This is a powerhouse of a series, with strong writing, fast pace and quick and witty dialog. When I started to watch this I couldn't stop. You fall and you fall hard for this highly entertaining show and it does not disappoint. Until season 3.
I don't know if it is because they used up all the good ideas in the first two and a half seasons, but around the end of season 3 this show just seems to lose it's momentum. A show about lawyers is bound to have arguments, but the amount of fights that occur within the walls of this firm are at a rate that make it seem like you're watching five year olds argue: Petty and relentless. All they do is fight, then make up. Then fight. And make up. The line about them being family is used a lot, but if anyone worked at a place where people fight that mouth they'd quit within hours. It's non-stop.
Without adding spoilers, the show takes a sharp dive, regurgitating ideas from seasons 1-3 until the start of season 4 right up until the 9th season where it redeems itself to a degree...but then kind of ruins that by glossing over the end of the show with some ridiculous tidy up job to explain why it's ending and what the Donna, Harvey, Rachel and Mike are doing. It's all in the name of convenience, and it's a disappointing end to what was a great series. Mike, Rachel, Harvey, Jessica, Lewis and last but certainly not least, Donna, are all formidable characters in their own right, but one thing they all share in common is they don't have a lot of depth. It would have been easy to throw in a bit more development of their characters, but what you see is basically what you get. Many of the villains aren't that great, either. Daniel Hardman is dislikable, but in a bad way. He's not a person you loath because they're a good villain (that role belongs to Harvey's arch nemesis Tanner who is hilarious and dislikable all at once), he's hateable because he's this prissy, stuck up delusional character who thinks they're the smartest person in the room and that have the jump on everyone when all they are is incredibly annoying. He's not a good villain, and they keep him around far too long.
Mike is a good character, but no legitimate law firm, let alone one who only hires from Harvard, would ever hire this guy, let alone keep him for as long as they did here. All of the cases he tried would be thrown out and have to be retried, and the law firm as an entirety would be shut down and it's lawyers disbarred. Harvey is one of the most interesting of all the characters, but his depth is mostly fleshed out in the later seasons, and it feels like it's a little late.
Overall this is a great show for about 3.5 seasons. Near the mid-point they're just trotting out old characters disguised as new ones with different names. Katherine Heigl's character is completely unnecessary as is Alex Williams. They both are recasts of past characters and add nothing. Aloma Wright is one of the only characters who stays interesting throughout the entire show.
It may sound like I did not enjoy this show by my review, but quite the contrary, it was great. It just wasn't great for the entire run, and that's a shame, because the potential was there.
I don't know if it is because they used up all the good ideas in the first two and a half seasons, but around the end of season 3 this show just seems to lose it's momentum. A show about lawyers is bound to have arguments, but the amount of fights that occur within the walls of this firm are at a rate that make it seem like you're watching five year olds argue: Petty and relentless. All they do is fight, then make up. Then fight. And make up. The line about them being family is used a lot, but if anyone worked at a place where people fight that mouth they'd quit within hours. It's non-stop.
Without adding spoilers, the show takes a sharp dive, regurgitating ideas from seasons 1-3 until the start of season 4 right up until the 9th season where it redeems itself to a degree...but then kind of ruins that by glossing over the end of the show with some ridiculous tidy up job to explain why it's ending and what the Donna, Harvey, Rachel and Mike are doing. It's all in the name of convenience, and it's a disappointing end to what was a great series. Mike, Rachel, Harvey, Jessica, Lewis and last but certainly not least, Donna, are all formidable characters in their own right, but one thing they all share in common is they don't have a lot of depth. It would have been easy to throw in a bit more development of their characters, but what you see is basically what you get. Many of the villains aren't that great, either. Daniel Hardman is dislikable, but in a bad way. He's not a person you loath because they're a good villain (that role belongs to Harvey's arch nemesis Tanner who is hilarious and dislikable all at once), he's hateable because he's this prissy, stuck up delusional character who thinks they're the smartest person in the room and that have the jump on everyone when all they are is incredibly annoying. He's not a good villain, and they keep him around far too long.
Mike is a good character, but no legitimate law firm, let alone one who only hires from Harvard, would ever hire this guy, let alone keep him for as long as they did here. All of the cases he tried would be thrown out and have to be retried, and the law firm as an entirety would be shut down and it's lawyers disbarred. Harvey is one of the most interesting of all the characters, but his depth is mostly fleshed out in the later seasons, and it feels like it's a little late.
Overall this is a great show for about 3.5 seasons. Near the mid-point they're just trotting out old characters disguised as new ones with different names. Katherine Heigl's character is completely unnecessary as is Alex Williams. They both are recasts of past characters and add nothing. Aloma Wright is one of the only characters who stays interesting throughout the entire show.
It may sound like I did not enjoy this show by my review, but quite the contrary, it was great. It just wasn't great for the entire run, and that's a shame, because the potential was there.