1. Premise

2. Cast
    Main   Season 1    Season 2   Recurring   Season 1    Season 2  

3. Episodes
    Season 1 (2016)  Season 2 (2018) 

4. Production
    Development  Casting  Renewal 

5. Reception
    Critical response  Awards and nominations 

6. References

7. External links

• Legal drama

• David E. Kelley
• Jonathan Shapiro

• Billy Bob Thornton
• William Hurt
• Maria Bello
• Olivia Thirlby
• Nina Arianda
• Molly Parker
• Tania Raymonde
• Sarah Wynter
• Britain Dalton
• Diana Hopper
• Ana de la Reguera
• Matthew Del Negro
• Morris Chestnut
• Mark Duplass
• Lou Diamond Phillips

• David E. Kelley
• Jonathan Shapiro
• David Semel
• Ross Fineman
• Lawrence Trilling
• Clyde Phillips {{small|(season 2)}}

• David E. Kelley Productions
• Jonathan Shapiro Productions
• Amazon Studios

• 4K (Ultra HD)
• High dynamic range}}

Premise

Cast

Main

• Billy Bob Thornton as Billy McBride: formerly a brilliant and personable lawyer who founded the law firm Cooperman McBride with Donald Cooperman, and the two of them built it to be a successful legal firm. He walked out of the firm and became an alcoholic after a murder suspect he got acquitted on a technicality went on to kill an entire family. He lives in an extended-stay hotel by the Santa Monica Pier.^[9]
• Nina Arianda as Patty Solis-Papagian: a DUI lawyer and real estate agent, who brings Rachel Kennedy's case to McBride.^[10]
• Tania Raymonde as Brittany Gold: a prostitute who cares about Billy McBride and sometimes works as his legal assistant.^[11]
• Diana Hopper as Denise McBride (recurring season 1, main season 2): Billy and Michelle's 16-year-old daughter.^[12]

Season 1

• William Hurt as Donald Cooperman: McBride's partner in founding Cooperman McBride. He is disfigured with facial burns, and functions as a recluse: he rarely if ever leaves his office, and most people at the firm have never seen him. He monitors meetings and depositions remotely by cameras. Without the staff's knowledge, he has the entire office bugged, giving him access to everything that happens. He holds a grudge against McBride.^[13]
• Maria Bello as Michelle McBride: Billy's ex-wife and a partner at Cooperman McBride. She is angry with McBride, but respects his legal skills and is still fond of him.^[14]
• Olivia Thirlby as Lucy Kittridge: a young associate at Cooperman McBride who Cooperman installs on the Larson case.^[15]
• Molly Parker as Callie Senate: a senior lawyer at the firm who previously used a relationship with Cooperman to advance her career.^[16]
• Sarah Wynter as Gina Larson: widow of Ryan Larson (who worked at Borns Tech and is supposed to have committed suicide by blowing himself up on a boat).^[17]
• Britain Dalton as Jason Larson: son of Ryan and Gina. He eventually becomes the plaintiff in the case.^[18]

Season 2

• Ana de la Reguera as Marisol Silva, a city councilwoman from East Los Angeles, in the race to be the first Latina mayor of Los Angeles.^[19]
• Matthew Del Negro as Danny Loomis, a charismatic yet devious political operator and consiglieri to the city's power elite under the guise of being a "financial analyst".^[20]
• Morris Chestnut as Deputy District Attorney Hakeem Rashad, who was on the losing side of Billy’s last criminal case and has a bitter, old grudge against him.^[21]
• Mark Duplass as Tom Wyatt, a successful Los Angeles developer who wants to give the city a distinct skyline. A prominent philanthropist, he is a major contributor to mayoral candidate Marisol Silva.^[22]

Recurring

• Julie Brister as Marva Jefferson: Billy's legal assistant.

Season 1

• Damon Gupton as Leonard Letts: Corporate counsel to Borns Tech.
• Dwight Yoakam as Wendell Corey: CEO of Borns Tech.^[23]
• Harold Perrineau as Judge Roston Keller: The presiding judge on the Larson case.^[23]
• Ever Carradine as Rachel Kennedy: Ryan's sister, and the initial plaintiff in the wrongful death case against Borns Tech.
• Kevin Weisman as Ned Berring: A former employee at Borns Tech and a key witness in the case.
• Jason Ritter as FBI Agent Farley.

