All Rise Review: Pilot (Season 1 Episode 1)

The defense, the prosecution, and especially the judges: All Rise Season 1 Episode 1, “Pilot,” launches us into a show about all sides of the justice system.

When a judge gets shot five minutes into the first episode of your series, you know you’re in for a ride. A “Lolacoaster” even, per a term coined for our main character.

Lola Carmichael undergoes a career change over the time skip that follows those first few scenes where she’s an attorney. The judge lives but retires, meaning there’s a space on the bench that needs to be filled.

We rarely see judges as main characters, even on legal dramas. Seeing Lola step into that role as someone who is black, female, and relatively young is an early indication how many boundaries we’ll be breaking.

Since her first day in this job is far from her first day in the courtroom, Lola comes with complications just like any good main character. Here, we mostly see them through Sherri Kansky.

Sherri’s been something of an adversary to lawyer-Lola. Now that they’re both judges, she’s…mostly a friend. Not quite a frenemy, but very willing to snark and critique. Or, per an early conversation between them:

Sherri: We’re on the same team now, and the name of the game is speed.

Lola: Where does justice fit in?

Sherri: Close second.

“Speed” is certainly a key factor. The pace and wit of this first installment remain brisk throughout. If there’s a criticism to be made, it’s that there’s just too much happening, especially for a pilot episode.

The first hour of a series establishes setting, theme, and characters. Here, we also get cases meant to help solidify those characters—but there are a lot of characters, and that’s a lot of plot.

Mark Callan is Lola’s friend from when they were both prosecuting attorneys (way back in the first five minutes.) He’s probably likely to stay her closest confidant, even with some tension spurred by her fresh perspective.

He spends most of the episode trying to convict a bearded man named Rodney for a theft he committed pre-beard. Rodney is theatrical and mostly just annoying, so let’s focus more on Mark himself.

Specifically, we should look at the revelation Rodney pulls out while defending himself in court. Mark’s father is a known mobster, and their relations are just what you’d expect given their social statuses.

On the other side of the legal aisle, we have defense attorney Emily Lopez, who sees the case of a pregnant girl named Daphne, accused of theft herself but declaring her innocence in a court that works against her.

Besides taking on the main episodic story, Emily is dealing with a man we presume to be an ex-husband and who needs to learn a thing or two about boundaries — the kind of learning that requires a restraining order.

Thankfully, Emily has much better people on her side. There’s friend Sara Castillo, who we don’t learn too much about yet. Then there’s Luke Watkins, who just happens to be a cop who intervened in the judge shooting.

Luke wants to be a detective, and proves himself worthy of his own career change when he realizes Emily’s opponent has planted evidence. Judge Carmichael quickly finds Daphne innocent.

When we learn that Daphne’s mother is the true perp, it’s Lola who steps in, first to handle that rule-breaking lawyer and then to tell Daphne she can find better support and be a better parent herself.

Still, it’s Emily who gets much of the lawyer’s ire, and I have a feeling this will be just one of many stories that comes back to haunt us — including her ex, Mark’s dad, and of course Lola’s learning curve.

Thus far, I’m waiting to round our characters out more, especially for those like Sherri, who we barely get to know, and Sara, who we only just meet. There’s also another lawyer who may act as a mentor to Lola but gets only bits of screen time.

That said, I’m impressed by All Rise and am very eager to keep watching. Even if we don’t learn as much as I’d like yet, I really want to know more. That’s a sign of a show that gets its hooks in right away.

The levels of drama, heart, and humor are all well measured, and thus far, I like everyone I think we’re meant to like, all their flaws included. I hope we soon find the right pace to tell all the potentially great stories that await us.

What did you think of this episode of All Rise? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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All Rise airs Mondays at 9/10c on CBS.

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