Line #60 Series/FairlyLegal


1	%%Examples with no context are called Zero Context Examples and not permitted. See the Adminstrivia page.
2	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/fairlylegal_5953.jpg]]
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4	''Fairly Legal'' (formerly known as ''Facing Kate'' - [[MarketBasedTitle which is still its title]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=guuxP49pXek on French television]]) is a Creator/USANetwork television series starring Creator/SarahShahi, Creator/MichaelTrucco, Baron Vaughn, and Creator/VirginiaWilliams. The one-hour drama premiered on January 20, 2011 and ran for two seasons, making it a rare ShortRunner by USA standards. It centers on Kate Reed (Shahi), a lawyer who changes professions and becomes a mediator instead, allowing the writers to take a new look at tropes about the law and lawyers.
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7	!!This show contains examples of:
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9	* BeleagueredAssistant: Leo. Not that Kate is incompetent, she just has a lot of trouble sticking to her schedules/appointments etc., leaving Leo to clean up the mess. Now it seems that Ben is trying to poach Leo, forcing him to deal with Ben's crap, in addition to Kate's.
10	%%* BlackAndNerdy: Kate's assistant Leo.
11	* BlatantLies: Leo tells Ben that Lauren used to be a porn star.
12	--> '''Leo (laughing)''': That last part's untrue. But you believed it, right? It's like a vibe.
13	* BunnyEarsLawyer: Kate is an excellent mediator always willing to go the extra mile for a client, however she is constantly late if she even shows up at all, disrespectful to her boss who is also her step-mother and sometimes going the extra mile for a client means bending or breaking the law. In the season one finale, [[spoiler:this is subverted; Lauren is finally fed up with Kate's shenanigans and fires her]]
14	%%* BrainyBrunette: Kate.
15	* BrokenPedestal: When Lauren reveals the firm is in serious financial trouble, Kate naturally accuses her of running it into the ground after her father died. However, Lauren fires back that the business trouble started under Kate's dad, he drove major clients away and Lauren was the one basically running the place in the last few years of his life. Kate doesn't believe it until she checks the records and realizes Lauren was right and is stunned to realize she's been putting her father on a bit too much of a pedestal.
16	%%* CoolBoat: Kate lives out of one. See also HouseboatHero.
17	%%* DefrostingTheIceQueen: Lauren, second season.
18	* DerailingLoveInterests: Not as bad as some examples, but the revelation of [[spoiler: Justin's one night stand]] seems to exist solely to provide a reason for Kate to need space and be available to flirt with Ben. Particularly obvious as they were in the process of finalizing their divorce and had made a relatively clean break at the end of the first season meaning that having them both choose to move on wouldn't have been an unreasonable part of the plot.
19	* FalseRapeAccusation: Kate and the firm handle the case of a student accusing her teacher of sexual assault. It becomes a major issue before the girl confesses she made the whole thing up to get back at a bad grade. Thus, Lauren has to handle the school paying off a big settlement to avoid a lawsuit. However, Kate thinks something is up and interrupts a deposition to call a number off the teacher's phone. Everyone hears the student answering to ask "how much money did we get?" and realize the two were in on the whole thing to scam the college out of millions.
20	* FamilyVersusCareer: The reason given for Justin and Kate's marriage breaking up is that she prioritized her work before their relationship.
21	* {{Fanservice}}: Not gratuitous, but one memorable scene has [[SexyShirtSwitch Kate walking out of Justin's kitchen in his shirt]], and he tells her he intends to wear it to work. [[ToplessnessFromTheBack So she takes it off]].
22	%%* AFatherToHisMen: Coach Gardner.
23	* GoingCommando: Kate's ex drops by late at night. She greets him while wearing an undershirt and pauses before she realizes she isn't wearing a bra.
24	* GoldDigger: Averted by Kate's former stepmother Lauren. She really did love her husband, and her depth of emotions are reflected in the episode where she cannot even bear to enter his office. When the emotion becomes too much for her during the work day, she locks herself in the bathroom and submerges her face in ice water. She also tells Judge Nicastro she's terrified that if she appears to be moving on in any way, people will think she never really loved Teddy (Nicastro perceptively points out that by 'people' she means 'Kate').
25	* HelloAttorney: Kate herself is fairly attractive, but a mediator, not an attorney. Her stepmother, Lauren, ''is'' an attorney. As is her ex-husband, played by [[http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0873998/ Michael Trucco]].
26	%%* HouseboatHero: Kate, a rare female example (unless Series/{{MacGyver\|1985}}, [[Series/MiamiVice Sonny Crockett]], [[Series/SimonAndSimon Rick Simon]] and ''Series/QuincyME'' have been hiding something from us all these years). [[spoiler: This status [[StuffBlowingUp changes dramatically]] in the season two premiere.]]
27	%%* IceQueen: Lauren. Definitely [[DefrostingIceQueen defrosting]] as of Season 2.
28	* IdiotBall: As an intelligent, experienced former attorney Kate really should know better than attempt some of the stunts she pulls. She seems to think that mediation can solve everything and seems surprised when quite often it will blow up in her face and make the situation worse. In one case she tries to mediate a dispute where her client has nothing to offer and the other person has all the power since [[spoiler: the client is in the country illegally]].
29	* {{Jerkass}}: Ben Grogen. He piles work on Leo[[note]] who's not even his assistant[[/note]], constantly butts in on other people's conversations as if they didn't exist, and would rather get the best deal than help people. He may [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold seem to care to a degree]], but his {{jerkass}} qualities outweigh any kindness he seems to give.
30	%%* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Kate's ex-husband Justin. Kate also qualifies.
31	%%* MarriedToTheJob: Kate.
