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PILOT REVIEW: The Defenders

THE DEFENDERS











Starring: Jim Belushi, Jerry O'Connell, Jurnee Smollett, Tanya Fischer, Gillian Vigman
Created by Kevin Kennedy and Niels Mueller
Written by Niels Mueller and Kevin Kennedy
Directed by Davis Guggenheim

The Defenders is a new lighthearted legal drama that takes back in the glitzy setting of Las Vegas. It centers on a team of defense lawyers - Nick Morelli (Jim Belushi) and Pete Kaczmarek (Jerry O'Connell). If the pilot if an indication of how the series will be, the episode focuses mainly on a case but also delves into the personal lives of the partners. Nick is estranged from his wife and has a young son while Pete is a Vegas playboy. Both enjoy the glamor and glitz of Vegas while passionately doing anything they can to defend their clients.

There are good things and bad things about The Defenders. The filming is slick and the Vegas backdrop makes for a lot of fun elements in the show. Jim Belushi is a standout as Morelli. His charisma and performance in the courtroom was fun and enjoyable to watch. He was responsible for some of the best moments of the pilot including spilling the water on the doctor in court and the manipulation of the judge in the Judges Chamber. On the other hand, Jerry O'Connell was flat as the one dimensional Vegas playboy. Unlike Belushi who made an impression immediately, there seemed to be no substance to O'Connell's character. He is the weak link of the two and that will hurt the series in the long run if he can't pull it together. Also, the case and defendant wasn't given a proper introduction in the pilot so it was hard to get invested in the case or its outcome.

There's enough good in The Defenders to come back for more but there are some glaring weak spots, namely O'Connell. Also, the show can't quite seem to decide its tone as it is sometimes very serious, sometimes very comedic, and sometimes melodramatic. It's not a bad thing to have different styles but the tones need to blend together more. It seemed like sudden jumps from funny anecdotal scenes to serious courtroom scenes. There's some promise but it's not there yet.
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