Network: NBC
Episodes: 22 (hour)
Seasons: One
TV show dates: January 8, 2012 — July 14, 2012
Series status: Cancelled
Performers include: Josh Lucas, Molly Parker, Natasha Calis, Callum Keith Rennie, Juliette Lewis, Shaun Majumder, and Tricia Helfer.
TV show description:
As a young associate, Mitch McDeere (Josh Lucas) brought down the prestigious Memphis law firm of Bendini, Lambert & Locke, which operated as a front for the Chicago mob — and his life was never the same.
This TV series picks up 10 years after the end of the John Grisham novel and 1993 feature film. We find that Mitch, his wife Abby (Molly Parker), and their 10-year-old daughter Claire (Natasha Calis) are tired of hiding. After coming out of the Federal Witness Protection program, they relocate to our nation’s capitol.
Mitch starts his own practice, Abby is a teacher, and Claire starts to make real friends. Unfortunately, past dangers are still lurking and new threats are everywhere.
Mitch is aided by Ray McDeere (Callum Keith Rennie), his charming yet volatile older brother. Having served time in prison for manslaughter, Ray acts as Mitch’s private investigator.
Tammy Hemphill (Juliette Lewis) is Mitch’s feisty and sexy receptionist, whose work life is made all the more tumultuous by her on-again, off-again relationship with Ray. Tammy is leery when Mitch accepts a deal to partner with a top law practice, Kinross & Clark, as she’s not cut out for the conservative culture of a white-shoe firm.
Andrew Palmer (Shaun Majumder) is a charming, gregarious and ambitious partner at Kinross & Clark. He plays basketball with Mitch in a local league on the weekends and uses that connection to approach Mitch about a partnership with his firm. Alex Clark (Tricia Helfer) is a managing partner of Kinross & Clark. She’s a dynamic and a very confident lawyer who, like Andrew, has secret reasons for wanting Mitch on board.
Episode 22 — Chapter Twenty-Two
Claire wakes Tammy up early on the most important day of her life – her wedding day! When Abby hears Tammy struggling over what to wear, she steps in, offering up her own wedding dress. But in order to make it work for Tammy, Abby’s going to convert the gown into a mini. Once dressed, Tammy realizes she’s missing something blue.
Luckily, Claire has made her a blue macrame bracelet, emblazoned with Tammy’s new name: Mrs. Tamara McDeere. Mitch finds Ray at the office, sweating over the mysterious blond guy, whom he still can’t locate. Mitch reminds him that the wedding should be his priority today. Nevertheless, Ray’s intuition is spot on, as elsewhere in the city, the blond guy distributes weapons to his men in an alley, then climbs into an SUV bound for the church where Ray and Tammy are getting married.
After Tammy and Ray say their personal vows, the priest is just getting to the “I dos” when a car alarm just outside the church goes off. Figuring it’s his car, Mitch dashes to the curb, only to get tased by the blond guy and his masked henchman, tossed into a duffle bag and loaded into an SUV. Ray runs outside just as the SUV speeds away. Ray runs back into the church and orders Abby to call 911 as he tries Mitch’s cell phone — which rings.
When a groggy Mitch picks up, Ray tells him to hide his phone and keep the connection live. Thinking ahead, Ray has installed a GPS tracking app on Mitch’s phone. He leaves Tammy to follow the signal on the church computer while he drives after the kidnappers. But Mitch’s kidnappers aren’t dumb, so they pull over the car and seize his phone, then zip him back into his duffle.
Unfortunately, the signal from Mitch’s phone dead ends in a parking lot. When Ray calls Mitch’s cell again, he follows the ringing to find the phone in the back of a random pickup truck. In the meantime, the kidnappers swap cars at a gas station and proceed to the edge of a quarry pool. Wearing their ski masks, they march Mitch through the woods to a cliff high above the pool. Finally, the blond guy removes his mask, aims his gun at Mitch’s head and says, “You want to know who I am?”
After ordering Mitch to stop his inquiries, the blond guy shoves him off the edge of the cliff into the water below. Mitch makes his way back to the gas station, where he asks a stranger to call the police. It’s not long before Louis Coleman is on the scene. After reviewing the situation, it becomes clear that the Russians are on the verge of declaring all-out war on the Moroltos.
