Okay, so thanks to Laverne Cox’s most recent appearance on the Daily Show last week, I went and checked out her new show, Doubt, which premiered on CBS last week. I was stoked. Laverne Cox is in a new show!!!
It was mildly annoying that the show is on CBS, because it means going to their website to watch it, as opposed to being able to see it on Amazon Prime, Hulu +, or Netflix.
However, upon watching the show I am utterly delighted.
The characters are believable. The issues and plot in the pilot are believable. I wasn’t jumping up and down going, “No! No! No! That’s an ethical violation! That’s hearsay! That would get you disbarred in the real world!” like I have tended to do when I watch shows like Scandal or even Law and Order since the first year of law school.
It helps that the show is actually about defense attorneys, realistic ones who aren’t portrayed as one-dimentional assholes out to get bad guys off at any cost just so they can win. The characters are driven, yes, and workaholics, but driven by passion for the work, not by “winning.” When an ethical issue came up with Sadie, the lead, developing feelings for a client, she recused herself . You know, like one is supposed to do if/when that sort of thing happens.
The only thing that sounded unrealistic was the one dude trying to get a job with the firm supposedly finishing law school in prison. But it’s New York, so who knows?
As a transgender person, I also appreciated how the “trans” aspect of Laverne Cox’s character is handled. As she said on the Daily Show, it’s just one aspect of her character. There’s no stereotypical transgender-narrative story arc in the offing. She just is. It was handled beautifully in a scene featuring interaction with a schizophrenic client who is confused about her. (That’s not something that’s come up for me personally; like many trans men on testosterone therapy, I seldom get “clocked” nowadays. I have “passing” privilege, if you will, at least in professional settings where there isn’t a chorus of “mom! mommy! mom!” from my children to confuse people.)
I will be looking forward to more episodes of this show. If it keeps up with the tone and quality set in the pilot, it will be worth continued watching.
Ravin's Rantings 
Posted on February 22, 2017
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