Sunday, July 8, 2018

STRIKING OUT SERIES 1: LAWYERS IN LOVE


Acorn continues to release their TV series to disc and in so doing provide fresh new ideas and concepts to series TV that can be lacking at times here in the states. Perhaps where these series originate from that isn’t the case but for the rest of us this is something new. It also provides the chance to expose the rest of us to series TV from other countries and that’s something everyone should take advantage of. That these shows are on disc provides plenty of opportunity for binge watching on a weekend, especially since series TV in locations like the UK and Australia don’t often run longer than 3-8 episodes per series aka season.

STRIKING OUT opens with a band, no pun intended. Lawyer Dublin-based attorney Tara Rafferty (Amy Huberman) is out on the town with her girlfriends for her bachelor party. She decides rather than carry on to go home and surprise her fiancé Eric Dunbar (Rory Keenan) instead. When she arrives the surprise is on her as she finds him in bed Caroline, another lawyer. Storming out of the house she breaks off the marriage set to be later in the week.

Not only was Eric her fiancé but Tara worked for his father Richard’s (Paul Antony-Barber) firm. She resigns from the firm and begins setting up her own business. Friends and family all try to tell Tara not to be too hasty and to reconsider. Even her mother tells her not all men are perfect and encourages her to make up with Eric. But during this series she sets her mind to at least attempt to go her own way.

With no place to set up and no endless funds to get started her friend Pete (Brahm Gallagher) who owns a local café lets her set up shop in the back. Helping her get started and running errands for her is Ray (Emmet Byrne), a young client she was helping. She also finds encouragement from her mentor and advisor Senior Counsel Vincent Pike (Neil Morrissey) who also sends private investigator Meg Riley (Fiona O’Shaughnessy) to help when need be.

As the first series moves forward it establishes the characters and sets in motion various plot lines that will carry into the second series. Tara often finds herself pitted against the members of the firm where she once worked. At the same time she gets an occasional heads up from the front desk secretary there named Lucy (Kate Gilmore). But the stories involve more than just her cases.

Unwilling to just let her run off Eric’s parents are determined not to be shamed in the world they more or less control and set out to push Tara back into Eric’s arms. Their scheming ranges from items like endangering Pete’s business to making the cases more difficult for Tara to handle, all without Eric’s knowledge. When Tara learns of the things being done she confronts Eric who now wonders what is going on in the company he is a part of.

Only for episodes long the series packs in plenty for the short screen time. Not only are we provided with insight into the characters we will come to know and love the plot is set in motion that will spin through not just this series but the second as well and, with any luck, a third. The machinations that take place behind the legal systems on display run deep and into places the viewer would never suspect. But more of that is revealed in series 2 than here. This is just the morsel that whets the palate for a taste of what could be.

It pulls you in and leaves you wanting more. The fact that both series 1 and 2 are available on disc means that you can carry on where this one leaves off. That’s the good news. The bad is that series 2 leaves you wanting to keep things going, one of those binge watch moments where you say to yourself “Sleep? Who needs sleep?!” Instead you find yourself waiting and enjoying all things that happen here. When the last moments are done you may find yourself deciding to go back and revisit a few of the things that happen when sudden alterations of course take place for various characters. Just who to trust and who not to becomes a question. And in the end you find yourself realizing you’ve just enjoyed a delightful series that provides plenty of drama and mystery. What more could you ask for?

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