Back at the house, Mitch tells Abby, Ray and Tammy about his kidnapping experience. Everyone concludes that the Russians are framing Patrick, and Joey needs to know. Mitch hopes Joey will let him off the hook since he was almost killed, but no dice. Joey promises to take care of the Russians, and from now on, the McDeeres will be under the Moroltos’ protection. Later, Joey meets with Russian mob boss Luka Karpov, and gets right to the point: Joey wants the man who murdered Charlotte to come forward or he’s taking the war to the next level. When Joey offers the photo of the blond guy, Karpov promises to talk to him, but won’t promise anything else, departing with more than a few thinly veiled threats.
Karpov summons the blond guy, aka Viktor, to his club to discuss Charlotte Miller’s murder. Viktor denies killing her, so he is dismissed for the time being with a warning. Meanwhile, the McDeeres have uncomfortably accepted the presence of Joey’s men in their home. Ray thinks the Russians are crazy, but Mitch feels the best plan going forward is to point to Viktor as Charlotte’s murderer in court.
The next day, prosecutor Olivia Danville questions Detective Keene on the stand to establish what happened on the night of Charlotte’s murder. When it’s his turn, Mitch wastes no time trying to create the possibility that Patrick was framed and introduces Viktor’s photo. He explains that he has a witness who can confirm Viktor broke into Charlotte’s building on the night of the murder – and couldn’t Patrick’s cigarettes have been planted in her apartment?
Louis Coleman visits Tarrance at the FBI to check out his Russian mob wall. He’s surprised to see a photo of Viktor Kurylenko and demands Tarrance bring him in for questioning. Tarrance promises to see what he can do, then meets with Viktor to tell him to back off the McDeeres. Later, Karpov gathers his men to set the wheels of an epic plan in motion, which will involve the future murder of a foreign diplomat.
Back at the office, Abby and Tammy comb through Patrick’s police files once again, and decide to watch the video of Detective Keene interrogating Patrick. When Patrick lights up a cigarette it hits the women like a ton of bricks: this is the cigarette that was planted in Charlotte’s apartment! Could the Russians have paid Keene to plant it? Mitch doesn’t know for sure, but he wastes no time playing the video in the courtroom, pissing off Keene, Olivia – and the judge. Nevertheless, he’s made a deep impression on the jury.
Tarrance storms into Coleman’s office, angrily demanding to know why he put out an APB on Viktor. Tarrance confesses that not only are the Russians an FBI priority, but Viktor is his informant. And he’s not arresting his key asset to bail out a guy who works for the Moroltos. Tarrance better back off, or he’ll be sorry.
During a break in the trial, Patrick and Joey congratulate Mitch for a job well done – the frame defense is working. Mitch isn’t too sure; he could tell that Keene didn’t plant the cigarette in Charlotte’s apartment, since he didn’t have a prepared answer to Mitch’s question about it.
Meanwhile, Coleman gathers Abby, Claire and Tammy. He says he’s not sure what’s going on; all he knows is that he’s supposed to get them to Judge Trott’s chambers as soon as possible. They bump into Mitch on the way, who claims Judge Trott is waiting for them… to finally seal Ray and Tammy with the bonds of matrimony!
That night, Coleman meets with the McDeere family at the house to reveal Viktor’s identity, and that he’s working as an informant for the FBI. Furthermore, Tarrance knows Viktor is involved in Charlotte’s murder, but he doesn’t care. And yes, the FBI may be involved in framing Patrick. The only way to free Patrick is to pursue the truth, together. It’s going to be the U.S. Marshals, the McDeeres and the Moroltos vs. the FBI and the Russian mob.
That night before going to bed, Abby tells Mitch she’s been thinking about Claire. After all the years of therapy Claire will need, Abby hopes she’ll take one thing away from this situation: if something out there is preventing you from being who you really are… fight it!
Six weeks later, in a replay of the season opener, a breathless Mitch races across a rooftop — and jumps!
First aired: July 14, 2012.
Image courtesy NBC.
