User Reviews

This show is shot well, directed well, the dialogue is gruffy and believable, but the pace is a bit slow. Not so slow that you doze off, but it feels like they take too long to get into the plot.

But we've already become hooked to the story this season and the death at the end was not something I saw coming. Bravo for offing someone in episode one, and not later on like most shows predictably do.

It is sometimes difficult moving from one plot or case here into another. It takes something called "development" which a lot of folks in this digital age do not know since photos no longer take a nano-second to develop. This episode spends a few minutes going over the excellent first season. It is time well spent. You need to know what happened then in order to even start to understand Billy's character, and the relationship with his daughter, and others in his life.

This sets up a second season that can be promising and then we get into the very basic elements of Billy's next case. Billy finally gets a new car though the beat up Red Mustang convertible seems to be fixed too. The question here is can winning a case and getting millions of dollars and paying off all the debts Billy owes actually give him peace and happiness?

Once he gets dragged feet first into this new case, we find the answer is no, not really. As we go on into this season, we will find out if Billys life is really like an onion, peeling of his raw emotions one layer at a time?

I was taken aback when Lou Diamond Phillips appears as a bartender in Chez Jay. He is such a strong presence, I was wondering how Billy Bob Thornton was going to measure up. Butt hen he gets killed, and it all makes sense. Overall, it was so cool to see someone of his talent and ability making an appearance, and not being a lead. It has to take someone confident in themselves, and not afraid to let someone else be front and center.

Billy has hit the skids even though he has millions of dollars. The death of his partner has torn him apart. Once again he is drinking. In Episode 1 he is introduced to the case of a young man, accused of murder. He does everything to avoid getting involved. He seems terrified of getting into another case. But his friend from the bar tells him of the arrest of his son. It is obvious he is innocent. Enter a beautiful female mayoral candidate who is also convinced of the young man's innocence. But there are forces at work. Probably because a raid on a drug house results in several deaths (of unarmed men). The episode concludes with the one thing that will pull Billy into the courtroom. This looks like a fun ride.

In this opening episode, Billy is still residing in the dowdy Ocean Lodge Motel, and he's still drinking. His is now approached by Oscar, the kind waiter at the local watering hole whose son has been falsely accused of murder as gang retaliation for the deaths of Oscar's two oldest sons. Billy feels that he cannot take the case, clearly due to his nerves and his drug and drinking addictions.

Of course, Billy will be drawn into helping his friend and the young man who was once befriended by the mayoral candidate, Marisol Silva. Detective Keith Roman shows Billy the evidence, but the quick-thinking lawyer decides to film the angle from which the key eyewitness identified Julio. The house where the murder was committed is clearly too far away to make a positive identification.

The cops are clearly into the framing of young Julio, as Detective Roman has received a large cash payoff in a locker. Another hint is that of the missing part of a finger of a waiter at the restaurant where Marisol is dining. The overly inquisitive PR man for Marisol inappropriately asks about the finger.

As Oscar is ready to give his affidavit, he is murdered in cold blood on the streets of L.A. Fortunately, Bill has already taken Oscar's statement as the principal alibi for Julio.

The plot just gets more and more unbelievable as you roll through this second series (I'm writing this having just finished season 2). Billy Bob's character is now way beyond being an alcoholic but clever lawyer and is more of a gun toting detective. It's really a bit of a mess.

Still ok as entertainment but nowhere near his performance in Fargo and there's too much hopping around in time frames, dream sequences and important dialogue in Spanish without subtitles. Why ?!

I've just watched the whole of season 2 and it's nothing compared to season 2. By the end you'll realise that Julio's case is insignificant, Julio himself is insignificant, as are his dead family members. Even the two murdered guys Julio was arrested for killing aren't actually significant in any way, neither is the real killer, nor are the majority of the people who are hellbent on covering up the truth. None of it matters!! Literally the only thing that actually matters in this season, is Billy McBride's personal life.