Harry's Law Review: Miracles
Harry, Cassie and Oliver defended a young mother accused of euthanizing her severely ill infant this week, while Tommy and Adam fought the good fight for an Iraq veteran quirw deserving a purple heart.
It seemed Harry's Law was in the business of delivering legal miracles on "Purple Hearts," wasn't it?
While the episode succeeded at pulling the heart strings, I found I was less welcoming of the social commentaries that dominated the hour.
I sincerely appreciated the addition of Josh Braaten to the cast. He's been making the rounds as a guest star, and just when I'd forgotten about his time on The Mentalist, here he was guest starring on Harry's Law.
Other than that, his presence wasn't the focus of the episode, aside from being the defendant's husband in the mercy killing case. Slightly disappointing, but clearly necessary.
That said, did anyone else see that Nurse O'Malley clearly had something to do with the death from the beginning? I knew that from the first time she appeared on the stand. I appreciated how sideways things had to go for Harry. Her overcoming the obstacles was clearly what made the entire case an exercise in courage, but it was a little predictable.
Another thing I wasn't pleased with was the blatant dismissal of Harry's birthday. Way to make a case out of it, really. It couldn't have been any less subtle. It was an interesting way to introduce the companion storyline, but to make that man a clown (that's a social commentary if I've ever seen one) and then to have him be completely humiliated was a bit much.
It continues to get more difficult for me to forgive this new direction that Harry's Law has taken. If the change has kept it on the air longer, great. But if there was any possibility we could slip back into the genuineness of season one, I would take that in a second.
Perhaps the one thing that really redeemed this episode for me was Tommy Jefferson. Yes, he single-handedly rescued this entire episode.
Understanding the motivation behind Tommy's fervor in acquiring the veteran's purple heart was a very nice touch. I teared up a little bit. Tommy really loved his father and was proud. He stopped being the clown that caused his colleagues injury when he failed to hold the ladder for those last few minutes of the episode. It was quite a redeeming moment.
Couldn't appreciate the episode as a whole as much as I would have liked, but it was another solid installment. What did you think?
C. Charles is a TV Fanatic Staff Writer. Follow her on Twitter.
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December 13th, 2011 2:28 PM
As a parent of a child who was born with anencephaly, I am very sad that your writes did such a poor job researching anencephaly. Your show got it so wrong and it was very heart breaking for you to reference my child as a "house plant". You were so wrong. My child lived for 19 wonderful hours and held my hand, cried, cooed and opened his eyes and followed me and my wife. Our faith in God allowed us to care our child to term so he could live life as much as he could. Our doctors asked if we wanted to terminate the birth and we said in no certain way would we end his life! He had every right to live as much as he could. His Name was Noah and it has been 2 years and 7 months since he was born. We love him and remember him every day. It is very hard to watch a show that does such a poor job in showing something that is very hard for parents that have had a child with anencephaly. I know your show is fictional but it shows real life situations. So at the least you should do the research and
December 10th, 2011 10:28 AM
Tom - THANK you so much! I just couldn't put my finger on it. Going clear back to her in Strangers With Candy is what I was looking for.
December 10th, 2011 1:05 AM
To Kimberly (Dec. 8 question), the mother is Maria Thayer
December 9th, 2011 2:57 PM
Love the show, but they need to get medical facts straight. They talked about
this couple who had an anacephalic baby and how this child would have had
severe complications throughout his or her life. The fact is, a child that
is born with anancephaly has no brain and no skull. There is no survival
rate for these children. They are usually stillborn, or die shortly after
birth. These type of birth defects are called neural tube defects and women
can lessen their risk by taking folic acid before pregnancy. I gave birth to
an anacephalic son January 15, 1981. I wish these shows would do research
on these subject matters before airing on television.
December 8th, 2011 11:09 PM
After watching this episode, I feel my effort in following the series from last year finally paid off. Last few episodes have been almost as good as Boston legal ones.
December 8th, 2011 7:04 PM
Does anyone know who played the accused mother in this episode??
December 8th, 2011 11:29 AM
Great episode. I still love this new cast. While season one was certainly unique and "genuine" (I'll quote from above) there is no way it would've lasted for years like that. No one is going to watch a show for 4-5 years whose unestablished legal office is in an abandoned shoe store. It was nice and surely would've lasted a while, but not longterm.
I, myself, loved season one, but have no problem admitting the cast was horribly boring. Harry and Adam were all I could muster up any interest for, and I'm glad DEK caught onto that. The episodes this season are far more interesting to watch than last year's.
Also, anyone who thinks DEK can't write or doesn't understand this business (not saying this article implies that, but just saying) is incredibly naive. He may stray down political and current events topics which occasionally serve a biased agenda, but the quality of his scripts are superb. Few people know, and have succeeded in, the television industry more than DEK ha
Rank: Extra
December 8th, 2011 10:46 AM
I liked the show very much. BIG emotion for me was the Tommy and "Clown" storyline. Keep going on about our wonderful Veterans. And good to see that other side of Tommy. I kinda thought it was the nurse.
Merry Christmas to all and, I LOVE THE SHOW.
December 8th, 2011 10:12 AM
Now that's the Harry's Law I fell in love with....
December 8th, 2011 9:34 AM
Kelly needs better scripts. I've no complaints about the acting. Those talented actors are doing the best they can with what they've been dealt. Unfortunately, they are often dealt poor scripts.
Shame!