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Shark Season 1 Episode 5

In The Grasp

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8.9

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Episode Summary

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AIRED: 10/19/06

Stark prosecutes three college football players accused of raping a female student at a campus athletic house. One of the players is the team's starting quarterback and is considered a first-round pick in the upcoming NFL draft. The case takes a hit when Stark learns the victim was in a relationship with the quarterback. Back at home, Julie tells her dad she is being suspended from school because she's been accused of plagiarism.moreless

FAN RECAP

Fan Episode Reviews (8)

When the victim is as unsympathetic as the culprit, it makes for a weak hour.

6.0

By jamoon2006, Oct 23, 2007

This one, which was likely "ripped from the headlines" of the Duke lacrosse case, stumbles early and never fully recovers. It's a shame, because we have a guest spot by Paul Schulze (the ill-fated Chappelle from "24") as the defense attorney of the week, but he and James Woods never get to spar in the courtroom. On the other hand, there is a moment (fleeting, but it's there) of redemption for the character of Madeline Poe.

I give the writers credit for tackling a rape story that isn't so hackneyed, and actually acknowledges that women can fabricate rape claims (also, it shows the devastating impact it can have on the life of the accused, whereas the accuser can lie and usually face no consequences.) In this episode, the victim lied a little - enough to make Stark threaten to drop charges. The problem for the viewer is that the victim comes off as opportunistic and cheap, and we never feel that she is really a victim. Also, aside from the quarterback, we never get to know/see the assailants. They're ciphers, as opposed to the other defendants we have seen in the series so far.

This one has more developments on the home front, as Stark discovers Julie plagiarized her paper. I hope this isn't the course for their interactions over the series, but Woods is still surprising me in a "paternal" role.

And Madeline - the Dr. Cameron of this series - had me foaming at the mouth when she relayed her own rape story, but I liked the fact that she made it up to get a witness to cooperate. It's a mistake most prime-time procedurals make...why is it that a woman can only get outraged about rape if she's a victim? The weakest "Shark" yet...not enough courtroom theatrics, weak characters in the guest department and a home-story that lacks sizzle.moreless
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Very good and intresting episode

9.4

By raimondo, Mar 06, 2007

In this episode is everything I always want to see on a series this deep and so full of day by day cases that can happend to us. In this episode we have two story lines, the first is a rape case on a campus with a football player and a girl. The other is from his own daugther that is accused of cheating in a paper at school. We also see a defensive father when it come to his kid and her boyfriend wich he find half nacked in his house. It was a goos episode and intresting to see how dificult life in a campus can be if you are not popular and are trying to bemoreless
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8.0

By spaceyrella, Nov 27, 2006

A pretty good episode, i guess... though i wasn't all too exited about the acting of certain people...

What i liked best was how Stark went to his daughter's school, and got his way once again by threatening someones @ss, using his reputation as a merciless lawyer!

Too bad that he was once again defending the wrong side of the law, but it was for a good cause :D

About the actual case, the rape case, i wasn't too impressed... they could have put a couple of things in this story which would make it all more... spicy, am i allowed to say that?

The end was very disappointing, so, the two rapers get busted, but there is still a second rape that they won't get punished for, and that A-hole who was standing on guard had to get his balls kicked, too.

Now, correct me if i'm wrong, but if i was that girl who got raped... i wouldn't have let the judge's words stop me... i would have walked out of that court room after the trail... and give him the punishment myself.

She had the chance of a life time! Live television! She could have started a huge media thing there... i would have taken that chance!

And i know i'm not suppose to do this, but... i just couldn't help but thinking of another ending... i loved it when Julie confessed to her father, though, i wouldn't have changed that, but before that, i would have liked it if there was a scene, just for Madeline:

A shot at the window showing the reflection of Madeline... on the phone. The camera slowly turns to Madeline while you hear her talk on the phone... with her aunt, which she claims not to have...

