“Doubt isn't the opposite of faith; it is an element of faith.” - Paul Tillich
And G, I did have faith in Doubt. That faith didn't really vanish while watching the series premiere but still, it made me crumble. Doubt has a lot of heart and a kicka*s cast but various issues and struggles throughout the hour.
Before digging right into the pilot, I have to dig into the brilliant performance delivered by Judith Light. Judith's Carolyn Rice is our protagonist's mother and in prison. That final scene in prison between Carolyn and Sadie was just so intense, so emotionally charged and gave a true insight into both women. The tears, the shakiness in their respective voices as they crumbled in front of each other were just so powerful and made the pilot worth watching. I'm so intrigued to see why and what Carolyn did, can't wait for the show to unravel that jar of secrets.
The episode tries to create a deeper emotional connection but somehow feels flat as the writing feels pushy and way too inconvenient as the case properly deteriorating as everything goes down the hill for Sadie and Alberto. The show really shot itself in the foot with this storyline as they'll probably just gonna create more and more mess to keep the DOUBT going for a whole season. The mother was a very suspicious character but I assume she'll just be a red herring at one point in the story.
A very positive side of the pilot is the family office feeling. The lawyers really click together, their dialogue is good, entertaining and the scenes flow very well between them. Especially the interactions between Albert Cobb ( Psych's Dule Hill ) and Sadie were very entertaining and felt authentic. Him being her sense of reason and push for them to wrap the case around. Also, Sadie's boss Isaiah Roth, played by Friend's Eliott Gould is a very entertaining and witty character, but I'm glad they also took their time to give him some substance by introducing the earlier mention case involving Sadie's mother Carolyn with whom he is desperately in love despite her being in prison.
The case involving Laverne Cox's character, Cameron Wirth felt overall redundant. It did give Laverne space to show off a bit but didn't really gave anything else to the show as it felt misplaced in the general plot. I adore Laverne so I appreciate any screen time involving her but hopefully, she'll get more substantiated stories further down the season. Also, it was a very nice to see Dreama Walker on my screen again.
Last but not least there was Kobi Libii's Nick Brady who got just out of prison with a law degree in desperate need of a job. He camped in the office for 2 days till he persuaded Isaiah to give him a job and boy earned it with prove that the witness in Billy's case is probably just after the money.
Did Doubt do it for you or did it only make you doubt the decision to watch it this week? Sound off in the comment section and let's us discuss what did you think of the series premiere of Doubt
