TV Shows #28

Goliath (2016-21)
Developed By: David E. Kelley & Jonathan Shapiro
Starring: Billy Bob Thornton, Nina Arianda, Tania Raymonde, Diana Hopper, William Hurt, Maria Bello, Ana de la Reguera, Dennis Quaid, Julie Brister, Olivia Thirlby, Molly Parker, Sarah Wynter, Mark Duplass, Matthew Del Negro, Amy Brenneman, Beau Bridges, Julia Jones, J. K. Simmons, Jena Malone, Lenora Crichlow, Bruce Dern

Certificate: 15 Running Time: 38-65 Minutes per Episode (approx)

I'm not quite sure when or how it happened but it seems that Billy Bob Thornton has become one of those actors whose mere presence in a film is enough to provoke my interest in it. When I saw Prime Video spamming his face in close proximity to the word 'Goliath' then, I duly investigated and found that it's not a film at all but a show. Not only that but it's a legal drama too - those can often be great, right? It sounded like the perfect role for Thornton too, and not just because the character shares his given name. The synopsis for Goliath, you see, invites you to join Billy McBride, "a down-and-out lawyer as he seeks redemption. His one shot depends on getting justice in a legal system where truth has become a commodity, and the scales of justice have never been more heavily weighted toward the rich and powerful."

I'm not sure how accurate that is though. My impression of Billy is that he's a drunk and doesn't really give a shit about anyone or anything, besides the stray dog that hangs around outside the Ocean Lodge Hotel where he lives. If, therefore, he does seek redemption, he's pretty laid-back about it. Hmm, anyway, he's a drunk, drives a battered old Mustang, lives in a hotel, and spends much of his time at Chez Jay, a bar next to the hotel. Formerly, he was a successful and prominent trial lawyer and co-founder of the large and influential Cooperman McBride law firm now run by Donald Cooperman (Hurt), Billy's former friend and partner who now hates him, and where his ex-wife Michelle (Bello) also works, who is perpetually pissed at him. BUT! Could redemption be around the corner anyway, whether Billy seeks it or not?

Season One (8 episodes)

Instead of him seeking redemption, the show starts with redemption seeking Billy, or the possibility of it at least, in the loud form of Patty (Arianda). She is a DUI lawyer who needs someone to represent her friend whose husband worked for a weapons manufacturer, Borns Tech, and supposedly committed suicide by blowing himself up. Startlingly, she doesn't believe that and wants to sue for wrongful death. Billy is reluctant but eventually takes the case and finds that Borns Tech are represented by Cooperman McBride, the firm now headed by Donald Cooperman who is ecstatic at the opportunity to bury Billy. He soon assembles a team of sorts - Patty, prostitute Brittany (Tania Raymonde) and Marva (Brister) - but can they be a match for the might of Cooperman McBride? Unsurprisingly, the answer seems to be no, with the reclusive Cooperman observing and influencing events from his office, and using his hand-picked lawyers such as Lucy (Thirlby) and Callie (Parker) to face Billy down directly. It's an interesting case for this first season but the pacing is a little uneven and the ending didn't really sit right with me either. Still, Billy is as watchable as ever and there are some interesting characters to get to know... 7/10

Season Two (8 episodes)

You'd think his success in the first season would've prompted a bit of a Billy renaissance by this point but no. He's still living in the motel and almost living in the adjacent bar when Oscar who works there goes to Billy when his son is arrested for a gang murder. Meanwhile, mayoral candidate Marisol Silva (Reguera), who knows Oscar and his son, is cracking down on gang crime and is encouraged to distance herself from them by Tom Wyatt (Duplass), an ambitious (a.k.a. shady) developer and major contributor to Silva's campaign and therefore unofficial advisor. Naturally, all these characters end up crossing paths at some point - Billy even hooks up with Marisol somehow! - and it initially looks like being a more interesting season with more going on. But then things get a bit weird in the second half, and there's a startling lack of courtrooms for a legal drama. It's much more violent too. Aside from the main stars, Duplass and Paul Williams as JT, an old colleague of Billy's, are standouts and we see more of Billy's daughter Denise (Hopper) this time around. Even Patty has become likeable now too! It's different, sometimes strange, but that unpredictability should keep you watching, and there are some really tense moments... 7/10