Why? Cause i think that she was raped, even though she told Casey that she lied about it.moreless
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Finally the characters are starting to gel

8.1

By jbelinski, Oct 24, 2006

This episode solidified Shark\'s position on my TiVo season pass. The series feels like it\'s beginning to settle in and figure out what it is. Jeri Ryan\'s character has taken the back seat as window dressing that the actress\'s minimal talent merits. The eponymous character\'s daughter finally seems to have a purpose other than an occasional foil for her daddy. The ADA\'s are starting to evolve beyond their \"rich Senator\'s kid,\" or \"scrappy minority female\" stereotypes.

This particular episode, with its vague similarity to the Duke scandal, was a bit unsettling. Any storyline centering on a rape, or the murder of a little kid, kind of makes my skin crawl. I liked that they didn\'t make the victim into some kind of pure heroine, as they often do in these stories. They had to work hard at getting the convictions but, predictably, they did.

It wasn\'t a \"great\" episode by any means, but I have hope that they\'ll continue to get better.moreless
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This episode is even worse then the last one

6.0

By doarpr, Oct 23, 2006

The story was so boring and predictable!!! the acting was pretty bad througout the show (the girl who was raped in particular).... The whole line of story where the lawyers end up doing most of the investigation themselves doesn't make sense at all. They are not detectives and there's no logic to their actions. Even in a TV show, some relation to real life must be kept and here it's just - yea right.... that's exactly how it goes - the girl was raped yesterday, the trial begins a few days after and within about a week or so the whole case is over and done with... sure....

and back at the house Julie's problem is SO terrible... it is just pathitic. acting on her behalf pretty bad too.

On the whole, a disappointment. The stories need to improve dramatically and the sooner the better. I will check it out again only in a few months to see if anything happend - right now I feel watching this is a waste of time.moreless
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Cast & Crew: STARS

EDIT

Alexis Cruz	Martin Allende
Danielle Panabaker	Julie Stark
James Woods	Sebastian Stark
Jeri Ryan	Jessica Devlin
Sam Page	Casey Woodland
Sarah Carter	Madeline Poe

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Cast & Crew: RECURRING AND GUESTS

EDIT

Matt Lanter	Eddie Linden	Guest Star
Arielle Kebbel	Sydney Blair	Guest Star
Bryce Johnson (I)	Josh Carpenter	Guest Star

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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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TRIVIA (0)
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QUOTES (8)
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- (talking about Julie's alleged plagiarism)
  Stark: What's it gonna take to make this go away. Give me a number.
  Norman Saunders: (silence)
  Stark: I'm kidding. Just a little icebreaker.
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- Stark: (to Norman) During all those years when I was being a lousy, irresponsible father I somehow became this bitchin' lawyer.
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- (after Julie's boyfriend comes into the house from the pool)
  Stark: So what do you say we save a little time and I just kill you now and bury you out in the backyard.
  Eddie: (long pause) Julie said you were funny.
  Stark: I also own a gun.
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- Football Player: You're early, the strippers don't start 'til 10 o'clock.
  Madeleine: Heard steroids shrink your genitals… Apparently they have the same effect on the brain.
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- Martin: Josh Carpenter's DNA, found inside the victim.
  Stark: Whoa. There goes the Heisman.
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- Detective: Stark, you're out of line.
  Stark: Yeah, I get that a lot.
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- (Talking about getting the football players who were at the party in for a lineup)
  Casey: That's borderline illegal.
  Stark: And yet, I like it.
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- Stark: I don't know how to lose.
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NOTES (2)
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- International Air Dates:
  Australia: December 5, 2007 on Network 7
  Czech Republic: February 3, 2008 on Prima
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- Featured Music:
  "What A Day" by Greg Laswell
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ALLUSIONS (2)
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- Raina: There's a special place in Hell for Josh Carpenter.
  Stark: But, before you call Dante, let's run this thing down.
  
  Dante Alighieri was an Italian poet of the late 13th and early 14th centuries. His seminal work was The Divine Comedy, considered the first great work of fiction. The most famous portion of this was the Inferno, where Roman poet Virgil gives Dante a tour through the various sections of Hell.
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- Stark: Whoa. There goes the Heisman.
  
  John William Heisman (October 23, 1869 – October 3, 1936) was a prominent American football player and college football coach in the early era of the sport and is the namesake of the Heisman Trophy awarded annually to the season's best college football player.
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