Season 2

• Lou Diamond Phillips as Oscar Suarez, owner of Chez Jay, whose son Julio is falsely accused of murder.
• Diego Josef as Julio Suarez, the son of the owner of Chez Jay, who is falsely accused of murder.
• Dominic Fumusa as Detective Keith Roman: An LAPD detective involved in the conspiracy. Roman blames Billy for getting a killer off who then went on to murder a family a few years ago.^[12]
• Paul Williams as J. T., a former colleague of Billy's with extensive contacts, who left his legal practice following the execution of a client.
• James Wolk as FBI Special Agent Jeff Clayton, who agrees to help Billy hunt down his prime suspect in the Marcos Pena murder.^[24]
• Alexandra Billings as Judge Martha Wallace, the judge in the Pena murder case, and a former prosecutor who has history with both Billy and J.T.^[25]
• Manuel Garcia-Rulfo as Gabriel Ortega, a powerful drug lord behind the murder conspiracy; he has childhood connections to Marisol.
• Annika Marks as Mary Roman.^[26]
• JC Gonzalez as DJ Diego Spiz.^[27]

Episodes

Season 1 (2016)

Billy is released from lockup the next morning, and rushes to the courthouse, only to find that the judge has already dismissed the case in his absence. Cooperman decides to counter-sue Billy for malicious prosecution. Billy visits Rachel to apologize and to take up the case once again, but she turns him away. The stalker visits the fishermen to find out what they told Billy. Billy asks a court clerk to help him get his case back up before the judge in the state court, refiles the case in federal court under the High Seas act, and meets with Patty and convinces her to help him get Rachel back on board. Cooperman is revealed to be spying on his employees, including Lucy, who is tasked with drafting the countersuit as well as the motion to dismiss the new case. Brittany tries to quit working for Billy, and introduces Marva as her replacement, but is convinced to stay. Rachel visits Gina, who reminds her that Ryan had left a suicide note, and berates her for reopening old wounds. The case is mysteriously dismissed from federal court, but gets reinstated to the state court. Leonard Letts, general counsel for Borns Tech, is unhappy at Cooperman prioritizing his revenge against Billy over Borns Tech's interests in the case. Letts finds out that Ryan used to work on a top-secret project. The case goes up before Judge Keller, who attempts to summarily dismiss it. Billy openly bad-mouths the judge, who holds him in contempt, thereby entitling him to a hearing on the matter. As they leave the court, Rachel is run over by a speeding van.

Standing over Rachel's corpse, Billy recites 1 Samuel 17:49 (David slaying Goliath), the only prayer he knows. The man in black is hinted to have been responsible for Rachel's death. Gina chases Billy and Patty away from Rachel's funeral, but not before he talks to Jason. After meeting Cooperman, Judge Keller vacates the contempt charge to avoid the hearing Billy is entitled to. Billy refiles the suit with Jason as his new client. Patty is able to convince Judge Keller to appoint her as Jason's legal guardian, allowing Billy to remain as the attorney on the case. Judge Keller deems the case a complex one, which should be settled through arbitration under the guidance of a complex litigation manager, which he happens to be. When the parties are unable to reach a consensus, the judge asks Billy to present more substantial evidence the next day if he wants the case not to be dismissed. Billy visits the fishermen, and manages to get a video of Ryan's boat exploding and pieces of shrapnel from it. Using a fake job offer as bait, the team finds Ned Berring, a former Borns Tech employee, who identifies the shrapnel as part of a bomb that should never have been anywhere near civilian areas. In light of the evidence presented by Billy, and given that Callie and Letts are unable to refute or explain any of this evidence, judge Keller decides to allow the lawsuit to proceed.

Season 2 (2018)

In a flashback, Tom is revealed to have met Hunter Friedman, one of the murder victims along with Marcos Pena, while visiting a real estate broker. Tom, Danny, and the broker discuss killing some of the members of their operation, including Hunter, leading to the murders that Julio is arrested for. Billy breaks the news to Julio and agrees to take his case. Brittany returns to work for Billy. He visits Patty to recruit her for the case, and she reluctantly agrees. At the preliminary hearing, the prosecution is able to present CCTV footage of a gun-toting Julio at the crime scene. Billy is angry at Julio for lying about his alibi, but Julio admits that he had gone to Marcos's home to kill him, but ran away when he heard gunshots. He claims that the murderer was a short Hispanic guy, who is later seen being paid for the hit by Roman. Billy visits JT, an old friend of his, and gets his help in looking for the real murderer. After telling the media that she believes in Julio's innocence, Marisol visits Billy. Gabriel Ortega, head of the La Mano cartel, threatens Tom and demands that he make sure that Julio is convicted without attracting any more attention. Hakeem Rashad, the prosecutor on the case, offers Billy a plea of voluntary manslaughter, but Billy is adamant that Julio is innocent. Marisol has a cello delivered to Julio in jail. Tom and Danny tell Marisol that they had Hunter killed, and that she is involved in this because of some information she had passed them about the DEA raids. Marisol seeks out Billy in her distress, but does not tell him what is bothering her.

