- Title: Franklin & Bash – Coffee and Cream
- tv.com: link
Nudity! Magic! And the law! The show’s Third Season opens with Franklin (Breckin Meyer) and Bash (Mark-Paul Gosselaar) humiliated on live television by Rachel King (Heather Locklear) who they later discover Infeld (Malcolm McDowell) has taken on as a new partner for the firm, making her their new boss (although the reasons for this new partnership are never truly explained). The show returns without Hanna (Garcelle Beauvais), who we are told took a job at another firm, and Karp (Reed Diamond) has one foot out the door. Although he has second thoughts when Rachel offers to help him with his campaign to become a judge beginning with some advice concerning what to do about a potentially damaging video tape of the lawyer masturbating on camera for a medical study.
Franklin and Bash are hired by magician August West (Adam Goldberg) who is being charged with Grand Theft for a $500,000 diamond bracelet that was actually stolen by his twin brother the magician desperately wants to keep out of the courtroom and the limelight because knowledge of his existence will destroy the illusion of his greatest act. Unable to name the real thief in court, and with Rachel ordering them to go along with a plea bargain she helped put together, Franklin and Bash ignore the threat of their probation being pulled and put together a little magic show of their own in the courtroom with the help of the other brother.
In the season premiere’s other story Pindar (Kumail Nanjiani) overreacts after finding a termite, leaving the lawyers temporarily homeless during the fumigation (and later permanently homeless when Pindar sneaks back into the tent and accidentally burns the house to the ground). I’m assuming means the show got some extra cash this year for some new sets.
Locklear makes a good addition to the cast, but I don’t like how her presence isn’t adequately explained (or why Infeld has unleashed her on his favorite wacky twosome as revenge for their stunt in last season’s finale doesn’t quite fit this new shakeup of the firm). I’m going to miss Beauvais, but the show struggled with giving her character much to do last season and long ago gave up on the idea of a Franklin/Hanna relationship it teased early on. Locklear’s addition promises plenty of changes including separate offices for Franklin and Bash (as well as the pair needing to find a new place to live), and the constant threat of their probation hanging over their heads to try and force the pair to follow the company line. Given this, I’m happy to see the wackiest lawyers on television still find a way to practice their form of showmanship law without getting fired (and thrown in jail).
