In the first season of Raamla Mohamed’s Hulu drama “Reasonable Doubt,” defense lawyer Jax Stewart (an exceptional Emayatzy Corinealdi) was estranged from her husband, Lewis (McKinley Freeman), and having an affair with a former client, Damon Cooke (Michael Ealy), a situation that threatened to unravel everything she’d worked so hard for. Now, a soapier, even more engaging Season 2 depicts a vulnerable Jax grappling with a very personal case, ongoing marital woes and a new partner at work with his own motives for joining Jax’s team.
Opening where the first season closed, Season 2 finds Jax trying to get her bearings after a tumultuous ending with Damon that included a kidnapping and a suicide. Now, she’s focused on healing herself and her marriage through therapy. Though prone to anxiety attacks, Jax is hesitant to take the medication her doctor has prescribed. So when her best friend, Shanelle Tucker (Shannon Kane), calls her in hysterics, confessing to killing her husband, ex-NFL player Jamarion “JT” Tucker (Christopher Mychael Watson), Jax’s world is thrown off its axis.
Far too close to Shanelle to lead her case, Jax brings on attorney Corey Cash (Morris Chestnut), whose name alone symbolizes the show’s direction toward soap opera. Corey is a legal force in his own right, but his methods for tackling Shanelle’s defense rarely align with Jax’s, and the two find themselves in a battle of wills and mistrust. The tension between them illustrates the way personal connections can alter how people perceive truths. Also, in the juxtaposition of Corey and Jax’s approaches, audiences get an inside perspective into the power plays swirling around high-profile murder trials. The show also depicts what’s at stake for defendants and prosecutors when such trials are displayed for public consumption.
There is a lot about “Reasonable Doubt’s” sophomore outing that works well. Corinealdi is stellar as a woman who is unapologetic about her needs in every area of her life. Chestnut is commanding as a hot-shot attorney willing to take Jax to task. Freeman is also given a proper storyline, offering Lewis much more texture than just the part of a jilted spouse.
Moreover, the intricacies of Shanelle’s case unpack the horrors of domestic violence, giving Season 2 a powerful anchor. Episode 4, “Primetime,” is particularly effective as it recounts the history of Shanelle and JT’s relationship through a series of gripping flashbacks. These scenes demonstrate how abuse, both emotional and physical, can escalate, often taking victims by surprise.
While the top-line actors are fantastic, some of the other performances lean toward the histrionic. There’s a baffling affair that seems to come out of nowhere, the presence of a Mafia-like business manager who is hardly intimidating, and on top of those, an unconvincing confrontation at a funeral. These subplots scrape away at the seriousness of the central narrative and add to an unwieldiness in “Reasonable Doubt,” — which could have been sharper had those storylines been integrated differently or removed altogether.
Still, with Corinealdi leading the charge and displaying a softer side of Jax, viewers are given a more complete look at a woman on a journey to make every aspect of her life work in harmony. Despite this season’s missteps, with several jaw-dropping twists and a spectacular hip-hop soundtrack pulsating throughout, “Reasonable Doubt” is always entertaining. Season 2 takes a little time to find its footing, but when it does, viewers are reminded how electric Jax’s world can be.
The first two episodes of “Reasonable Doubt” premiere Aug. 22 on Hulu and Disney+ with new episodes dropping weekly on Thursdays.
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