After the exciting and victorious Krantz case, Sanderson & Yao gets flooded with cases. Dean, in his usual fashion, wants them to pick the next big case. Stewart disagrees, but he realizes that telling Dean he can't do something only will make him want to do it more. So Stewart decides to encourage Dean and the plan backfires.
Dean and the law firm family are still celebrating their major victory from last week's premiere. Dean has found a purpose and direction with his life again. He gave himself completely to his show. Now that it's ended it's easy for him to walk into the same role but in his brother and father's actual firm. He believes he knows how to act in this environment. He does push the business to do things that they wouldn't normally do. The firm isn't like the one depicted on Dean's show though. They do have to focus somewhat on getting paid so that they can support a family. They can't afford to take every case to trial because that would just be too time consuming. Dean still has a lot to learn about the actual law. And yet, his perspective on the business has proven to be a very valuable tool to press the firm into an exciting new direction.Of course, the show gets a lot of pleasure out of how debilitating Dean gets as soon as he realizes that in reality lawyers lose cases all the time. It's a lot of fun too. The show has earned wallowing in that mood for a little bit - even though both of the leads characters are depressed at the time following their respective strategies not working how they planned. Was an entire montage necessary to show the immense sadness that Dean is feeling in this moment? Not really. But it was also funny seeing him lose his confidence after this crushing defeat. He doesn't know what it's like to lose. He feels the pressure to do well in his second case as a new lawyer. Sure, everyone still perceives him as just an actor. But he wants his follow-up to his big success last week to be meaningful. He doesn't want to lose. He can't afford to lose. So when he does, it's a crushing defeat. A spiral that no one really knows how to deal with. They all watch the show and know how the character reacts to the various legal situations. But Dean is not his character from the show - even though he wants to step into that persona once again.
It's also frustrating for Stuart because he sees himself as nothing more than the foolish sidekick from Dean's show whenever Dean is in town. He is practical and knows what it takes to run and manage a business. But with Dean joining the family, that position feels increasingly useless and repetitive. He hates being the person who constantly says no to all the fun that Dean wants to encourage. He needs to be a good father to his children. But he doesn't want to be seen as the trivial side character to Dean's various antics. He too is relating his life to a character on the show. Debbie loved the TV show as well. However, she is only willing to put up with everything that Dean does because she can rely on Stuart to keep their family stable. And yet, she needs to be the realist and say that this family is not the same as the TV show. They can't just fit into the same dynamics. They need to establish their own relationships that are equally as complex while still allowing for plenty of individuality and compromise.
Stuart wants to be supportive of his brother. He has made his life more complicated since he came home. But he also enjoys having him around. He doesn't want to see him constantly depressed over one loss. The firm won't be able to win every case they select. Dean likes looking at the impossible and believing that he can do it. Whenever someone else brings up a practical concern, he ponders: "But what if we could?" It's an incredulous proposition that throws everyone off with their answers. No one really knows how to answer that question. At first, it was just a silly idea. Something Dean would say that didn't really add much value to anything. But over the course of the episode, it becomes more inspirational. It is the exact thing that can motivate Dean and get him back fighting for his just cause.
Stuart has made peace that he is not a fictional TV character. Dean is still holding onto that connection. Stuart has to lift a melodramatic piece of dialogue from the TV show just to get his point across to Dean. And yet, Dean is learning how to be an actual lawyer. One that settles cases in deposition rooms. One that uses strategies in order to win. One that doesn't rely on spur of the moment information coming to light. And one that doesn't rely on hearsay objections in order to prove his case. This is new territory for Dean. It's exciting but also carries the possibility of being emotionally crippling. Dean and Stuart have yet to find the perfect balance working together in this business. Stuart hires their opposing counsel, Claire, just to have someone else at the law firm who doesn't care for Dean's celebrity status. However, the bond between the brothers is getting stronger. That strength is making the show itself more real.
Some more thoughts:
- "A Hero Has Fallen" was written by Jarrad Paul & Andrew Mogel and directed by Jake Kasdan.
- The premiere was very much about Dean and Stuart. This episode does expand the ensemble a little bit by giving interesting things for Mary Elizabeth Ellis' Debbie and Natalie Morales' Claire to do. I'm still not sure what William Devane is really suppose to be doing as Dean Sr. though.
- The stuff with the kids focusing on homework and texting the boyfriend wasn't as engaging as the main legal story was. But it did help build up the desired effect the show was going for with Stuart.
- The show is still having a lot of fun with its show-within-the-show. However, that mostly amounts to Rob Lowe yelling a lot.
- Ethan: "But dad this is an important episode. They have to reset the premise." Dean Sr.: "And that's a hard thing to do." Dean: "In a graceful way? Very difficult. And we didn't follow up the pilot as well as we should have. And you know what? We lost a lot of our audience because of it." Stuart: "Are we sure that's why?"
- Debbie: "What are you watching by yourself in the bathroom at 8 AM?"
- Dean Sr.: "Let's put it this way. They hate to lose." Dean: "Looks like we. Have something in common."
- Dean: "Objection?" Claire: "On what grounds?" Dean: "Hearsay?" Claire: "Do you even know what that word means?" Dean: "Of course, we said it on every episode of The Grinder and, do you know what, it worked every time."
- Dean: "Hey Stu, you thinking what I'm thinking?" Stuart: "Maybe?"
- Todd: "Grinder rests?" Dean: "Damn right he does."
