Review - Franklin & Bash Season 1 Episode 10 Go Tell It on the Mountain

I haven't been reviewing lately, but I've watched all the episodes and my thoughts are generally the same. The writers have a blatant disregard for decor and the legal system, which works well with the near-perfect pairing of Breckin Meyer and Mark-Paul Gosselaar. There is an aura of fantasy surrounding the show--as Franklin and Bash somehow win case after case with their courtroom antics, and Infield Daniels does his guru act--that makes the show a sight to see.

"Go Tell It on the Mountain" is the season finale (and the show was renewed for a second season) and as such, the writers attempt to raise the stakes as Infield is charged with murder. However, the case takes a more serious tone than usual, though there are still plenty of funny touches. Most importantly, the case lacks a sufficient twist, the essential ingredient that galvanized previous cases into a courtroom frenzy. Every time something new is brought up, Infield had a fairly reasonable explanation and everything is worked out at the end of the episode.

One thing was bothering me the entire episode. Everyone kept repeating that Infield had to kill his friend. But there seems to be have been many other alternatives: knock him up, pin him down, or call the rest of the group to help.

Score: 8.0/10

Review - Franklin & Bash Season 1 Episode 6 Big Fish

The wild antics of Franklin & Bash will probably get old eventually, but for now I remain highly amused by the lack of restrain the writers have. They make a mockery of practically anything and anything ridiculous that can happen will happen. This week Franklin and Bash have the job of defending a corporate scoundrel played by Jason Alexander of Seinfeld fame. With the troublesome moral issues involved in the case, Franklin and Bash do their thing--work against their client. Pindar is finally useful and nabs a client in the cute/weird sort of way, adding to the silliness of the episode.

Score: 8.8/10

Review - Franklin & Bash Season 1 Episode 3 Jennifer of Troy (and a bit about the portrayal of Chinese on television)

As it pains me to admit, I kind of like Franklin & Bash. Sure, it's immature, but that's the appeal. The show is just so ridiculous you can't help but laugh. Take the premise of "Jennifer of Troy," for example: A not overly attractive woman wants to sue her employer for firing her for being too attractive.

You wonder, how will Franklin and Bash prove this? Will the writers pull out something brilliant? Of course not! The courtroom devolves into a madhouse with the wildest antic yet, Bash making out with the client on the stand. I laughed out loud really hard at the sheer silliness of the whole thing. This show is flat out bonkers. The episode does leave something of a message, that beauty comes in many forms, but that clearly wasn't the priority of the episode.

The other plot involves Infeld and the guy who is supposed to work on Franklin and Bash's internet. The details aren't important, but Infeld works his mystical guru magic and all is well at the end.

What I want to discuss is television's portrayal of Chinese people. I was watching the X-Files episode "Hell Money" earlier today and after watching "Jennifer of Troy," it struck a nerve. You will almost never see a Chinese person on television (or in movies, for that matter), whether it's network or cable television, but when you see several of them, it's always in a certain context. It's like all the Chinese people are cordoned off in one area, completely separate from everyone else. They seem to live in a parallel universe--in the United Sates but with different values. They have a different social structure which requires expositional dialogue to explain.

Of course, this isn't the case in real life. You can find large groups of Chinese all across the country living just like everyone else (and find old people without accents!), not just in secluded areas by themselves. I could go on about this in more detail if I had the time (shoot me an email if you want me to), but you get my drift.

Whenever I see this specific portrayal, I wonder why it happens. Isn't liberal Hollywood supposed to be a bastion of tolerance and inclusion? Why does it choose to marginalize Chinese by painting them as an Other?

Score: 8.2/10

Review - Franklin & Bash Season 1 Episode 2 She Came Upstairs To Kill Me

I normally wouldn't watch a show like Franklin & Bash again, but since this is summer when there are very few new scripted shows, I went ahead and watched the second episode. The second episode was largely the same as the first episode, with a sillier case than you'd usually see on law shows, a woman accused of sexing her husband to death. The episode somewhat shifts the focus away from Franklin and Bash towards Infeld, played by Malcolm McDowell, and is delightfully charming.

Score: 8.5/10

Review - Franklin & Bash Season 1 Episode 1 Pilot

Franklin & Bash is generally an innocuous show. Like TNT's recent ventures, it is a standard dramedy and doesn't go too far out of the box. It stars Breckin Meyer and Mark-Paul Gosselaar as Jared Franklin and Peter Bash, two trial liars who have a good time performing silly legal antics. The show occasionally stretched towards the childish side of things, a woman stripping on the witness stand, but it's easy to laugh it off. At the end of the day, it's not a show to take seriously, and that's what the writers were looking for. If one can stand the immaturity and likes standard legal fare, Franklin & Bash is certainly a show to watch.

Score: 8.3/10