I wasn't going to watch the second season, abs in fact, idthought the first season so bad that I didn't expect it to get renewed, but since I hadn't removed the series from my dvr, the season 2 premier popped up and I decided to see if it was as lackluster and childish an effort as season 1. So glad I did! With the changes he's made, Kelley has thankfully redeemed himself from something I just couldn't comprehend he'd put together after his past works. Even amidst all his goofiness, at least his prior shows' premises were interesting and seemed rooted in cases that you could believe might actually progress in such ways. Not so with Harry's Law, just one ridiculous premise after another lacking more than an ounce of reality here and there, without the extreme kookiness that allowed us to excuse such cases with Ally McBeal. In season 1 the gang members came across as something out of a 1980s after-school special. They weren't scary or threatening; they were pretty much comical in a show that was trying to be a drama first and foremost. Bates seemed to be trying too hard to be crotchety just for the sake of giving the world the finger, and she was just too contrary and frankly, unlikable to make the humorous moments seem to fit well in the same show with her. This season, something has changed, and it's not just the cast. Bates shows her fatigue over last season's ordeal; at first I thought the actress was ill, but now I think it's an intentional acting choice for the character. The characters aside from her, both her secondaries and the clients, are more interesting and believable. Suddenly there is depth in a show that couldn't seem to decide if it was a comedy with occasional serious moments, or a drama with comic elements. Thankfully, Kelley seems to have decided it is a drama with "real" people, each with their own personalities and not one-note caricatures but multiple-faceted, fairly realistic human beings. Molina as a starting guest star is a good move as well. I will actually watch this season, and changing my mind so strongly about a show is rare for me. Give it a shot; I will be watching at least a couple more episodes to see how it goes, but at this point I think it has ten times the promise of last season.
Review of Harry's Law
