Canterbury's Law

Pilot

Season 1, Episode 1, Aired 3/10/08

Next
Episode

Episode Summary

Elizabeth Canterbury is a defense attorney willing to even bend the law to protect the wrongly accused people. She takes the case of an accused child murderer named Ethan Foster. And she will do everything in her power to successfully defend him- even if it means breaking the rules.moreless

8.3

EPISODE RATING: Great

74 votes

Your Rating: 10

"Perfect"
Your Rating: 9.5

"Superb"
Your Rating: 9

"Superb"
Your Rating: 8.5

"Great"
Your Rating: 8

"Great"
Your Rating: 7.5

"Good"
Your Rating: 7

"Good"
Your Rating: 6.5

"Fair"
Your Rating: 6

"Fair"
Your Rating: 5.5

"Mediocre"
Your Rating: 5

"Mediocre"
Your Rating: 4.5

"Poor"
Your Rating: 4

"Poor"
Your Rating: 3.5

"Bad"
Your Rating: 3

"Bad"
Your Rating: 2.5

"Terrible"
Your Rating: 2

"Terrible"
Your Rating: 1.5

"Abysmal"
Your Rating: 1

"Abysmal"

Rate It

Watch Online

Cast & Crew

See All EDIT

Keith Robinson

Chester Grant
Julianna Margulies

Elizabeth Canterbury
Trieste Dunn

Molly McConnell

Fan Episode Reviews (6)

See All

Good episode

9.8

"Superb"

By tenn99_23, Mar 28, 2008 Report Abuse

Elizabeth is defending Ethan Foster, who has been accused breaking into Scott and Helen Jasper's house and kidnapping and then killing their son. First, the state needs to prove it. Elizabeth is certain that Scott has abused his son because of all of the old injuries, but she can't prove it. Ethan confessed to the crime, but later recanted because he was not given his medication during the time. All hope was lost until Elizabeth cooked up a plan to get Ethan to say he was in the woods that night and saw Scott hit his son. The prosecution had no choice but to call Scott to the stand, which was Elizabeth's hope all along. Once Scott was on the stand, Elizabeth asked him about the alarm system and why the code was just changed on it. Scott said that they changed it every couple of months. Elizabeth showed him the report from the alarm company stating that the circuitry had been tampered with. She then asked Scott what his son got top prize in a science project for. He couldn't remember until Elizabeth read him an article from the paper say it was for electricity and circuitry. She then accused him of hitting him once he tried to sneak out of the house again. He denied it, but she kept on...that is until Scott punched her in the face in front of everyone. She rested her case right after that, having proved that Scott was violent. Later, Elizabeth is in her office later icing down her face and proclaimed that she would do whatever it took to prove her client's innocence.moreless

DO YOU AGREE?
0 0
I love Julianna but the jury is still out on the show.

8.5

"Great"

By mccar29, Mar 14, 2008 Report Abuse

I have missed Julianna ever since she left ER,so it's great to see her back in a series. This series is another crime drama. However, it's from the prespective of the defense attorney, not like the majority of the shows out there right now that are prosecution based. I found the lead character, Liz Canterbury to be very engaging. She's tough but comes across as being very human. In this first episode, she vigorously defends a young man accused of kidnapping and killing a little boy. We find out at the end of the episode that her own little son was kidnapped while in her care. She is very confident and pushes everyone to get her way. However, she's also soft and vunerable. When she climbed into her son's bed and smelled his pillow, I couldn't stop the tears. This show has great potential. However, my biggest worry is the pro defendant angle. Cop bashing, victim bashing or prosecuter bashing would be a big turn off for me.moreless

DO YOU AGREE?
1 0
Julianna Margulies makes that show sparkle..

8.6

"Great"

By Parricida, Mar 13, 2008 Report Abuse

I have never watched that kind of court serie before.. and the reason I even had interest to that serie was that when I heard that Julianna Margulies will be on the leading role - I thought, I have to see it. And there was no disappointment. She once again proves that when it comes from acting, playing complex chars and bringing up the emotion, she has it all. The way she likes on magic has that kind of passion to make people go with her.. feel for her char... it is fantastic.

