I've slogged through two full seasons and just about a quarter way through the third and final season of this nearly excellent series. Simon Baker play Nick Fallin, the son/partner of a Pittsburgh law firm. The other Fallin is the always excellent Dabney Coleman. Nick's day job is handling legal work for Pittsburgh's wealthy and powerful elite. But a nasty drug habit nearly derailed his career. To avoid jail, Nick spends a lot of his days working for a cash-strapped children's protection services agency that handles legal issues of the city's poorest, neediest, and in dire straights. Penance comes via helping these kids who have fallen through society's every crack in the system to find them homes, or shelters, or mental facilities, step-families, reunite them with lost relatives. These stories are heartbreakingly real. And the show's writers show no mercy. This is truly a show with virtually no happy endings.
To say Nick has issues is pure understatement. Outwardly glamorous, good-looking, successful, Nick is an emotional basket case, cut off from just about everything. He loves his father, but Burton's macho posturing and sense of his own power entitlement often puts himself at odds with his son. Father and son love each other deeply, but the writers never give them an emotional break from the nearly non-stop tragedy that befalls them in every episode. Worse, Nick's so busy putting our fires at the agency and at the law firm, he has no time to stop and take stock-- ever.
THE GUARDIAN will remind viewers of Hill Street Blues and NYPD Blue, two classic Steven Bochco series. They all share that jerky, single camera, technique. The dialog is often gritty and the plots are freighted with tough irony and often senseless tragedy. The writers, sensing the characters of the young black lawyer, kills him off before the end of the second season, even though he was a regular the audience had already invested a lot of emotion behind. Why kill him off? It made no dramatic sense. The character of Jake, a kind of loser lawyer in Nick's firm, is often the brunt of cruelty and why? Because his legal degree is from a lesser college. Suddenly after two seasons, Jack is revealed to be in a homosexual relationship which comes out of nowhere. There was nothing in the character that would indicate he was gay and when it does comes to light, all the viewer can do is say, "huh." Talk about not seeing that coming!
Similarly, Nick's relationship with Lulu is puzzling. Both of them seem incapable of finding emotional balance in the other unless they are snatching a quickie. Then they put on their clothing and we're back in why-are-they-behaving-like-that?-land. Neither one of them ever raise their voices and its frustrating to watch them NOT connect. I agree with another poster who who said they truly lack chemistry. The actress who plays Lulu, is awfully tight lipped.
Alvin, the head of the children's protection services agency, is played by Adam Rosenberg (who had a nice run on Cybil). Alvin is full of Jewish schtick, plus he's a recovered alcoholic. We are asked to believe this deeply flawed character lives for the protection of the kids the lawyers are asked to defend. Yet Alvin's behavior is nuts. He interferes in issues that are none of his business, such as reporting a colleague's violence towards his badly behaved nephew when he decides to discipline him in a boxing match. Frankly the kid need his ass kicked, and Alvin's interference costs the kid his life, and ultimately the life of the young lawyer whom he respects. It's a stupid story line.
What makes THE GUARDIAN WORK is Simon Baker as Nick Fallin. He's not a flashy actor, and he works in a kind of minimalist way. He speaks quietly, and draws the viewer into his dark world of hurt, disappointment, frustrated love, and stress, as well as his ability to be both a shark as a corporate lawyer and a compassionate and empathetic advocate for lost kids You want him to make peace with his father once and for all, the cost on him is emotional distance. Baker shows all this and a lot more. Nick's flaws and complications make for a fascinating anti-hero character. There's ambivalence in the way he can work both sides of the law. You don't dislike this guy because he can be both bad and good. I think Nick is looking for redemption, but temptation is always calling him to err.
Kathleen Chalfont is a semi-regular on the series and should be singled out for praise. She should be working non-stop. Always investing her lines with a believability, Ms. Chalfont compels attention.
Because Simon Baker is so good here, I'll have to start watching episodes of Baker's current series, THE MENTALIST. I found this whole series on Netflix. Worth checking out if you missed it when the show first ran.
To say Nick has issues is pure understatement. Outwardly glamorous, good-looking, successful, Nick is an emotional basket case, cut off from just about everything. He loves his father, but Burton's macho posturing and sense of his own power entitlement often puts himself at odds with his son. Father and son love each other deeply, but the writers never give them an emotional break from the nearly non-stop tragedy that befalls them in every episode. Worse, Nick's so busy putting our fires at the agency and at the law firm, he has no time to stop and take stock-- ever.
THE GUARDIAN will remind viewers of Hill Street Blues and NYPD Blue, two classic Steven Bochco series. They all share that jerky, single camera, technique. The dialog is often gritty and the plots are freighted with tough irony and often senseless tragedy. The writers, sensing the characters of the young black lawyer, kills him off before the end of the second season, even though he was a regular the audience had already invested a lot of emotion behind. Why kill him off? It made no dramatic sense. The character of Jake, a kind of loser lawyer in Nick's firm, is often the brunt of cruelty and why? Because his legal degree is from a lesser college. Suddenly after two seasons, Jack is revealed to be in a homosexual relationship which comes out of nowhere. There was nothing in the character that would indicate he was gay and when it does comes to light, all the viewer can do is say, "huh." Talk about not seeing that coming!
Similarly, Nick's relationship with Lulu is puzzling. Both of them seem incapable of finding emotional balance in the other unless they are snatching a quickie. Then they put on their clothing and we're back in why-are-they-behaving-like-that?-land. Neither one of them ever raise their voices and its frustrating to watch them NOT connect. I agree with another poster who who said they truly lack chemistry. The actress who plays Lulu, is awfully tight lipped.
Alvin, the head of the children's protection services agency, is played by Adam Rosenberg (who had a nice run on Cybil). Alvin is full of Jewish schtick, plus he's a recovered alcoholic. We are asked to believe this deeply flawed character lives for the protection of the kids the lawyers are asked to defend. Yet Alvin's behavior is nuts. He interferes in issues that are none of his business, such as reporting a colleague's violence towards his badly behaved nephew when he decides to discipline him in a boxing match. Frankly the kid need his ass kicked, and Alvin's interference costs the kid his life, and ultimately the life of the young lawyer whom he respects. It's a stupid story line.
What makes THE GUARDIAN WORK is Simon Baker as Nick Fallin. He's not a flashy actor, and he works in a kind of minimalist way. He speaks quietly, and draws the viewer into his dark world of hurt, disappointment, frustrated love, and stress, as well as his ability to be both a shark as a corporate lawyer and a compassionate and empathetic advocate for lost kids You want him to make peace with his father once and for all, the cost on him is emotional distance. Baker shows all this and a lot more. Nick's flaws and complications make for a fascinating anti-hero character. There's ambivalence in the way he can work both sides of the law. You don't dislike this guy because he can be both bad and good. I think Nick is looking for redemption, but temptation is always calling him to err.
Kathleen Chalfont is a semi-regular on the series and should be singled out for praise. She should be working non-stop. Always investing her lines with a believability, Ms. Chalfont compels attention.
Because Simon Baker is so good here, I'll have to start watching episodes of Baker's current series, THE MENTALIST. I found this whole series on Netflix. Worth checking out if you missed it when the show first ran.