While previous episodes of Shark had some marginal space for unreliable witnesses, the fourth story of Season One is entirely dedicated to one of them, and what a scum that is: an unscrupulous P.I. who has had some obscure dealings with our very own Sebastian Stark.
The investigator in question, Harry Russo (William Forsythe), was spying on the woman the police found dead in an apartment belonging to a wealthy film producer. All hangs on Russo's testimony, but D.A. Devlin is more interested in seeing the sleazy dude behind bars, which is why she asks Stark's employee Casey Woodland (Sam Page) to sniff around. Too bad he is already busy dealing with the fact he slept with colleague Madeleine Poe (Sarah Carter) at the end of the previous episode...
For once, the real heart of the plot is not inside the courtroom, but in the hotel lobby where Stark and Russo meet: tense and filled with sarcasm (not to mention the first time the protagonist is referred to as "Shark"), the conversations between the two former partners (in crime?) are the best example of how flexible the legal system can get, something the writing team has been trying to show from the beginning through the Stark character. Woods and Forsythe's double act is so riveting the Woodland/Poe affair, though handled with wit, feels flat in comparison. Less distracting than usual, on the other hand, is the family factor, as Sebastian's daughter faces some murky waters of her own, leaving an intriguing subplot for future episodes to explore. Still, there's no beating the senior Stark: the old man will always be the king!
The investigator in question, Harry Russo (William Forsythe), was spying on the woman the police found dead in an apartment belonging to a wealthy film producer. All hangs on Russo's testimony, but D.A. Devlin is more interested in seeing the sleazy dude behind bars, which is why she asks Stark's employee Casey Woodland (Sam Page) to sniff around. Too bad he is already busy dealing with the fact he slept with colleague Madeleine Poe (Sarah Carter) at the end of the previous episode...
For once, the real heart of the plot is not inside the courtroom, but in the hotel lobby where Stark and Russo meet: tense and filled with sarcasm (not to mention the first time the protagonist is referred to as "Shark"), the conversations between the two former partners (in crime?) are the best example of how flexible the legal system can get, something the writing team has been trying to show from the beginning through the Stark character. Woods and Forsythe's double act is so riveting the Woodland/Poe affair, though handled with wit, feels flat in comparison. Less distracting than usual, on the other hand, is the family factor, as Sebastian's daughter faces some murky waters of her own, leaving an intriguing subplot for future episodes to explore. Still, there's no beating the senior Stark: the old man will always be the king!
