TVSquad

Is anybody else wondering where this show is going? It's trying to balance a procedural drama, which is Dick Wolf's cup of tea, with a bunch of personal storylines, which are usually not included in Dick Wolf shows. It seems clumsy, fragmented, and packed with too much information. I still don't know any of the characters' names and I feel like I'm not getting any time to get to know them because the show jumps from character to character so quickly.

The character I find myself liking the most is ADA Brian Peluso, played by television veteran Eric Balfour. Maybe it's the goatee, or the way he makes the other ADAs feel good about themselves. I don't really know for sure. I just dig him because he does a great job of playing a character who is good at his job, but is really freaking out on the inside over of all the personal messes he has managed to get himself into (i.e. a gambling problem and an ex-girlfriend he regrets dumping). His storyline tonight was the most compelling, as he desperately tried to do a legal favor for a debtor but found his hands were tied.

The ADA Nick Potter character, who seems to be the lead in this show, was pushed to the background in this episode. He was the victim of a bunch of very obvious office jokes that didn't even make me crack a smile. I did like how, all of a sudden, he was winging it and trying a defendent for a crime. So far, the Nick Potter character is pretty bland and I'd like to see more.

The romance between DDA James Steele and ADA Jessica Rossi is already old. Rossi is the one in charge of the relationship and she doesn't want any strings attached. It's a stale storyline. As for their respective cases, I found myself feeling strongly for Steele, who really didn't want to send a 14-year-old boy to prison for murdering his brother. It was a great story that is meant to show that district attorneys can be compassionate, but sometimes people refuse to understand that. Rossi's storyline, about her rape case of a drug-addicted prostitute was also remotely interesting. She fought hard for a woman who didn't seem to care whether anybody fought for her and didn't appreciate Rossi's work.

I definitely could've done without the blind date storyline for ADA Christina Finn. She had a great storyline last time about trying her first case, but this was weak. The writers would've done better if they had left her and Nick Potter's storylines out and spent a little more time on the other characters.

The preview for next week looks pretty good so hopefully things will pick up! And I still want to know what happened that Alexandra Cabot was able to come out of witness protection to head up a bureau.