‘The Devil’s Advocate’ Season 1 Review: A Thrilling Legal Drama Show
Netflix offers its viewers the opportunity to enjoy some of the best legal drama shows and movies out there. Their offer just got a bit bigger with the release of the Arabic show called ‘The Devil’s Advocate.’ Even though the show’s name brings us decades back in the past and reminds us of the movie of the same name, it can be said that this show has unique traits with a decent dosage of suspense, mystery, and thrill.
‘The Devil’s Advocate’ is a legal thriller drama show directed by Essam Abdel Hamid. This Egyptian-born director is known for directing several projects before this one, most notably ‘The Washing Machine’ and another legal drama, ‘Suits.’ Essam proved he could handle legal dramas well in this Arabic version of the once-popular American show of the same name. So he also decided to demonstrate his talent with ‘The Devil’s Advocate.’
The series stars Haya Abdulsalam, Ali Kakuli, Nouf Al Sultan, Eman Al Ali, and Hasan Ibrahim, and it follows the story and investigation of Bader Khalid, a football player who found his wife murdered in their home. He is considered the prime suspect and the killer. A successful lawyer takes his case and tries to prove his innocence. However, she unravels more things than she hoped along the way.
This Arabic mini-series comprises eight episodes of legal-themed drama, dangerous investigation, and plot twists. The suspense is always present, and the audience feels like ‘there is something more in play here’ throughout the show.
The good thing is that the show is versatile, as it incorporates mystery around what happened with Bader’s wife and their general private life. There are some things in this football player’s past that he wanted to stay in the past, but the investigation revealed them.
The audience should always have the name of the show in mind. There is a reason why the show is called ‘The Devil’s Advocate,’ even though it is not clear who the main villain or the ‘devil’ actually is. And that is not a bad thing.
Even though many thought and/or hoped that this series is somehow connected with the movie of the same name from 1997, that turned out to be false, although all the courtroom drama brings us back to when Kevin Lomax defended none other than the actual devil.
It is fair to say that Netflix has provided a fair share of legal drama shows in the last couple of years, so it is easy to start noticing similarities between them. However, each project has unique traits; the same goes for ‘The Devil’s Advocate.’
This show is special because the storyline occurs in Kuwait City, and besides the dark tale that revolves around Bader, we also get a look into a life of a successful female defense attorney that will stop at nothing to find out the truth, no matter how harsh the truth might be. She even endangers her life in the process and goes to great lengths in her investigation.
That specific focus on the main characters allows the audience to get to know them superficially and in-depth. Learning about their past, motives, and passions makes it easy to emphasize and attach to fictional characters. And thanks to good storytelling in the show, we can do just that.
The cast of the show is versatile and talented. Interactions between Bader and his attorney are intense, and with all the plot twists, maybe the best part of the show. It is interesting, though; before its release, the show had minimal information published, and its promotional campaign was minimal, also. If that was a good decision for the overall success of the series or not, only time will tell. However, while the dose of mystery and privacy is good, in some cases, more is more, especially when launching a big project like this.
In comparison to other series of the same genre that is currently actual, it is fair to say that ‘The Devil’s Advocate’ falls somewhere in the middle. One thing is for sure, though, it’s a fine refreshment that the show brings us to Kuwait so the audience worldwide can look into their culture and legal system. Of course, many things were adjusted to fit the overall storyline in the best possible way, which is also why there is more theatrical drama in the courtroom and interactions between characters.
Will this show be the one to remember for years that come? Probably not. And that does not come as a surprise since nowadays, various TV shows are released daily, and all of them need to have one thing in mind – originality is the key to success.
All in all, ‘The Devil’s Advocate’ is a legal drama with the elements of thriller and mystery in it. If you enjoy that kind of show, you’ll enjoy this one also. The actors did a great job, especially Haya Abdulsalam as the defense attorney and Ali Kakuli as Bader Khalid. The overall character development throughout the show is admirable, and because of that, it is worth sitting through all eight episodes.
