Towards the end of season 5 it became apparent there wasn’t much point of keeping Chris Noth, so Benjamin Bratt’s arrival is like a breath of fresh air. He’s a different character – much younger, a hot head, but also morally self-righteous, a family man with three daughters. Bratt’s a better actor than Noth, too – they don’t have to protect him as much. Sometimes Steven Hill’s grumpiness gets on your nerves – it’s like he’s always angry at his staff, even when it’s not their fault. Jill Hennessy has grown into her part nicely – her character is still a bit nervous but growing in confidence.
The plots remain strong. There’s a decent black episode for a change – about adoption of black crack babies by white families (the black side is given a decent argument) with a reappearance by Robert Brooks, now a lot more militant and interesting. In LAO style they are always throwing in some twists – there’s a cross over with another show, a final utterly untypical episode where our main characters deal with the fall out of having sent someone to be executed (it’s like everyone was making a dash for the Emmy; it’s a bit slow and could have been done in half the time but has some great bits, like the revelation of Jill Hennessy’s father, Jerry Orbach falling off the wagon, Sam Waterston’s good drunk acting – a hard thing to find - and Hennessy’s death).
Guest stars include Amanda Peet as a Patty Hearst type, Peter Skarsgaard as a victim’s boyfriend, Sandy Duncan (terrific as a cheerful defence lawyer), Jennifer Garner as a wish-fulfilment student who seduces Bratt on an afternoon, Sunday in New York style, Ellen Pompeo, Chris Cooper (as a Klan lawyer), Patti Lu Pone (brilliant as another seen-it-all defence lawyer). One ep makes a big deal out of the defence attorney being an old friend of Jill Hennessy’s and you get the feeling maybe they were testing her as a possible replacement for Hennessy.
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