In my opinion, Fairly Legal shouldn't wade into controversial topics, because it's not a show suited for that. I can imagine The Good Wife doing an episode about illegal immigration, portraying all sides of the issue so viewers can mull over the ideas. But Fairly Legal isn't supposed to be deep or thoughtful, and "Coming Home" proves it.
The episode is about illegal immigration, which is, of course, a huge topic people love to debate. However, the setup is blatantly in one favor as to avoid any discussion. She served in Afghanistan, saved a life, was an "all-American" girl, AND will repay the person whose identity she stole in full, plus extra. There's nothing left to talk about. She's immaculate, so much so that the most ardent opponents of illegal immigration have to feel really, really bad for her. The court room scene is wrought with wackiness, ending with the judge going from annoyed to super compassionate.
Kate learns that David Smith was a former client who was sent to prison for 12 years after Teddy messed up. Kate passes this information on to Lauren and both accept the information for what it is. No new twist is introduced, so we'll have to wait until later to see if David Smith has further relevance.
One of the positives this week was that the writers finally did something with Kate and Justin, showing how Kate is selfish. In some ways, main characters of almost all shows are selfish (The Closer comes to my mind first), and it's nice to see the writers not acknowledge this, but also have the real consequence of Justin not falling to Kate's charms.
Score: 7.8/10
