Jackson Brooks (David Lyons) and his fiancé Marina Nagle (Claire van der Boom) are upwardly mobile lawyers. Diana Stockman (Sharon Lawrence) is a new client in their firm. Jackson is forced to deal with Gil Harris (Michael Raymond-James), Shawn Cook (Larenz Tate), and Jessie West (Bre Blair) after Boots gets arrested. As children, they had killed a woman while joyriding and the boys were sent to juvenile detention under the cruel warden Ray Carroll. Boots is arrested for killing one of their former tormentors. Carroll is now running for Governor. Terry Suggs was a vicious prisoner now working for Carroll. Det. Liz Winters is being blackmailed by Terry threatening her imprisoned brother.
The premise of the guys' hidden past is fine. However, the show has some basic problems that build up and is unable to overcome. First, there is no reason why Jackson keeps the secret from Marina to that degree for that long. It is done simply to generate false tension. Even considering the psychological trauma, he would likely tell her half-truths than keep saying that he will tell her later. At some point, it becomes really bad melodrama with a sitcomy misunderstanding about Jessie. That is also true for all the evidence. Jackson keeps trying to build a legal case when something more intense is called for. Consider the past, it's trying to fight with one hand tied behind his back. This story needs to get into the gutter for it to have real tension. The two other guys try but the conflict is tiresome. On the other hand, the juvenile detention scenes are probably unnecessary. They probably put off some viewers. The modern characters can explain it in a couple of emotional lines. It would be more compelling and more acceptable for network TV audience. Finally, Stockman's motivation to be a client is questionable. I don't see anyway to make sense of it unless there is additional information. In the end, there are a few too many of these kinds of problems with the writing.
The premise of the guys' hidden past is fine. However, the show has some basic problems that build up and is unable to overcome. First, there is no reason why Jackson keeps the secret from Marina to that degree for that long. It is done simply to generate false tension. Even considering the psychological trauma, he would likely tell her half-truths than keep saying that he will tell her later. At some point, it becomes really bad melodrama with a sitcomy misunderstanding about Jessie. That is also true for all the evidence. Jackson keeps trying to build a legal case when something more intense is called for. Consider the past, it's trying to fight with one hand tied behind his back. This story needs to get into the gutter for it to have real tension. The two other guys try but the conflict is tiresome. On the other hand, the juvenile detention scenes are probably unnecessary. They probably put off some viewers. The modern characters can explain it in a couple of emotional lines. It would be more compelling and more acceptable for network TV audience. Finally, Stockman's motivation to be a client is questionable. I don't see anyway to make sense of it unless there is additional information. In the end, there are a few too many of these kinds of problems with the writing.