A disgraced lawyer, now an ambulance chaser, gets a case that could bring him redemption, or at least extract revenge on the firm he started – but eventually dumped him.

Goliath

Clifton’s Bill Condon hyped me on Goliath. The only thing I don’t like is the intro to each episode.

Billy Bob Thornton, Maria Bello, Molly Parker, and William Hurt are the headliners. Nina Ariana and Tania Raymonde are important characters. But the one who captivated me most was Olivia Thirlby.

Olivia Jo Thirlby

Wikipedia says she’s an American actress best known as Leah in the comedy-drama film Juno, Natalie in The Darkest Hour, and as Judge Cassandra Anderson in Dredd. Never saw any of those.

She plays a young attorney with a stuttering problem.

They dressed her up as the plain-Jane-schoolmarm type from the old Westerns. But I saw right thru the disguise. I saw a sexually-desirable young woman – 30 at the time of the first episode – and I’ll take the Plain Jane over the Fashion Whore every time.

Here’s the sequence that got me: Maria Bello and Molly Parker are partners in a huge L.A. law firm. Maria Bello is Billy Bob’s Ex and Molly Parker plays a perfect bitch. Anyway, video is playing on a screen behind them.

Olivia Thirlby is standing in a courtroom addressing the judge when a stuttering episode kicks in. She fails miserably. Afterward, Molly Parker calls her on the carpet to say she received complaints about Trilby’s attitude.

Thirlby pretty much calls her a liar and says little recourse exists because of her speech disability. And then she challenges in a prefect deadpan … “Just try” … then she pretends to stutter … “and you will be fu-fu-fu-fucked.”   

 Strange production schedule for the series. Four seasons thus far  – 2016 – 2018 – 2019 – and 2021 – with 8 episodes per season. I’ve only been thru the first season. Like it. Good acting. Interesting plot.

But beware: so much happens in the first episode, you hafta really pay attention from the opening scene on.