A smooth transition into the characters' personal lives was certainly welcome.

We got to learn more about the Marine lawyers on The Code Season 1 Episode 2.

Let's start with the new addition, Lt. Harper Li.

First off, it's evident that her parents had a wicked sense of humor to name her after the author of "To Kill a Mockingbird," the ultimate courtroom drama which still resonates decades after Harper Lee wrote it.

The name was also a bit of predestination as her family operates a prestigious law firm, one that she shunned to join the Marines.

Apparently, Harper joined the unit while she was in the midst of organizing her wedding to Bard (not Brad). Abe naturally refused to call her fiance by his correct name, chalking it up to a spelling error on his birth certificate.

Despite below the lowest-ranking officer in that office, Harper seemed more than willing to speak up and offer her opinion, which promises to get her in trouble.

Just what Abe needs -- another female who gives as well as she gets.

It was sweet of Abe to help her out with her wedding, arbitrarily slashing the guest list, then arranging for her to get a four-day leave to work on logistics.

Even though he gave her grief, it was evident that he respected her ability as well, even stepping aside to let her give the opening statement.

Also, as long as she's in the same office as Abe, Harper won't be the only one violating the chain of command.

Col. Turman and Trey, his immediate superior, seem to accept Abe's enthusiastic outbursts, usually after dressing him down a bit, in a good-humored way.

Trey and his wife are trying to start a family. That gave him an in with a junior member of the Spanish delegation with whom he was negotiating about a change in the status of force agreement.

The storyline about the change in the agreement, brought on after a drunk Marine killed a Spaniard, revealed that The Code isn't only going to be about big, sexy, complex trials. Sometimes, the lawyers have to deal with tedious but crucial paperwork.

For the Spaniards, it wasn't enough that the Marine in question was going to be court-martialed and imprisoned. They wanted the victim's family to be able to sue for compensation for their loss.

Naturally, there was a "diplomat" in the State Department, the stereotypical Ugly American, whose approach was that Spain was lucky to have U.S. bases in its country and, well, shit happens.

The Spanish delegation took umbrage at that condescension and broke off the talks.

Related: The Code Sneak Peak

It took Trey approaching a junior member of the delegation to find out what it would take to make a deal. Then he buttered up the diplomat to get him to sign off on the deal.

Yeah, Kiefer was a dick and a bureaucrat, but Washington is full of them, and a successful negotiator needs to be able to work around them. That's precisely what Trey did.

Trey also found out that the Spanish delegate had had trouble starting a family as well, so they found common ground despite coming from diverse backgrounds.

Although there still wasn't enough of Dana Delany, viewers did discover that her son was also a Marine.

I used past tense because it appeared that he had gotten killed in action in the final scene. Hopefully, we'll learn more about what happened next episode.

It also was revealed that Maya is divorced and is a crack shot. I can't wait for the bar scene when she explains what happened in her marriage and why she's paying alimony to her ex.

Maya seemed ready to take the smart but green Harper under her wing to help her better find her way in the Marines.

13 TV Couples That Were So Bad Together It Made Us LOL

Start Gallery

It was refreshing to see that the TV trope where the defense always wins isn't necessarily going to apply here.

Of course, the defendant claimed that he hadn't deserted his post, despite all the evidence to the contrary. Every defendant in a legal drama is innocent, right?

But he wasn't. And even worse, he knew he wasn't.

Still, it wasn't hard to be sympathetic toward Sgt. Grsezak.

After 9/11, he had grown up wanting to be a Marine. And he's found a way around his psychological condition, buying anti-panic medications from a drug dealer, so that he could get chosen for a premier unit.

Then his panic attack struck at the worst possible time, in the middle of a firefight. And three Marines got killed as a result.

After he fell apart in the courtroom, Maya quickly diagnosed his problem. And she was smart enough to tip off Abe to what she was up to without actually telling him anything.

It would have been interesting to see how the mitigation portion of the trial worked, so we could see how Grsezak's condition played into his actual prison time.

The fact that he covered up his condition and never should have been there in the first place certainly wouldn't have helped him.

On a side note, I'm loving Rami, the smart-as-a-whip warrant officer who keeps things running smoothly.

He reminds me of Radar on M*A*S*H, who had the same ability.

SPOILERS: As a programming note, there will be new episodes of The Code at 9 p.m. both Monday, April 22, and Tuesday, April 23, part of CBS's continuing effort to stretch out episodes of its more-popular shows enough to last the entire broadcast season.