On everything else, than her performance. As I have never seen tv shows like that, so it was all new for me, and quite fascinated me, I most say. But what I do know , I would ask.. And I do not know..but I like when there is emotion, when there is something to sympathize for, unexpected things happening, hopeless situation what to overcome - all that was there. So, I most say, I pretty much liked it.moreless

DO YOU AGREE?
1 0
I'm sure most viewers want to like this series and wanted to like this episode. Not going to be quite as harsh as some others, but I was hoping for a little more. I can't help but be reminded of how many good shows out there didn't grab us from day one.moreless

7.9

"Good"

By vendbien, Mar 12, 2008 Report Abuse

If this show had been 40 to 45 minutes instead of an hour, I might have enjoyed it more. We all know that pilots are forced to give us background on all the major players for future reference and are therefore a little slow in the plot and action department. Found myself saying, "c'mon, c'mon," in some of the slow parts.

But that said, Juliana Margulies played the lead role as raw as we could possibly hope for. There was a real intensity that will have her fellow actors/actresses standing in the aisles - if this show can make it to another season. We are not invested in the rest of the cast - yet. But Margulies has hit the ground running. I have always liked her, without being a big fan. From the opening scene where she gets out of bed and looks in the mirror with little or no make-up, you had to know that she was rolling the dice on this role and not trying to count on her glamour rep.

I had unfortunately read a board post where a member said that this was 'Shark' with a female lead. Couldn't help but see that in the way this episode played out - especially with regards to her and the staff. But hey, 'Shark' is pretty good and Margulies and James Woods are two of the better talents on TV. I'm going to give this series a chance and bet that Margulies gets rave reviews even if the show doesn't.moreless

DO YOU AGREE?
0 0
Not a good start for a new series.

5.0

"Mediocre"

By bonkerguy, Mar 11, 2008 Report Abuse

Now, I will admit to knowing next to nothing about this before seeing the previews earlier in the day.

And I have to say, not a good start for the new series. I found the shows main characters completely uninteresting, and in some cases, rather unlikeable. The interaction between the shows leads was a little hard accept at times.... case in point... during one scene the lead is yelling at an underling that he had betrayed her and sunk the case, fast forward and now the lead is telling her husband that she trusts said underling completely!!! The pilot story seemed fairly rushed as if they were trying to jam too much of the backstory in. By the end of the show I found that I could care less on the outcome of the trial.

I may give it another go just to be fair, we'll see how charitable I'm feeling next week.moreless

DO YOU AGREE?
0 1

Write a Review

Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

See All

Trivia
ADD TRIVIA
- The show takes place in Rhode Island, where the district attorney is referred to as the "Attorney General." Edit
Notes
ADD NOTES
- Original International Air Dates: Czech Republic: July 11, 2009 on TV Nova Slovakia: August 20, 2009 on JOJ Edit
- Music: "What a Day" by Greg Laswell (heard at the end of the episode) Edit
- The filming location is Cobble Hill, Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA. Edit
Quotes
ADD QUOTES
- (Judge Stanley is on the phone to his wife) Elizabeth Canterbury: (hangs up phone) I'm sorry. Judge Stanley: You know, I'd hold you in contempt, Canterbury...if I were not eternally grateful. Edit
- Elizabeth Canterbury: Hey. Want a drink? Russell Krauss: So, uh, Ethan wasn't in the woods that night, and never saw Jasper hit his son. Elizabeth Canterbury: You need a drink. Edit
- Elizabeth Canterbury: You need to put Ethan Foster on suicide watch. Guard: Ma'am? Elizabeth Canterbury: My client, Ethan Foster, needs to be under observation. Guard: I don't have the authority to move him... Elizabeth Canterbury: Listen to me very carefully. The chemical cocktail you have him on is making him worse. If he's not on suicide watch and he hurts himself, I will sue the state. I will sue the county. I'll sue you. So pick up the phone, and get the damn authority you need. (Slams glass) Now! Edit
Allusions
- Help by adding allusions to this episode. Add allusions