Billy comes to in bed next to a woman of Chinese descent. He finds out that he is being held captive by a group of unknown people. The woman, who calls herself Janet, tells Billy that they had met in a bar when Billy was asking for a ride to the border. Janet claims not to know where they are or why, either. Billy tries to get the people in the house to talk, but has little luck except a few cryptic phrases. He throws Gabriel's name out in conversation, which seems to make some of the people nervous. Billy and Janet attack their captors and make a run for it. While being tracked by a drone, their captors, and men with automatic weapons, they manage to make it to the town. Billy tasks some townspeople to protect Janet and tries to find a way to the border. 24 hours earlier, Patty spends the night with Clayton, and steals Roman's phone from a box of evidence in his apartment. Marisol tells Denise that Billy walked out of the estate and went missing. She is then confronted by Elena, who knows about her past as Gabriel's sister Claudia. Elena is later attacked by Gabriel's henchman who tells her to leave town. Tom's dependence on Brittany increases. Worried about Billy, Denise starts drinking heavily. Danny is confronted by the broker and the henchman, and commits suicide after realizing he cannot get away. Marva, who is calling numbers from Roman's phone on Patty's behest, gets through to Danny's phone as it is being bagged into evidence. Visiting the club, Patty links Roman and Danny to the broker. JT manages to find Billy, who reunites with Patty and Denise.

Production

Development

On May 14, 2015, it was announced that Amazon had issued a pilot order for the series, then titled Trial, based off a script by David E. Kelley and Jonathan Shapiro.^[28] On December 1, 2015, Amazon announced that it was bypassing the pilot process with the project and was instead issuing a straight-to-series order consisting of a ten-episode first season to premiere in 2016.^[2] The first season would ultimately come to consist of eight episodes total. On August 7, 2016, it was announced that the first season would premiere on October 13, 2016.^[3]

Casting

On June 25, 2015, it was reported that Kevin Costner was in talks to join the series in the lead role of Billy McBride.^[29] By June 30, he had exited talks.^[30] On July 23, 2015, it was confirmed that Billy Bob Thornton had ultimately been cast in the role.^[9] In August, Olivia Thirlby and Maria Bello joined the main cast.^[15][14] On September 14, Sarah Wynter was cast in the series regular role of Gina Larson.^[17] In November, Molly Parker and Britain Dalton joined the production as series regulars.^[16][18] The following March, Nina Arianda and Tania Raymonde were also announced as part of the main cast.^[10][11] In June, Dwight Yoakam and Harold Perrineau were cast in recurring roles.^[23] In August, the final casting announcements, of Diana Hopper and Jason Ritter in recurring roles, were made.^[8][31]

Renewal

On February 15, 2017, Amazon announced the series had been renewed for a second season. In that announcement, it was also confirmed that Clyde Phillips was joining the series in season two as the day-to-day showrunner. Kelley, Shapiro and Ross Fineman were set to remain in their roles as executive producers.^[4]

Reception

Critical response

On Rotten Tomatoes, the first season holds an approval rating of 78% based on 36 reviews, with an average score of 6.04/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Compelling performances from an excellent cast—led by standout Billy Bob Thornton—propel David E. Kelley's Goliath into must-watch TV territory."^[32] On Metacritic the first season has a weighted average score of 65 out of 100, based on 26 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".^[33]

Season two holds a rating of 86% based on 7 professional reviews on Rotten Tomatoes. Audience reviews are sharply at odds with those of professional critics, scoring only a 53% rating, with many reviews scoring 1-star, or even half a star.^[34]

Among Amazon Prime subscribers, Season two scores a mere 2.7 out of 5 stars with more than 4,700 reviews posted, 43% of which are rated one-star.^[35]

Awards and nominations

References

External links

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