-scenes look at high profile legal cases. In this day and age, high-stakes criminal trials extend a lot further than the courtroom. With TV and the internet, a good attorney has to know how to spin the truth to give his or her client the advantage in the courtroom. Garber’s character, Ron Trott is that kind of attorney. He’s a cold-hearted media-whore who realizes that winning a case takes more than just legal-smarts. High-end forensic tools, jury consultants, mock juries and of course, the ability to appear cool and collected in eyes of the public are all necessary to win cases like these.
In the pilot episode, Trott and his fellow attorneys at TNT&G are representing Kevin O’Neil, who is on trial for the murder of his wife. This episode was pretty much an excuse to introduce us to the characters so I’ll just break it down for you. Along with Ron Trott, the other three members of the team are Tom Nicholson (played by Kerr Smith), Luther Graves (Eamonn Walker) and Alden Tuller (Rebecca Mader). Tom plays the all American guy/litigator. He’s clean-cut and chock full of morals and principles. He claims to dislike trials but when he’s standing before a jury, he really seems to know what he’s doing. Luther is the objective guy. He’s the one who tries to see the case for what it is from all angles and tries to anticipate everyone’s moves. Alden Tuller is the brainy one of the group. She has an eye for detail and her keen observation skills will surely prove useful in future cases.
Trott is the main guy though. He’s the face of the team. Similar to his role as Jack Bristow in ‘Alias’, Garber plays this role in an icy cold way that shows us one thing – he doesn’t care whether or not his client’s are guilty – his job is to get them acquitted. He does his job by training his client to say and do all the right things to keep them shining in the eyes of the press. He’s also clearly unintimidated by the media. In fact, he seems loves the attention he gets from the press and tries to use it to his advantage not only in whatever case he’s currently working on, but also to score bigger cases in the future.
‘Justice’, being a Bruckheimer show, is super shiny. Lots of CSI-like special effects are used throughout the show to keep things moving, even during straight-up dialogue sequences. Based on the one episode, I’d say that the characters are pretty likable. Trott’s character could be one of those great love-to-hate TV characters.
While I’m a firm believer that a good television show has to have solidly developed characters, I also think its necessary to have interesting subject matter. Sure, there are lots of legal dramas out there but ‘Justice’ just might master the art of combining courtroom dramas with crime investigations into a watchable show that viewers can both follow and enjoy. There’s also a pay-off at the end of each episode. Whether the client is found innocent or guilty and regardless of whether the Jury makes the right choice, the episode ends with “what really happened”.
In the case of the pilot, after Mr. O’Neil is found innocent of the murder of his wife, we are shown that the jury chose accurately. Mrs. O’Neil slipped and fell – simple as that. I have a feeling that in the future though, the actual events shown at the end of the episode wont always reflect what the jury found. This is what I loved most about the show. There was great momentum up to the point at which the foreman read the verdict but the real payoff came at the end when we got to see what really happened.
If the show lives up to its pilot, ‘Justice’ is sure to do well this season.
