Shark: Dr. Feelbad

(S01E03) The wife of a prominent heart surgeon goes missing and Sebastian Stark's "High Profile Crimes Unit" is on the case. Jeri Ryan as D.A. Devilin is discovered to have sweeping legal powers, when we see her vouch for Stark, who's allowed to set off the metal detector at the courthouse without being searched by deputies, or even take off his big fat Rolex. She'd be handy to have around at the airport.

There's virtually no evidence against the doctor, but that doesn't stop Stark, who has gotten plenty of "guys like Sterling" off who were guilty, when he was a defender. It's always the jealous husband, say Stark, adding "it's almost like a cliche." Points to the writers for the guts to indicate that, so we can be surprised when Stark discovers the real motivation for the murder later.

Meanwhile, A.D.A.'s Marina and Madeline hound the doctor's son and interview him outside the presence of and without the knowledge of his parent or any other adult responsible for his interests. But everything's allowed when you're absolutely convinced by gut feelings of who is guilty. It makes no sense anyway, as two or three scenes after lying their way into the boy's school, the prosecution has to reinterview the boy formally. He won't corroborate his previous statements, having been coached by his aunt or Dad.

Stark tells an evil doctor (not the evil doctor -- another one) to "look in the mirror" if he ever wonders why people hate doctors -- without a hint of irony that it's just as often lawyers people say things like that about on television shows. This time Stark gets his signature open-court confession when the guilty party breaks down after Stark examines his son as a witness. In the end, Stark's right -- well mostly right -- and lets the murderer plead to manslaughter, as it's "only the first time the guy hit his wife" and just darn bad luck she died and he really loves his kid, or something.

Daughter subplot concerns Julie dealing with her father's surgically-enhanced girlfriends. Fortunately, not too much time is devoted to this.

Nora Dunn gives a good performance guest starring as opposing counsel -- one who actually appears competent, in her one major scene. No sign of actor Henry Simmons (NYPD Blue) this week. Shark offered his character a job as an investigator, last week, and I thought he'd become a regular. Maybe he's still thinking about it. Happy to see Ron Glass, even though his role as trial judge is minuscule -- hardly more than a couple lines over-ruling an objection and disallowing some crucial testimony. A waste of a good actor, but maybe he'll be back with more to do another time. I think HBO is still running Serenity On Demand ...