Canny (Silicon) Valley: Courtroom CUPERTINO takes on the tech-bros…
As a groundbreaking deal nears completion and a big payday is on the horizon, associate and lawyer Michael Price is escorted out of S-Talk, the legal start-up firm he helped found, accused of malpractice and breach of confidence – something he absolutely denies. At the same time, Olivia Siffre a legal assistant at the firm is also let go – after rebuffing the advances of her boss – and as they meet in the parking lot, they compare notes.
It quickly becomes clear that both of them may have valuable information that would exonerate the other and expose the nefarious reasons they’ve been sidelined… but the problem is that virtue means very little. They no longer have the money or resources to face a company that is moving against them at speed and a new landscape where no legal firm wants to tackle the big guys.
With the power and influence the company still wields, it would be easier – and safer – for Price and Siffre to simply walk away, however S-Talk has underestimated the tenacity of their former employees. But, if Michael and Olivia are going to fight back, they are going to have to use all their experience, determination and unconventional friends to seek justice.
And, even if they succeed, there are plenty of others out there who might need their help to balance the scales…
If you are remotely paying attention to the news, we appear to be in an era where big companies tend to think might-makes-right and that money makes, well, more money… and there’s plenty of people that feel the ‘little guy’ and everyday people are getting trampled in the process… often not being able to actively, legally compete with institutions that have far more money to spend in keeping control of their powerbases. In real life, the little guy doesn’t fare well. Unlike real life, few tv shows and films have ever suffered from championing the underdog and new CBS series Cupertino mines that seam of frustration to the extent it’s hard not to cheer it on.
Cupertino is actually named after the city in Santa Clara County, California which is probably best known for being the home of Silicon Valley tech companies and influential start-ups. The placement is no coincidence and is central to proceedings and remit. Both feel relevant to the show’s mandate (with the running joke that almost every has a ‘pitch’ they want to share. But it’s the David-vs-Goliath aspect in a world of downtrodden Davids and unregulated Goliaths that anchors the show and, quite obviously, couldn’t be more timely.
Even the most litigious viewer has likely had more than their fair share of legal shows. Television has only been more dominated by medical shows and the courtroom often feels like a second-home on the schedules. So, Cupertino doesn’t immediately sound like must-see stuff. Yet, there’s certainly a fun dynamic to proceedings and echoes of touchstones like Jerry Maguire and The Sting and – despite the lack of actual demons and ecumenical entertainment (and c’mon… who wouldn’t have broken a few commandments to get another season of EVIL?) – there’s enough here in tone and execution to recognise that it comes from the same creative producers, Robert King and Michelle King. Along with EVIL, they also brought us The Good Wife, The Good Fight and Elsbeth, so they have fine form.
Most pilot episodes of shows are weighed down by baggage as they start-up their set-up or set-up their start-ups, but the premiere of Cupertino whizzes by at speed – so much that it occasionally feels like a stripped down, bullet-point version of the concept. It might take a few episodes to fully settle in, but we’re invested from the start and the style and charisma t of the opening salvo sees it through.
Cupertino’s pilot quickly sets out its stall as the televisual antonym of AI, the buffer against too big a business and aims for the heart rather than the wallet. t does so with a moral compass that it’s prone to test on itself as well as the viewer. In short, it’s the kind of series we NEED right now…
Mike Colter is best known for playing David Acosta in EVIL and Luke Cage in the Netflix show (and is in the midst of reprising the latter role for the Disney+ reinvention and upcoming final season of Daredevil: Born Again). Here he’s Michael Price, an ethical lawyer who starts the show by being escorted out of the company he helped to create due to some underhanded shenanigans from his business partner. Price almost seems too good to be true (and even perhaps a little naive for someone in his line of work) but it does make you root for him.
Rachel Keller might not be quite as recognisable a face to the casual viewer, but she’s an established actor best known for the likes of Legion, Dirty John and Toyko Vice. Here, she gives us a character that initially feels meek and mild and highly conservative in her upbringing… until she’s stirred into action to protect her own reputation and that of others. Olivia is righteous, but in the right way – believing that everyday people get trampled too easily. It’s easy to see that she won’t be overshadowed as things progress.
You can’t subvert without showing what ‘vert’ is being ‘subbed’ and Cupertino ‘s pilot quickly sets out its stall as the televisual antonym of AI, the buffer against too big a business and aims for the heart rather than the wallet. It does so with a moral compass that it’s prone to test on itself as well as the viewer.
The second episode leans more heavily into AI, first with a client whose drones appear to have malfunctioned (Nik Dodani is introduced as Vikram Malhotra who will have a recurring presence) and then also charting the fledgling company’s first struggles and the tempting offer of a mystery potential candidate who says they wants to take on a big AI company. It takes all episode to find out the motivations for the latter, but it’s a nice left-field reveal that only the Kings could likely conceive and pull-off.
In short, it’s the kind of series we NEED right now and the word is that it’ll keep getting better and even more timely as it progresses. (News also comes that EVIL co-star Aasif Mandvi will also guest-star). Given its lineage that seems a strong possibility… and it’ll make the quirk work. If the show can retain the subversive qualities of the Kings’ previous outings, it’ll be a great addition to schedules.
On principle alone, it deserves all the support and viewership it’s going to get as it ‘sticks it to the man’.
Or ‘…the machine’.
Perhaps both, if we’re lucky.
8/10
CUPERTINO is on CBS every Thursday..