Now that The Good Lawyer has pleaded her case, the time has come to decide whether or not she deserves another chance in court.
Written by David Shore and Liz Friedman, the backdoor pilot for the Good Doctor spinoff introduces Freddie Highmore’s Dr. Shaun Murphy to Kennedy McMann’s Joni DeGroot, an aspiring attorney whose struggles with obsessive compulsive disorder have kept her from practicing law… until now.
After being sued for malpractice (for amputating the hand of a car crash victim played by House vet Michael Weston), Shaun enlists Joni’s services to clear his name — and that she does, with an assist from her own, Glassman-like mentor (portrayed by Desperate Housewives‘ Felicity Huffman, in her first role since serving time for her participation in the infamous “Varsity Blues” college admissions scandal).
Scroll down to review TVLine’s complete case brief — including our arguments for and against moving forward with a series order for the legal offshoot — then tell us if you would like to see The Good Lawyer on ABC’s 2023-24 docket.
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WHO IS JONI DEGROOT?
Image Credit: Courtesy of ABC McMann’s Joni is a researcher at Franklin, Maxwell & Associates. She lives with crippling OCD, which Shaun categorizes as “repetitive, intrusive thoughts that cause excessive anxiety, which she manages with ritual behavior,” like tapping her fingers three times. When she doesn’t adhere by those rituals, she hears a voice in her head that tells her that bad things will happen. But “because of her OCD, she is thorough and understands my situation,” he explains, which is why he wants inexperienced Joni to be his lawyer despite everything working against her.
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WHO IS ABBIE DEGROOT?
Image Credit: Courtesy of ABC Bethlehem Million’s Abbie is Joni’s sister, roommate and best friend. In the pilot, she is shown to be Joni’s biggest cheerleader and a voice of reason as her younger sis works through her feelings about being chosen to represent Shaun over Janet.
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WHO IS JANET STEWART?
Image Credit: Courtesy of ABC Huffman’s Janet is a top attorney at Franklin, Maxwell & Associates, who previously oversaw two malpractice suits leveled against Shaun’s mentor, Dr. Aaron Glassman. Though she believes Joni is a brilliant legal mind — she tells Shaun that Joni filed a motion that firing her would be a violation of the Americans With Disabilities Act, and it was the best brief she’d ever read — she doesn’t think Joni’s cut out to present a case before a jury. At least not initially. Later, we learn that Janet’s connection to Joni (and Abbie) goes far deeper than the firm….
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WHAT IS JONI'S BACKSTORY?
Image Credit: Courtesy of ABC Joni’s OCD started after her father was killed in a car accident when she was eight. “I was very worried that my mother would die, too,” so she developed rituals meant to prevent it. “And she didn’t die… but she did drink,” Joni reveals. “Bad things happened, a lot of people made a lot of mistakes — our mother, some overworked social workers, some foster parents, a judge — but one person made it all right again: a lawyer” — and that lawyer was none other than Janet, who reunited Joni and Abbie with their mother.
In the present day, the sisters maintain a relationship with Mom — Abbie calls her after Joni wins her case — but it’s unclear how close they actually are, or if Mom still struggles with her sobriety.
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THE CASE FOR THE GOOD LAWYER
Image Credit: Courtesy of ABC Two words: Kennedy McMann. We’ve sung her praises before, but TV’s Nancy Drew remains a relative unknown to viewers who don’t frequent The CW, and we have no doubt the Good Doctor audience will want to see more of Joni following her franchise debut. Hiring an actress who was previously diagnosed with OCD also adds a layer of authenticity to her performance that is felt almost instantly. While the pilot lays it on thick, Joni’s OCD never feels like a gimmick. If it did, the spinoff would be dead on arrival.
The script by Shore and Friedman also leaves us wanting more, thanks in part to several lingering questions about Joni and Abbie’s upbringing (including how big a role Janet played in their lives outside the court room) and how Joni will conduct herself with a client who isn’t neurodivergent like Shaun. Will she find different ways to relate to them? And how hands on will Janet be in subsequent ‘suits?
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THE CASE AGAINST THE GOOD LAWYER
Image Credit: Courtesy of ABC The relationship between Joni and Janet feels an awful lot like the relationship between Shaun and Glassman — only slightly more rough around the edges, perhaps to make up for the fact that there isn’t a Melendez or Andrews type present to serve as a true antagonist to Joni. If the show moves forward, Shore and Friedman will need to find a way to set Joni and Janet’s relationship apart so it doesn’t just feel like a gender-flipped version of The Good Doctor. If that’s all there is to it, we’ve already seen that story. We don’t need to see it again.
Now it’s your turn! What did you think of the backdoor pilot for The Good Lawyer? Do you think ABC should move forward with a series order? Weigh in via the following polls, then share your review in Comments.
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