And the verdict is... guilty? Repeat that again Mr. Foreman. Did you actually say guilty?

I’ve been so used to Nick and Pete receiving the usual victory verdict, that hearing those words shocked me.

Ironically, even though I’ve been advocating for the lawyers to lose a case (because as much as it’s unrealistic to win all the time, it’s also a little boring), I was hoping they would prevail on "Nevada v. Donnie The Numbers Guy."

Let’s be honest, that ADA was grating on me. Maybe it was because of her bad haircut, maybe it was because her heart was icy tundra, or maybe because she refused to test the DNA of the real killer, but I wanted Nick to crush her in court.

What’s worse, after she won, she even smugly used Nick’s joke against him. Taking photos of everything with his phone was perfect humor for Nick, but when the ADA copied him? If The Defenders was looking for a villain, she certainly filled those high heels.

Turns out, though, that our hero, Nick, didn’t have the cleanest of pasts. Mob connections that helped him start his career as a lawyer? An awful looking mustache? There’s a lot the rest of his team doesn’t know about him. Nick may not be involved in the shadiest of activities now, but it’s interesting to see that he can still call on favors in the present. Besides, what’s Las Vegas without a little mob connection?

This episode seemed to hit on the right bases. All of the characters were involved, and had more than one line or scene with dialogue. There was only one case to focus on, which of course allowed for great banter, but also developed Nick’s character. Even ADA Cole’s sister returned. I thought that was a dropped plot point episodes ago.

In a show that can easily fall into a repetitively formulaic structure, I was pleasantly surprised with the way this episode turned out. Not a bad start for its new time slot. Whether it garners the same amount of viewership as it did on Wednesday or simply falls into the slow death that often follows Friday nights remains to be seen. Here’s to the former.

Sean McKenna was a TV Fanatic Staff Writer. He retired in May of 2017. Follow him on Twitter.