Nobody does it like the Kings; since 2009, Robert and Michelle King have been on a generational run, from The Good Wife to 2016’s underrated BrainDead, to Evil (one of the great network dramas of the 21st century, let’s be serious) – and then back around to the TGW-iverse with 2017’s The Good Fight and 2024’s Elsbeth (did anyone watch The Bite? I can’t remember much of 2021). As a creative team, the Kings strike a near-perfect balance between traditional procedural aesthetics and serialized, socially relevant dramas – which makes their shows unlike anything on television, with strong archetypal characters, incredibly relevant, potent storylines (even on a show about horny demons), with an inquisitive theological underpinning that gives even its most mundane, human stories an exceptional sense of scale – all of which is on display in Cupertino, their latest creation for CBS – which is not only the best new network show of the fall, but one of the best pilots in recent memory, a scathing, hilarious legal procedural that proudly (and a bit anxiously) wears its David-sized heart on its sleeve.
Cupertino‘s first episode “Michael & Olivia” opens pretty simply, with two lawyers being fired from an upstart tech company. We’re introduced to experienced attorney Michael Price (Colter), as his employer S-Talk is letting him know his stock options are being denied and he’s being fired. He’s joined on the sidewalk by one Olivia Siffre, a conservative, Catholic associate attorney who was quite clearly fired when she didn’t reciprocate the advances of the S-Talk company CEO. When the two realize they’re being royally fucked over by their supposed saviors, Michael and Olivia decide to team up and file a pair of lawsuits; Michael for wrongful termination, and Olivia for cloning her voice and personality for S-Talk’s “innovative” new AI bot, which is just a female chatbot with a ‘spicy’ button.
From its David vs. Goliath references, to its running background jokes (which include multiple random people pitching Michael on dumb startups throughout the episode), and its strong character building, Cupertino hits the ground running and never stumbles; Colter is great as the endearing, confident Price, fed up with the massive corporations (and his celebrity lawyer father) who dominate Silicon Valley; as his former attorney (and once colleague) reminds him, the massive corporations all protect each other, and lawyers are making more money getting pieces of startups than from suing them. But it’s Olivia Siffre who is the most King-ish character of the pilot episode, a diffident young law school graduate who prays out loud, hums show tunes when she’s nervous – and can’t stand to live in an unjust world (though she’s not willing to bring a sexual harassment case against the S-Talk CEO, for fear of putting private, embarrassing business out into public).
What I really like is how “Michael & Olivia” find tangible ways to pull its protagonists together, grounding them in their shared desire to break away from the gravity of their parents’ expectations, and to strike a blow against one of the emerging Goliaths – one that Michael just so happened to be a big part of making. Their chemistry as colleagues and ideologues is palpable, and helps spring the pilot to life before it can get into the courtroom, where the Kings turn Cupertino into a ridiculously theatrical, wonderfully whimsical legal drama – one complete with lawyers talking to S-Talk’s AI (named Daisy) during questioning, a corrupt judge being replaced on the bench by an endearing redneck, and no less than four different, momentum-shifting twists that gloriously strain its credulity as a believable, realistic legal drama. It’s a series of sequences that definitively show just how effortlessly the Kings are cooking with their latest creation, establishing a familiar, comfortable procedural formula while also delivering a satisfying introduction to the legalese, dramatic pacing, and deeper moral reflections of our increasingly technofascist world that will be the show’s episodic foundation.
That combination is infectious; “Michael & Olivia” is sharp, funny – and honest, willing to have a co-protagonist who is openly religious (allowing the Kings to access some of the intersections of faith and technology that become integral to Evil‘s growth), and doing the actual legwork to build camaraderie between its two main characters (focused on a scene they share discussing the value of LifeSavers in difficult moments, which becomes the emotional fulcrum of the show’s climactic courtroom scene, when Olivia throws a Hail Mary and flashes the CEO said dick pics while he’s on the stand). It’s a packed first episode; and even though a lot of it is spent in the increasingly surreal courtroom setting, there’s never a moment where Cupertino‘s first hour feels stuck, undercooked, or holding back its punches (which could potentially cause it trouble given it is debuting under a new company than when its first season was written, but hopefully this isn’t a problem).
With a strong cast of central characters (including Ella Stiller as Christy, who is one of the most ingenious twists on the “quirky, jack of all trades sidekick woman” I’ve seen in ages), a particularly potent and relevant central hook, and a first episode that flawlessly pieces together both the major components of its foundation, few pilots in recent memory have arrived as well-calibrated as Cupertino‘s first hour. And it does all that while still delivering a fun, kinetic first Case of the Week to propel itself through its first 42 minutes; it’s really a masterwork of a first episode – and easily one of the best pilot episodes I’ve seen in years.
Other thoughts/observations:
- Welcome to Cupertino reviews! Join me every Friday this fall/winter as we see if the Kings and company can deliver on the promise of this pilot episode.
- the IHOP and TGIFriday’s product placements are so goddamn good (especially when Christy is inside an IHOP, wearing a TGIFriday’s uniform. Again, nobody does it like the Kings).
- At one point, the CEO’s lawyer quotes Ayn Rand… it is perfect.
- “Do you get hot?” Price: “I am hot.”
- the redneck judge’s name is Lincoln Cogswell. So good.
- Using “Hard Knock Life” as a callback is a great note, a song about how difficult it is to get a leg up when the world has its boot on your neck.
- I like how the story resolves with the racist venture capitalist backing out of S-Talk, delaying their IPO by two years – potentially planting a seed for this company to return later, should it survive into a third (maybe fourth?) season.
- The pilot episode ends with a disgruntled, bloodied man arriving in the “offices” of Price & Siffre. See you in episode two!