Great show! Hope you forward all the likes here to the producers/station.
Really sorry this was the last show of the series! Loved the show and we always taped it so we wouldn’t miss a minute. I like the others are in hopes some other network will pick this up and continue the series. Great job to all involved with the series!!! Don’t give up on it!!
How can the firm be cancelled. Probably the best show and with the best cast.
Come on. Canceling John ?????????
HAVING READ THE BOOK, THE FIRM, EXCITED WAS NOT THE WORD WHEN I FOUND OUT ABOUT THE SERIES. HAVEN’T MISSED AN EPISODE,
PLANNED EVERY SATURDAY NIGHT AROUND WATCHING THE FIRM. THIS SHOW HAS BEEN SHUFFLED AROUND AND PUSHED ASIDE FOR EVERY AND ANYTHING ELSE THAT WANTED THAT SLOT OF TIME, INCLUDING LOCAL CHANNELS. I AM VERY UPSET THAT THIS PROGRAM HAS BEEN CANCELED. IT DIDN’T HAVE A CHANCE. PLEASE RECONSIDER THE CANCELING OF THIS CLEAN, DECENT, EXCITING SHOW ANOTHER CHANCE. AT LEASE GIVE US A CLOSURE EPISODE.
So sorry for the Firm being cancelled. We, as fans and also the show itself, was treated badly not giving the show a chance. It’s showings were jerked around and everything else took priority. I and my friends enjoyed this show immensely and we’re left hanging in total suspense. NOT FAIR.
Please finish the show and have a little respect for a clean show. We don’t want shows filled with gays, sex and the things that God and our country don’t approve of.
Thank you
I completely agree. There are few shows that I enjoy watching and this one ended up being one my daughter enjoyed too. Sad to see it end especially the way it did.
I am very upset that The Firm has been cancelled!!!!!! I watched it every week, have not missed an episode, and planned my activities around it. It was a good, clean, show and I guess that is why it was cancelled. Now I feel that there will be put in its place, some mess that is not fitting to watch, with vulgarity, obscenity, and all of the “political correctness” garbage thrown in. So sick of this!!!!!!!!!
There is hardly anything on network TV worth watching!!!!!!! What show is next?
I wish a cable network would pick this show up. I am sure they could do a better job of scheduling and promoting this great series.
I know that season finales are meant to be cliffhangers. Wish they thought it through a little better just so there’s some resolution as they end the series. It’s unfortunate that we’ll never know what happens to the Patrick Walker case. Loved this show… sad to see it go.
This is a crime…at least they could do a final tv movie next season to give all of the fans closure. If a show like Cougar Town can move to another network can’t that be a possibility? I loved this show…such a bummer!
We have watched this show since day one and we love it. We do not want to see it go. We really look forward to watching it each week. Please bring it back for another season.
The closer we get to then end, the more I want to the show to go on! Please reconsider the cancellation, it’s been done before with other shows!
The Firm is one of the best shows on tv. It has good performers, action, suspense and a good story line. I hope it can be revived in another time slot. Part of the problem is that it was pre-empted so many times for other shows in the Saturday time slot (shows that are on air during the week) that people gave up, never knowing when it would be on. Perhaps if it moved to a weekday evening, when it would be on every week, more people would watch. It would be ashame if it is totally cancelled. PLEASE reconsider,… Read more »
I’m really disappointed that they decided to cancel this show. Obviously people would rather watch mindless drivel like reality shows so the ratings were low for the Firm. Too bad. Hopefully another station picks up season 2 as we’ve been left to wonder, do they go after the Russian mob with their friend Louis?
Don’t cancel this show
I know so many people who watch this show
Please reconsider
If the Firm is indeed cancelled when NBC got it for a bargain for outside the US: SHOULD READ: “… from outside the US.
Apologies for poor editing.
If the Firm is indeed cancelled when NBC got it for a bargain for outside the US; it is another indication of:
1. The affiliates belief that US audiences aren’t aware of how corruption has infiltrated the once proud Federal Agencies.
2. They believe American’s do not want to know; when we do!
3. NBC insults the intelligence millions of viewers by cancelling it.