Photo Credit: USA
I normally write my Fairly Legal reviews right after the episode, but honestly, I was so mad at Kate (Sarah Shahi) after last night’s episode, I decided it might be wise to cool my heels to avoid turning this review into one big rant. And to those who haven’t watched the episode yet, when you do, be sure to have a punching bag – you may very well need it to avoid punching the wall, or anything else that may be conveniently close by!
In tonight’s episode, Kate is asked by Judge Nicastro (Gerald McRaney) to mediate a new contract negotiation between the city’s union and Bay City Metro. Bay City claims it is out of money due to “tough economic times” but the union’s leader, Charles McKay (Martin Oday AKA “Meatloaf”), is convinced that some kind of fraud is going on and insists on seeing their books. Things get pretty volatile culminating with Judge Nicastro losing his temper and getting arrested for slugging a protester, but Kate, with all of her charm and drive for justice, discover that McKay was right about the fraud and saves the day.
All in all, the case was pretty simple and Kate does an impeccable job, as usual, in her investigation and getting at the truth. If only she could carry this all over to her personal life! If you recall, last week’s episode ended with Ben (Ryan Johnson) surprising Kate with a kiss that literally left her speechless. This week, Ben is ready to go to the next level, which includes a dinner date, but Kate is dodgy and ends up spending most of her time trying to avoid Ben. This is where things get weird. I think with the title of this episode “Kiss Me, Kate”, most viewers were expecting for Ben to ask Kate out, they have fabulous dinner, and then, end the night back at Ben’s place. If our world was one big fantasy, with fairy princesses and knights in shining armor everywhere we went, that’s exactly how things would have gone, with Kate and Ben riding off in the sunset hand-in-hand, and all of us yelling “Squeeeeee!” in the end. But, unfortunately, we live in this thing called the real world, and with human emotion the strange thing it is, that’s not how things work.
In my review last week, I discussed that to make the show mirror reality, Kate, at some point, was going to have to lose some cases, and last week was one of those cases. Kate’s response to Ben’s advances is another example of the show mirroring reality. Women and the crazy ways they react to things in relationships are a mystery – any man who has been in any relationship with a woman can certainly attest to this. Kate just recently went through a divorce with Justin (Michael Trucco), whom we find out cheated on her. She’s out in the world alone now, in unfamiliar territory, and probably a little down on herself because of the infidelity. We viewers see Ben for everything that he truly is – this nice, gentlemanly guy who just wants to have dinner with this girl that he really likes. To Kate, she sees this possible new relationship, with tons of unknowns and countless new ways of getting hurt. So, what does she do? She turns to Justin – it’s what is familiar, what is comfortable, and by sleeping with Justin, it’s a way to possibly sabotage the new relationship with Ben before it even starts. Pretty crazy, right? Yes, but unfortunately, it’s how most women react, and the writers did a spectacular job in capturing this in tonight’s episode.
So, while you may want to lunge at the TV and punch Kate in the taco for treating Ben like this, Kate is reacting how a good deal of women probably would. And, as an added bonus, while Kate may not be winning any popularity contests about now, I’m sure Ben is racking up the points. Remember when we were first introduced to Ben Grogan? What a royal pain in the ass! Annoying, arrogant, money-loving piece of crap. Now, after just a handful of episodes, he’s this sweet guy who just got stood up, and we want to go hug him as if he’s this lost puppy who just got kicked. It’s a pretty slick move on the writers’ part if they want to get you to love the new character, don’t you think?
As pissed off as I was at the end of this episode, I have to admit that it was still very good. This episode drew out a lot of emotion from the viewers, something that only good writing can do something. The only negative thing I can say about the episode is Meatloaf’s performance. If you’ve ever seen Meatloaf perform, whether on stage as a pop singer or in film, you will know that he’s a big over-acter, and his performance as Charles McKay was no exception.
Even so, this was so minor that it really didn’t impact my rating for this episode. Fantastic writing, fantastic acting, fantastic character development all around. I’m really looking forward to the remainder of the season to see how everything plays out with Kate (and Ben), as I’m sure all of the fans are as well.
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