It’s been a big couple of weeks for Ireland on Acorn TV. First was the debut of Striking Out, advertised as an Acorn original, then new episodes of the always popular Jack Taylor. The Striking Out TV series is the story of a young woman early in her legal career facing personal and professional challenges. Though the title carries a couple of obvious meanings relative to the show, we score it a base hit, not a home run.
The former fiance and Tara
The show opens with an over-used plot device and struggles to move past it for the rest of the episode. Tara (Amy Huberman), the young lawyer, finds her fiance, another lawyer, in bed with another female colleague. She breaks off the wedding, leaves the firm where they both work and strikes out on her own. We made an effort to keep watching.
Fortunately, there are a few interesting characters, primarily, Ray, who becomes Tara’s all purpose assistant. There’s Vincent, who is fond of weed and serves as a legal mentor for Tara. And then there’s the hunky hipster that owns the coffee shop where Tara sets up an office. (I should note that our small sample group and unscientific poll finds women prefer this series more than men by a 2 to 1 margin.)
Coffee anyone?
The show begins to find its footing over the course of the episodes. It operates like many network TV series with a new legal case each episode as other elements of the story continue to unfold. Striking Out has a distinct network TV feel to it. No surprise, as it first aired on Ireland’s RTE One. It’s better than most network series, but not as good as The Good Wife. Maybe that’s an unfair comparison, but they share similarities.
The production value in Striking Out is good, and it almost serves double duty as a Dublin tourism advertisement. At only four episodes, though, it’s a modest investment and seeming lack of confidence in the show’s potential success.
The series reaches its stride at the end. Things get more complex; loyalties come into question. It’s a nice set up for Striking Out season 2, which is in the works. We’ll watch it to see what happens next. The Striking Out TV series debuted January 1 – 22, 2017, in Ireland. All four episodes are available in the US on Acorn TV.
