Coming Down Hard
By Hank 74
Joe-10/10
Ed-9/10
Van Buren-8/10
Jack-10/10
Serena-9/10
Arthur-8/10
Supporting Cast-8/10
Plot-6/10
Performance-7/10
Value-7/10
Total-82/100
Notes:
I had a feeling this was
not going to be a stellar ep and my instincts were right. Perhaps TPTB
intended to put this in during the debate and baseball playoff season. In
any case, this was a typical plot of going up the food chain.
The only thing which was
interesting were the little twinges in the writing compared to the stale bread
that we got from S 11 to 13. What I mean is a lower level guy gets
arrested, he coughs up his boss in a big company, Jack goes on a crusade
against the evil company, and the big cheese either is found guilty or pleads
out to save his skin. I got the impression that Jack was going to get
that patent letter admitted into evidence. Seems to me we've found Judge
Wright again, this time without his beard.
Fontana is really
impressing me a lot. Mr. Wolf certainly made the right call on finding a
suitable replacement for Lennie. I like the chemistry developing between
the "Law" side and the going back to street instinct and old fashion
arm twisting to get to the bottom of any investigation. To me, Fontana
reminds me of Lennie duirng the early years with a bit of Ceretta's compassion
and Greevey's temper mixed in. Dennis Farina is the right person for this
job at this time. Bravo!
I don't know what to
make about Serena? It seems she was taking charge during the beginning of
the "Order" side as a way to show Jack and Arthur that she can do
more than just take notes. Was this to impress her superiors or find a
way to get fired by being too agressive. I also can't understand the way
Jack and Arthur chastise her in one ep and then praise her in another.
Here is my gut feeling
about Serena and mark this down. When Jamie Ross heads to TBJ as a judge,
she will have left her role as a defense attorney opposed to the DP. My
thinking is that Serena and Jamie know each other from the past and have worked
out an arrangement that when Jamie heads to the bench, Serena will move in to
replace her and be an anti-DP crusading defense attorney. I can see that
scenario playing out in the middle of this season.
Peter Strauss was
terrific as the new monsterous big fat cat drug company CEO. I've always
thought of his as a darkhorse to eventually replace Sam or Fred Thompson should
that come.
That final scene made me
laugh because could it be that Jack would be talking to John Edwards, former
trial lawyer and might be VP. FT certainly knew him in the Senate and if
Kerry loses, that's most likely where Edwards will be back come next January.