Distributor: eOne Entertainment
Episodes: 10
Duration: 45 min (per episode)
The Firm: Season 1 Part 2 (DVD) – Series Review
The Firm is a drama series that acts as a sequel to the same-named novel of John Grisham and its film adaption. In the latter ones, attorney Mitch McDeere helped the Feds with bringing down a law firm, resulting into many convictions including that of the Chicago mob boss. The series picks up ten years after these events, when the McDeere’s are tired of running and finally return back to their normal lives but not without risk.
Taking down a corrupt law firm with ties to the mafia is not an easy task but the McDeere’s have done just that with the help of the FBI. However, ten years after these events, life for the McDeere family isn’t great. They’re tired of running, of not being able to be who they truly are. A decision has been made, one that has not been taken wildly and has been discussed in detail with the US Marshalls. The McDeere family is ready to leave witness protection and finally start their new life as the persons who they really are.
The first part of Season 1 revolves around a conspiracy and the interest law firm Kinross & Clark has taken on Mitch McDeere (Josh Lucas) and one of his clients. Mitch finds out that there is more that meets the eye when it comes down to this shady firm and once again, he finds himself being watched carefully. The second part of the first season shows exactly how “It’s happening again”. Having bonded with Federal Marshall Louis Coleman (Paulino Nunes) over the years, Mitch asks him to keep his wife Abby McDeere (Molly Parker) and their ten year old daughter Claire (Natasha Calis) safe while he gathers enough evidence of the conspiracy at hand. With the help of his brother Ray McDeere (Callum Keith Rennie) and Ray’s girlfriend Tammy (Juliette Lewis), Mitch is able to force his colleague at Kinross & Clark, Andrew Palmer (Shaun Majumder) to help with this unofficial investigation. Things go south rather fast when Mitch and Ray seem to be closing in on the actual evidence. In the meantime Joey Morolto Jr., the son of the mafia boss who passed away in prison after Mitch put him there, is seeking revenge. The McDeeres decide to fight back in exchange of their freedom.
While the novel and its film adaption is the backbone of the television adaption of The Firm, the actual episodes don’t reveal much of the back-story except for the fact that Joey Morolto is planning something bigger for his revenge. Nonetheless, the narrative does continue to build on the events from the past but not in a way that it becomes a confusing puzzle for the viewers.
Despite the name representing a series about lawyers of all forms, much of the time isn’t actually spent in court and the series really steps forward as an action-packed thriller-like drama. While this isn’t necessarily bad, the fact that a “simple” attorney that has been on the run for the last ten years acts like an undercover agent in most cases, does raise some red flags in the character profile. The conspiracy plot is decent but gets unfolded far too soon in the season causing many of the actions taken by the characters to be incredibly predictable to a point where it feels like an insult to the viewer.
The easy to foreseen cat-and-mouse games that take a large part of the screenplay are mediocre at best but that doesn’t reduce the high level of performance from the actors, aside from Molly Parker. John Lucas puts down an excellent performance as Mitch McDeere but we didn’t expect anything less from him. His counterpart Callum Keith Rennie, who portrays Ray, is equally brilliant. On the other hand both Molly Parker who portrays Abby McDeere and Juliette Lewis portraying Tammy, put down a forced performance which clashes with the performance of the other actors.
The box set itself comes with five additional features, including behind the scene footage and the Origins of The Firm by John Grisham, which extends the view time while keeping the viewer in the loop of past events. Keep in mind that the season is published in two parts, both with a cliffhanger.
Conclusion
The Firm might be a great sequel and television adaption of John Grisham’s novel but a hunted attorney that often acts as a federal agent doesn’t really matches the general description. Despite a great performance of most actors and a somewhat decent conspiracy plot, the show is mediocre at best mostly due to the fast unraveling pace of the plot causing events to be extremely predictable and dull. The second part of the series is easy to jump into even if only a few facts have been given of previous events. If you’re utterly bored and into action sequences, the show is great but otherwise I’d let it slide.
The Firm: Season 1 Part 2 (DVD) - Series Review,
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