Season Three (8 episodes)

After the strangeness of the second season, I thought we would have a more straightforward case this time around, but if anything, things are even stranger! We're in Blackwood County now, with a woman who dies after falling into a sinkhole on her farm. Being a former love of Billy's, he's soon in the area poking around and finds the incident may have been down to over-drilling and lack of water - both areas that local bigshots Wade Blackwood (Quaid) and his sister Diana (Brenneman) monopolise. Due to their hoarding, Billy tries to get the townfolk to come together for a class action lawsuit. So far, so normal, but the strangeness is never far away. There's a casino nearby whose staff insist Billy has been there before, and it's also where Wade and his farming buddies (including Beau Bridges) go to get high. That combined with the possibly-psychotic Diana's antics as well as her two adopted sons who act as her heavies, and numerous flashbacks for several characters, and the strangeness is slower-paced but still considerable. On top of everything, Denise is going off the rails. I think it's fair to say this would be the weakest season were it not for Quaid and Brenneman but we do at least see some courtrooms this time around... 7/10

Season Four (8 episodes)

Here's a trailer for the first season...

After the cliffhanger end to season three we find that Billy survived but his mental as well as physical scars have yet to fully heal. He is in San Francisco while he recovers and is now - shock! - actually working for a proper law firm! He's living in an apartment in Chinatown where he spends most of his time looking out of his window at the people in the building opposite, particularly a mysterious old codger called Frank (Dern). Patty also works at the firm which is headed by Samantha Margolis (Malone) and their current case is the biggest of the show so far - big pharma. Specifically, they are aiming to take down Zax Pharma run by George Zax (J. K. Simmons), a major player in the opioid industry, for allegedly having full knowledge of the addictive nature of their painkillers. It's a serious and very real issue, of course, but don't think there's no room left for strangeness this time; that is covered by the numerous flashbacks/visions that Billy has, many of which feature his father (Robert Patrick), but the season in general has a rather mysterious, even surreal feel about it, and it's this, the case itself, and strong supporting cast along with typically excellent work from Thornton that make this, for me, the best season of all... 8/10

Final Thoughts:

There any many techniques TV execs might use with legal dramas to make them a success in my experience. You'll usually have a huge case in terms of the seriousness of the crime(s), or it will be an important person who's in the dock, or of course both. There will frequently be a major conspiracy, often involving the government or at least people working for it, and you might have a whistleblower or star witness come forward, or perhaps shady types intimidating said witness. Goliath, however, doesn't really do any of these things to a significant degree.

It instead mainly relies on two things. First and foremost is Billy Bob Thornton himself who seems to be a bit of a 'love him or hate him' type actor, certainly in more recent years, and if you fall into the latter camp, this is obviously a show you won't enjoy too much. Secondly, the theme suggested by the title of the show (as in 'David and...') is one which suits Billy (both the real one and fictional one) down to the ground. Aside from the last season, the cases he works on, while important to the people involved, are not really earth-shattering in scope. It's more about Billy and his odd trio of helpers going up against monstrous adversaries and, more often than not, succeeding thanks to their unorthodox methods, often in unorthodox situations.

The end result is one of those addictive shows that you can easily end up watching multiple episodes of in one sitting, but I did on occasion find myself wondering why. Many of the types of ingredients you might find yourself expecting are absent, after all. That does make it a bit more original though, and while the end results of the cases in question are rarely in doubt, events leading up to that point are frequently strange and unpredictable. It also has some memorable characters, including lots of recurring or guest stars who I didn't have space to mention above. Of the main characters, all are flawed but you'll still like them anyway, even Patty who I couldn't stand to start with, but she soon becomes one of the best characters of all thanks to great work from Arianda. Likewise with Hurt as the enimatic Cooperman, at least until he became a creepy perv. Thornton is the reason the show even exists though, and he shares more than just a first name with the main character here. He is probably in cruise mode for the bulk of the show in all honesty, but he's still great.

Overall then, it's a slightly unusual show and I wouldn't say any of the seasons are absolutely top-drawer - there is at least something wrong with each of them - but the many qualities mentioned above still makes for compelling viewing anyway, and I found myself wanting more when it was over. That, if nothing else, is surely the sign that the show has done its job, and done it well.