The story begins in court. Lew (Frank Gorshin) is on trial for murder and his lawyer, Ned (Martin Landau), was able to convince the jury that Lew is innocent. However, shortly after this, Lew confesses to Ned that he DID commit the murder....and he seems pretty happy about it. Well, Ned isn't happy...in fact, he's angry that he helped a scum-bag beat the system. What's next? Plenty!
I had a very hard time accepting the premise to this episode. Ned supposedly is a defense attorney who ONLY defends innocent people...and Lew's being guilty throws him. I saw two problems with this. First, I cannot imagine any defense attorney ONLY defending innocent people. Apart from Perry Mason and other TV attorneys, in real life this really cannot be the case and most folks defended by attorneys are guilty. Second, you'd THINK Ned would realize that sooner or later he'd defend a guilty person...even accidentally. Him having such a crisis of faith seemed bizarre and totally unrealistic. I think having Ned be less idealistic and more realistic would have made for a better episode. For example, what if he got the guy off for murder...only to find he's a serial killer!? Now that would have been interesting and believable....but the notion of a lawyer ONLY defending the innocent seems incredibly naive to say the least.
So, it's obvious I am not a fan of this episode. But it's not all bad. The acting was very good...in particular Gorshin as the sociopath. I just felt mesmerized by his vivid performance....and that's reason enough to see this one.
