As Stephen Bochco’s Raising the Bar heads into its third season, you may be wondering just what will be different this time around. Allow me to briefly quote from my review of the first season to answer your question: “Raising the Bar does manage to briefly distinguish itself on the strength of dialogue and production values, but it can’t avoid the sinking feeling that you’ve seen this all before.” Season two is no different, moving the plot forward and maintaining the same solid production values, but the show is beginning to feel more labored than some, even as it generally remains better written than many.
Judicial crusader Jerry Kellerman (Mark-Paul Gosselaar) is back, with many familiar faces joining him in the second season. Having trotted out from under Roz Whitman’s (Gloria Reuben) wing, Kellerman is still struggling with an insatiability for justice within a system that is seemingly not geared for the innocent or financially deficient. He is directly in competition with Marcus McGrath (J. August Richards), and their genial relationship in season two takes a hit as tensions grow and the two men try to outsmart one another.
McGrath also juggles a growing romance with new addition Amelia Mkali (Megalyn Echikunwoke), whose connections reach to the highest levels of power and may move McGrath forward like nothing else. Kellerman is no stranger to romance, having ended a relationship with Michelle Ernhardt (Melissa Sagemiller) while pursuing Bobbi Gilardi (Natalia Cigliuti), who is embedded in a vicious divorce battle with her soon-to-be ex-husband. Judges Kessler (Jane Kaczmarek) and Ventimiglia (Jon Polito, overplaying it just a bit) are back, with terrifically anal Judge Albert Farnsworth (John Michael Higgins, putting in sturdy character work for a role written more as a caricature). Jerry’s quarrels with Farnsworth are an exercise in careful word choice and Higgins challenges Gosselaar with his pronounced passive-aggressive attitude.
Season two continues to probe the ongoing battle between the offices of the district attorney and the public defenders. When it comes to realistic depictions of the legal process Raising the Bar settles for some hyperbole and a lot of overly verbose legal chatter. Cases are cited and concepts pitched about with some speed, leaving the viewers to play catch up some of the time. Still, the plot per episode remains largely the same – Jerry is tasked with defending a man or woman most others believe to be guilty and his shaggy haired battle (look for a big hair-related surprise in the first episode) for justice pits him against the DA’s office, who are not presented as the bad guys, but simply the best the system has to offer, fair competition.
The show doesn’t skimp on the late night outings for the crew that I originally called “refreshing”, but now that the lines have been more harshly sketched, once friendly colleagues dissolve to nothing more than a few courteous words. Jerry clashes with Michelle, and those couple of scenes work well since they highlight the passion still coursing between them. Largely though, Raising the Bar stays the course, proving a lot of bark but harmless nibbling at drama where a stronger hand may be more sufficient. It is the same old show, and for fans of the first season, that may be just what they’re looking for. I would have settled for more hyperbole and less tech-talk myself, but one of the merits of the show is that it sticks to its guns, mellow as they may be. Raising the Bar is not for everyone, but it is professionally blocked and shot, considerably acted and most of all, still the same show you started out with. You decide whether that’s a good or a bad thing.
DVD Bonus Features
Unlike the first season, which featured a host of making-of and interview featurettes, season two clocks in with a disappointing 28 minutes of deleted scenes, all of them without commentary.
"Raising The Bar: The Complete Second Season" is on sale May 11, 2010 and is not rated. Crime, Drama, Thriller. Directed by Jesse Bochco, Rick Bota. Written by Jonathan Abrams, Allison Cross, Joel Fields. Starring Gloria Reuben, John Michael Higgins, Jon Polito, Mark Paul Gosselaar, Melissa Sagemiller, J August Richards.
