TV Show Review: Fairly Legal - Season 2

Stars: 3 out of 5

Pros: The case of the week, development for Lauren

Cons: Who in their right mind thought Ben was a good idea?

The Bottom Line:

Attempts to fix show

Only made it worse so this

Is last we will see

"If I Were Mediating, I'd be Getting Paid.  And For You Two, I'd be Charging Double."

The ratings for the first season of Fairly Legal were just middle of the road, so before it came back for its second season, there were plenty of changes.  Behind the scenes, producers were changed, leading to some changes in the story we saw.  The results were actually pretty bad, meaning this would be the last season of the show.

The show follows Kate Reed (Sarah Shahi) who has given up on life as a lawyer in order to be a mediator.  Even at that, she is unconventional.  But she cares, so she manages to get deals that both sides will agree to abide by.

She works out of the firm Reed and Reed.  Founded by late her father, it is now run by her hated step-mother Lauren (Virginia Willaims).  Clashes over how the law firm should be run lead to Kate’s outster at the end of season one.  But as season two begins, she manages to worm her way back into her old job.  However, she loses the boat she was living on and is forced to move in with Lauren.

As if her life weren’t already complicated enough, there’s the ex-husband she is still very attracted to.  Justine (Michael Trucco) just happens to be the assistant district attorney who is running for his boss’s job.  And the will they won’t they antics of Justine and Kate only complicate matters.

Speaking of complications, Lauren has had to bring in a new partner with money to keep the law firm afloat.  Ben (Ryan Johnson) is the guy, and he is the kind of lawyer who gives lawyers a bad name.  Kate is repulsed by him and attracted to him.  And they seem to wind up working together on some cases.

Of course, all that is on top of the case of the week.  Kate finds herself handling such things as an employee suing his former employer over work safety, deals with a drug dealer trying to force a landlord to sell, and even negotiates between her alma mater and a student who is being expelled for cheating.

As you can see, there is quite a bit of soap opera going on here.  And that is how to best describe parts of it.  No, it’s not as bad as a true soap opera, but it certainly is more so than many of the shows I watch.  Frankly, that wasn’t a development I didn’t like.

While I was happy to see Kate and Lauren getting along better this season, I still want to know why Kate hates her so much.  It seems to be just because Lauren married her dad.  But there still needs to be more of a reason for it.  I always liked Lauren, so I was happy to see her get more development as the season progressed and become more of a real person.

On the other hand, there’s Ben.  I can not tell you how much I hated this guy.  The fact that we were supposed to be thinking he was the third side of a romantic triangle was unbelievable to me.  And since Kate hated him, I don’t see why it became an issue at all.

The cases of the week were one reason I kept tuning it.  I enjoyed many of them.  I also have a hard time stopping watching a show once I’ve started.  Between the two, I stayed tuned for all of season two despite not liking it.

Now I’m not going to blame the actors.  They did a great job with the scripts they were given.  I completely blame the writers.  A special shout out goes to Baron Vaughn who played Kate’s secretary Leo.  He got all the best lines and delivered them perfectly.

The season consisted of 13 episodes, and they are all included in this set.  The show is preserved in wide screen and full surround.  Extras?  Kate must have forgotten to negotiate that because there are none to be found.

Frankly, I wasn’t sorry to see this show get canceled since I doubt I would have been back for season three.  The only reason to buy second two of Fairly Legal is if you were a fan of the show.  If you haven’t started watching the show, don’t bother.

Season Two Episodes:

1. Satisfaction

2. Start Me Up

3. Bait and Switch

4. Shine a Light

5. Gimme Shelter

6. What They Seem

7. Teenage Wasteland

8. Ripple of Hope

9. Kiss Me, Kate

10. Shattered

11. Borderline

12. Force Majeure

13. Finale