Over the years I’ve watched a fair number of law shows, from The Defenders way back, through L.A. Law, on to Ally McBeal, more recently Boston Legal, The Good Fight, The Lincoln Lawyer, and there’s been others. Now I’m watching Suits; I’m well into the third season. It seems different from the others, all of them.
I’m not quite sure what it is.
The basic idea of a law show is that, on the one hand, we’ve got a continuing cast of lawyers, all working for the same firm. And then we’ve got a DA or two, some judges, and maybe some other lawyers they interact with from time to time. This bunch continues from week to week. Then, on the other hand, we have the specific cases. They come up each week and then are gone, to be replaced by other cases. Depending on the particular show, some cases may continue on from week to week – this is more common in recent shows.
There’s got to be some tension, conflict, and resolution within the core cast because those are the folks at the center of the show. It’s their lives we’re witnessing. As lawyers, though, their job is to intervene in conflicts external to the firm, whether civil or criminal matters.
Somehow things have gotten mixed up and out of balance in Suits. What goes on within the firm is really intense and sometimes nasty. You think these people went into law just so they could get into conflicts with one another rather than going into law so they can resolve conflicts on behalf clients. The clients are just an excuse to go at one another.
What makes this tricky to conceptualize is that, given the nature of such programs, as I’ve just explained it, of course there’s drama within the core group. Without it, there’s no show. But somehow Suits has gotten things reversed, as though the tacit premise of the show is that the world itself exists for the purpose of keeping these lawyers spun-up and out of control. Which is the reverse of lawyers (and the legal system) existing to bring a measure of order and control to a chaotic and conflictful world.
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