The Guardian: Season 1

All three seasons led to a redemption.

I love Nick Fallon, as portrayed by Simon Baker: 110% heartthrob. That alone is not even what makes The Guardian Season 1 something that I can squarely recommend, to anybody. All 22 episodes. It totally sucked me in, with the premise that a young man with drug charges against him and a Juris Doctorate in corporate law, owes the commonwealth of Pennsylvania 1,500 hours of community service as a child advocate...an in loco parentis figure for at risk or abandoned minors. Nick Fallon, under the tutelage of his Father Burton Fallon and his strong AA sponsor Alvin, overcomes serious personal and moral dilemmas, and performs his community service for children as an almost paternal, inexorably strong protector and defendant. However, his slightly adolescent obsession with women makes the show an addictive trigger for me (an adult woman)...sex, cocaine, strippers, prostitutes, alcohol, and his fellow attorney Lulu with whom he makes numerous overtures of romance though she is married. His commitments to the recovery community, i.e. meeting attendance (and his failure to make his court mandated meeting attendance quota), start to slide, and between failed urinalysis tests and bribes from his parole officer...we begin to have serious empathy and regard for our protagonist, whom at times seems to be failing battles against personal demons, but continues everyday to serve his purpose as both a pro bono child advocate as well as parter for his Father's well established Pittsburgh firm, as his Father ascends to his hard won seat as a federal judge. The Guardian addresses with darker undercurrents from episode to episode including, but not limited to: schizophrenia, crack addiction, prostitution, cocaine abuse, physical abuse, incest, rape, and Nick's little eupemisms such as "ancestral pedophilia" and Alvin's desk clerk's quips such as "I hate all you 12 step control freaks, I am out of here!!" I am interested to see if Nick can successfully balance his personal and professional pursuits, while staying out of jail. Spoiler alert: show is not apologetic regarding cultural taboos including but limited to: social/class struggles; current everyday realities such as workplace discrimination, sexism & racism and in my estimation the show probably understates how segregated corporate America to this day. Also, I particularly enjoy seeing how Nick overcomes his personal pain about losing his Mother at a very young age to ...(pills...??). That is not examined, exploited, or flashed back to in any kind of intrusive way, keeps me wanting more of Nick's stand-up behavior on my TV. 5 stars all the way.

I enjoyed watching the first two seasons of this and it is not full of the politically correct dogma that plagues TV shows and movies today everyone is so sick of having that stuff shoved down their throat

As Alvin tells him in the last episode of the third series, Nicholas Fallin is not as bad as he think he is, and probably he's not as bad as he wants to be.This is the story of a young corporate lawyer who works for his father during the day, and holds coke parties at night. Of course he gets busted and he gets sentenced to quite a huge amount of hours at children's legal service plus probation and a fine. THroughout the series we see him juggling his two jobs.This legal drama is not so much about legal stuff as it is about the personal growth of a very troubled thirsty-something man, who might have had everything his dad's money could buy, but healthy relationships with his family. He's clearly scared to death by his father's judgement, as much as he craves for his affection and approval. Emotionally, he's not older than most of his clients at LSP and sometimes he behaves like your perfect a..h..e, and your instinct would be of slapping his face.And yet, we gradually see that, behind his mask of arrogance and 'standoffishness' he is caring and shows concern for those around him. He often sounds as if he were on the verge of tears, and he goes the extra mile trying to help the children and adults he has been sentenced to serve. Even though he tries and adds minutes, if not hours, to his sentence log, he does not hesitate to even become foster carer for one of those children, or to go against social services, grandparents, and basically everyone else in order to grant the wishes of another one. All of this while he's constantly told off by basically everyone: his father, his boss at LSP, his boss at another firm, the group leader at the Al-An, his coworkers at LSP....Plots are very interesting, main actors are great, especially Dabney Coleman and Simon Baker, and the views of downtown Pittsburgh are just wonderful.Hope they'll put the other two series on DVD soon.

This is an amazing story of one man's journey between two completely opposite cultures, where the rules are indeed different for each culture. I loved Simon Baker's deep, intense rendition of Nick who was forced to travel this journey against his will, how he did it, and I often wondered where his breaking point was going to be. I loved the restraint of the main character which created a tension all of its own. Of course I loved what Simon Baker did with this important role.I have watched all three seasons and I am so impressed with the theme of how difficult it is to change from one culture to another. I see this exemplified not only in the extreme difficulty Nick had in accepting the culture in which survival is the main paradigm, but also in the transition from the culture of poverty into the culture and paradigms of privilege, exemplified by Shannon, the impoverished foster child of the affluent attorney.It was such a great show, I could have watched it for years. But, if I had had to play the main role, I would have had a breakdown. The character and challenges were so intense, and the situations so painful.Yet, I am so disappointed the network cancelled the series. I give it 100% for its valuable information, and the acting of all characters.

Thank you for sending this in a timely manner and in Good condition. I watched the first episode which was very good. I'm still watching the last episodes of the Mentalist which I really enjoyed. The Guardian I believe is an earlier series from the Mentalist and different. It is still very good and Simon Bakers charismatic character is still there. Looking forward to the next episode.

I haven't watched the season just yet, waiting to be finished with school work before I can sit down and enjoy it! It was very quick delivery though!!

Love it, anything with Simon Baker.

Already ordered the next two. If you like The Mentalist you will enjoy this series.

Entertaining mixture of characters -- protagonist changed as he grew to look out for others, not just himself.