32	* MrFanservice: Justin ([[Series/BattlestarGalactica2003 aka Anders]]) has a number of shirtless scenes, and one scene where he goes totally nude on his apartment's balcony as a karmic punishment to his neighbor for regularly doing the same.
33	* MsFanservice: Kate and Lauren. In addition to the scene where Kate takes off her shirt and is [[ToplessnessFromTheBack Topless from the Back]], Kate routinely wears tight/short skirts and heels. And despite Lauren's [[IceQueen iciness]] she almost always wears extremely flattering dresses and heels. Not to mention the almost absurdly tight dress she wears on her date with [[Series/BattlestarGalactica2003 Helo]].
34	* NiceJobBreakingItHero:
35	** In "Bo Me Once", [[spoiler:Kate meets Bo's producer Beth, in her office. Then Beth tells her her father, the real Bo, was abusive. Then Kate apologizes; she invited Beth's father to the office to hash it out, and offers to sneak her out the back wa--whoops, he's already there.]]
36	** Kate is tasked with helping a woman who is an illegal immigrant and unintentionally committed identity theft (she thought the identity was fake rather than stolen). She screws up and [[spoiler: the woman ends up getting arrested and set to be deported]]. Everything Kate does to help only makes the situation worse.
37	* OneOfTheKids: Kate can be extremely childish, such as when locking her naked ex-husband out on his balcony.
38	* OnlyInItForTheMoney: Usually what can be broken down for Ben's reason for helping anyone, which he admits. Which, while it is his job and nothing wrong with caring about it professionally, pushes him to intentionally screw the rules at times if it means he can get a bit more money.
39	* ProductPlacement:
40	** Leo plays ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' rather conspicuously in the pilot.
41	** He also mentions in the pilot having to sell most of his [[TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering Planeswalker cards]] for a hot tip.
42	** More from Leo. In episode 7, he is seen playing [[VideoGame/MagicTheGathering Duels of the Planeswalkers]]. He also uses work time to sort through his TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering collection and put the cards into 3x3 binder pages.
43	** The iPad features notably in one episode as a potential birthday present for Kate.
44	%%* RealSongThemeTune: Iyeoka's 'The Yellow Brick Road Song'.
45	* ReasonableAuthorityFigure:
46	** Judge Nicastro, with shades of BaitAndSwitchTyrant. The twist is he's a bait and switch tyrant in each individual episode: he starts out tyrannical, but softens by the end. As opposed to being tyrannical in the beginning but softening in later episodes.
47	** As little as Kate might like to admit it, Lauren is also this. Everything she does is quite reasonably calculated to keep the firm alive (which is on the ropes since the death of Teddy Reed, Lauren's husband and Kate's dad).
48	** Lance, the bank foreclosure rep is more than happy to [[TakeTheThirdOption accept a viable alternative]] rather than force people into bankruptcy.
49	* ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight:
50	** This is how Kate lives her life. In order to right a wrong she will any rules that stand in her way and will not care for the personal, business or legal consequences.
51	** Ben mixes this with AmoralAttorney. If he thinks that he can get a client a better deal, he will not let things like legal ethics stop him.
52	%%* ShoutOut: Episode 2x09 "Shut the [[Series/BattlestarGalactica1978 frak]] up!"
53	* ShoutOut / TearJerker: Judge Nicastro is named after the late singer/actress Michelle Nicastro, wife of executive producer Steve Stark (Michelle passed away during production of ''Series/TheEvent'', Stark's previous series).
54	%%* SmugSnake: Ben, full stop.
55	* StealthPun: Most of Kate's phone contacts all have ID pics and ring tones based on ''Film/TheWizardOfOz'' characters.
56	** Her assistant, Leo, is the Cowardly Lion.[[note]]"Leo" is Latin for "lion". Leo also has a mini-Afro that slightly resembles a mane.[[/note]]
57	** Justin's ID pic is the Tin Man, which upsets him when he finds out. "You think I don't have a heart?" The obvious twist being that, although the Tin Man doesn't have a heart, he didn't need one to be warm and caring, etc. Just like, as it is heavily implied, Justin doesn't.
58	** Lauren's is the Wicked Witch of the West, obviously...
59	** Her father was the Wizard. An entirely appropriate metaphor, it turns out, since [[spoiler: Kate and Lauren discover that Teddy wasn't nearly so moral as he held himself out to be, founding the firm with embezzled money and seeking places on various boards of directors for the sake of power, in the same way the Wizard is a fake.]]
60	*** Carried on into the RealSongThemeTune, Iyeoka's 'Yellow Brick Road Song' which, as you can guess by the title, contains numerous references to ''Film/TheWizardOfOz''.[[invoked]]
61	%%* StuffBlowingUp: ''[[spoiler: Kate's boat.]]''
62	* TokenEvilTeammate: Ben. Though he has showed hints of heart of gold and genuine good qualities, he is above all else an AmoralAttorney who will do whatever he feels will increase his profit.
63	* WhamEpisode: The first season finale: David Smith is leaving town, and Lauren [[spoiler: buys out his share of the firm and uses her new majority holding to fire Kate.]] Then, [[spoiler: a pregnancy scare proves to be the last straw for Justin, and he leaves Kate apparently for good.]] And finally, Kate's boat runs out of gas...
64	* WhamLine: Several.
65	-->[[spoiler: Lauren, to [[BunnyEarsLawyer Ka]][[UltimateJobSecurity te]]]]: You're fired.
66	-->[[spoiler: Justin]]: I slept with another woman.
67	-->[[spoiler: Leo]]: [[ItMakesSenseInContext I told her to fix that stove.]]

Context Series / FairlyLegal