'Conviction' Series Premiere Review: Should You Keep Watching?

Like many, I had watched the trailers for the show and anticipated its premiere. I never watched Agent Carter but was a fan of Haley Atwell from Captain America so I was interested in seeing her act in something outside of the Marvel Universe. Once Agent Carter was cancelled, everyone was basically ready to boycott ABC, but then Conviction happened.

Looking at the trailers and reading about the show's premise, it was very easy to compare it to the rest of the ABC lineup, more specifically Shondaland productions like Scandal and How To Get Away With Murder. Compared to them, Conviction is different in an I might be trying too hard to be different kind of way.

The show follows Hayes Morrison (Haley Atwell) a former first daughter whose mother is now running for Senate. She's also a lawyer who graduated at the top of her class at Harvard, had a 95% conviction rate as an ADA, and taught Law classes at a top university. What’s the catch? She made headlines for being photographed nude, sleeping with her students, and using drugs. The show actually opens with her in jail for cocaine possession. Apparently, it was a high enough amount that she could've been charged with intent to distribute. It sounds a little cliché because it is. The former good girl turned party girl and won't let anyone forget it storyline has been done before. But I decided to let that go and continue to watch. She's chosen to head up the new Conviction Integrity Unit by Connor Wallace, the golden boy District Attorney who only cares about upping his image before he runs for Mayor. Something about him makes it easy to see past his good looks and play with the idea that he has a hidden agenda and might be a bad guy, but we'll see. Turns out he was in cahoots with Hayes's mother and basically blackmailed her into the position because her mom asked Connor for "help". There seems to be some kind of sexual tension between the two but I can't tell if it's real or not. Hayes's team is made up of your typical characters the former NYPD Detective, the ex-con, the paralegal, and the person who was passed over for the job played by Merrin Dungey, Manny Montana, Emily Kinney, and Shawn Ashmore respectively. Throughout the episode, it's shown how intuitive she is as she's a step ahead of her team in knowing everything about them a la House, but she continuously had to make it known that she doesn't care and that she isn't a good person.

The one thing that I think is kind of dumb about the show is that the team is given a random five days to solve each case they reopen. I don't think the time frame was necessary. The writers could've just set it up like any Law and Order episode where the case is solved in the respective timeframe without the countdown of how long it's been.

I thought the episode was decent compared to other reviews. I went into it fingers crossed that it wouldn't be trash, and it wasn't. I think you should watch for yourself and decide.  I'll have to see what next week has to offer to decide if I'll stick with it or not. What did you think of the premiere?

Conviction airs Mondays on ABC at 10PM