Shark: LAPD Blue review

Quick review: Not bad, but not great either. All in all, the show is starting to grow on me. Catch it on CBS's Innertube if you missed it; bear in mind, it appears CBS only keeps it online until the next new episode airs. From my quick glance to get a couple of things for this review, I noticed they still haven't fixed the volume of the commercials.

This week's show takes place about two months after Stark has been a member of the LA county DA's office. In this sense, at least it's trying to respect the idea that so called "big trials" don't come around that often. Also, since my weekly poker game got cancelled last night, I certainly appreciated watching how he goaded the AG (or whatever his role is) into betting into whatever high percentage draw he was on in order to make their office a little bigger. Speaking of poker games, I did catch some of the WSOP final table and just found it entertaining that the chip leader (and eventual winner) used his 9:1 or whatever amount he had to simply splash in every time and then force the rest of the table to make a definitive move or get out.

Anyway, "LAPD Blue" was about a cop killer and how Stark's crackpot team of attorneys were going to take on the defendant, who coincidentally is being represented by one of Stark's former protégés (who he had fired for losing a case 7 years earlier). As you may have suspected, the State lucks out as this guy winds up taking a plea agreement. Good for them.

It's amazing how easy it is for television shows to play on the court's discretion to have a motion go in the way they need it to. The judges may or may not wind up being more pro-state or pro-defendent, it doesn't really matter since they don't appear to be playing a central character role in this particular law series, and that's good. While I question the need for the state on this show to win at all costs (e.g., forging a document to get probable cause under those circumstances and trying to determine how to deal with the mandatory disclosure of the exculpatory evidence they came across), I suppose I can set aside my disbelief for the story itself and instead focus on the ultimate argument they wound up presenting. I think that given the screw up, in real life, the charges probably would have been dropped as they suggested, but we all know that television mirrors life, so whatever.

As far as the advancement of the overall plot and general character development, at least they started to get into it a bit this time, which is why I think the show has potential. They also toned down the whole father-daughter storyline to the level I think necessary for this type of show. As far as character development, it could have done a little better, but they are getting there, and if they did it, well, hopefully Heroes will be able to do the same thing in its second episode. Since I don't watch these lawyer shows for any of these reasons, however, I think I will reserve my concluding remarks by saying that it still did well to show a couple compelling arguments, although very poor direct examination (in the beginning).

There were a few one liners that were pretty funny - the only one I can really remember is "Fortune favors the bold." (which isn't that funny, I know, but worth remembering). The "stick a bandaid under your bleeding heart if you want to win" line was pretty good also.

I will probably watch a few more of these episodes and if I feel so inclined, will write down my thoughts. In case I do not bother to, however (which I think is a high probability), my general recommendation for Shark is positive.

Tags: shark, lapd blue, nbc