The Firm, episode 3: morning sex

Imagine being married to Mitch McDeere. Sure, your husband’s one handsome litigator, but his years spent hiding in witness protection and living in fear of impending death has got to take its toll on a person. Abby McDeere deserves a medal, but in episode 3, she gets morning sex instead. Sex, abandonment and the first real sign of why we’re supposed to even care about these characters in our TV brief after the jump.

McDeere’s got confidence, we learn that much. In the show’s flashback to four weeks earlier, we watch as Abby and Mitch create a new trial day tradition by replacing breakfast with a little something-something (marital bliss!), and then we see him turn on the same swagger when he looks his client in the eye and calmly dismisses his own absentee tendencies. You’d be hard-pressed to find someone who can sell Mitch McDeere like Mitch McDeere, and like everyone—besides, obviously, his enemies (the mob)—his new client Larson buys into his “believe in me” pitch. (Pro tip: abandoning a client at trial recess to attend to a personal matter—he checks in with his witness-protection contact—will only lead to that person asking questions. And Larson is a psychologist, so she gets nosy.)

But confidence isn’t enough. True, what has been established in three episodes is that McDeere is great in a courtroom setting (he charms the courtroom into letting Larson off the hook for murder), but Abby’s not down with his secrets, and rightfully so. After all, Mitch, Abby, Tammy and Ray may seem like a close-knit dream team (those late-night dinner conversations have now solved two cases), but figuring out who killed whom (or who didn’t) doesn’t make up for other gross missteps, like Mitch not telling his wife about suspicious cars or mafia developments. Call us old fashioned, but we’re with Abby. We’d want to know if someone we loved could be murdered at any moment; this is something we learn while Abby and Mitch are having a late-night spooning session (she talks like a big spoon, but she’s the little spoon in this bedtime arrangement).

Despite his need to remain insular, it is impossible to stay mad at Mitch. He keeps people in the dark and he abandons his clients, but the man is a personal and professional catch: after promising Abby there will be “no more secrets” (and he won’t hold it against her if she leaves—what a guy!), he apologizes to and bonds with his client, who offers him post-trial therapy (she has no idea what she’s getting herself into). For the first time, you can see why anyone sticks around Mitch McDeere—and for that reason, you finally start to worry about the people who have been brave enough to do so. (The objective of this is, of course, for us to care too much, because there is no way in hell someone somewhat important isn’t going to die in the first season—we’ve watched television before).

Our observations on where The Firm got it right (Order in the Court) and where it got it wrong (Objections).

Order in the court:

McDeere is a dream boss. After “the firm” destroys Tammy’s computer (those Larson files are a commodity, guys), Mitch glazes over the situation with a simple “I have bigger things to worry about.” Talk about prioritizing!

Where is Claire? Abby, Mitch, Tammy and Ray are all ready to escape on a boat in the beginning, but Claire is nowhere to be found. Mitch and Abby may actually be the worst parents ever.

We finally care about Abby. It took three episodes, but Molly Parker brought her A-game when calling Mitch out on his sneakiness. Abby McDeere will not be messed with.

Alex Clark. True, Andrew Parker is the Alex-Mitch go-between, but you can’t help but think that if Mitch met her just one more time, he’d realize she is actually evil. (Or is she?) (No, she is.)

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