TVSquad

(S01E13) Wayne the serial killer is now a free man, so Stark puts around-the-clock protection on Julie. This gives father and daughter yet one more thing to fight about. Oh, and Jessica Devlin, evidently still on the show, thinks Stark needs a vacation, which he absolutely does. Jess even gets to play a substantial role in the conclusion of the case, for once, when Stark ends up somewhat indisposed. She even cracks not one, but two, smiles.

So what starts out as another typical Shark lifestyles-of-the-rich-famous-and-murderous takes on more resonance because of the way it effects the regular characters, which makes for a stronger overall episode.

Stark feels that Jessica Devlin has lost confidence in his super-litigation powers since he lost the case against evil Wayne. Actually, it is Stark who has lost confidence in himself. Possibly because of that, he takes some short cuts here. Discovering he has initially been fooled and misread the case, he keeps a defendant on trial for a couple days even after her innocence is shown. That doesn't play well with Raina, who fears a bad outcome, something like last week's witness suicide, even. Casey is on the fence about the whole moral quandary. Madeleine is naturally quite fine with it.

The case provides plenty of opportunities for Stark's signature one-liners, such as "this kid's the third Menendez brother" and asking Raina whether "bronzing is the third or fourth stage of grief" before a poolside interview the not-so-grieving widow. Raina has a good line herself when she says Stark is the perfect person to interview the real-estate baron's widow, as he speaks "fluent ex-wife."

Love doesn't bloom when Isaac turns down an invitation from Raina to have a nightcap in her hotel room. Yes, he is apparently insane. And love might be blooming between Julie and her male-model 24-year-old bodyguard when he figures out what her favorite sandwich is, by way of apology. Evidently he couldn't distinguish one of Julie's fellow high school students (in school uniform, no less!) from the bearded serial killer Wayne, that he is supposed to be protecting her from. Since Isaac recommended this bodyguard to Stark as "the best in the business" I'm leaning even more toward the theory that Isaac has lost his marbles.

In the final scene, Stark merrily offers to make things right for the wrongly accused teacher (he will make some phone calls, and it will all be peachy) then casually inquiring about jail poker-night. That is fine and very Stark-like when viewed out of context. However, it's a little odd that Stark is feeling so carefree about a night spent away from home when he is also supposed to be crazy scared about Wayne's very real threats against Julie last week. He must really feel safe with that young vegan bodyguard on the job. He's probably right not to over-worry though. I don't think Wayne will be back before the final week of sweeps.