MEAWW.COM / ENTERTAINMENT / TV

‘Your Honor’ Episode 1: Is Adam a murderer? Here's why he should have answered the 911 call after Rocco died

Titled ‘Part One’, the episode starts off on the anniversary of Adam Desiato's (Hunter Doohan) beloved photographer mom's death

A bloody day, a gory accident and a crime that will make you squeal with anguish. The first episode of Showtime's ‘Your Honor’ begins with a hard-hitting truth. A New Orleans judge — Michael Desiato (Bryan Cranston) — is forced to save his son after he gets trapped in a hit-and-run mess that embroils an organized crime family.

Titled ‘Part One’, the episode starts off on the anniversary of Adam Desiato's (Hunter Doohan) beloved photographer mom's death and he tries to pay a sweet tribute to her as he feels not enough justice has been done after her death. When he lands up in the Black neighbourhood, a fear engulfs him and in the quest to look for the inhaler after an asthma attack, he crashes into a motorbike. On the bike is a young boy named Rocco Baxter (Benjamin Hassan Wadsworth) who gets embroiled in a collision course during his first ride after getting the birthday gift from parents, Jimmy Baxter (Michael Stuhlbarg) and Gina Baxter (Hope Davis).

After the horrible crash, Rocco lies in a pool of blood and Adam tries to give him a rescue breath as he spits blood out of his mouth into his T-shirt and face. Within seconds, Rocco dies on the spot. In a state of panic, Adam takes Rocco's phone and dials 9-1-1. However, when he realizes that Rocco is already dead, he doesn't speak to the lady and leaves her hanging.

Struggling to walk upto his car, he crawls and finally gets his inhaler with great difficulty. He picks up to the phone but decides not to describe the tragedy. That is the number one mistake Adam makes and it may soon spiral into a life-long punishment. When Adam goes back home, his father has no choice but to protect his son. They decide to tell the cops but land there to find out a startling reality. Rocco was the son of Jimmy and Gina, the much-feared crime family. What will the righteous judge do now?  

It may be arguable that Michael only tried to protect his son, but by hiding the crime, they only doubled up the repercussions. In a foreseeable future, the forthcoming episodes might only highlight how the judge schools his son new ways of deceit. But is Michael right and should Adam be classified a murderer?

Fans are pretty bummed with what he did. "20 minutes into the first episode of #yourhonor and the son is already on my nerves and his breathing is stressing me out," one tweet read and another said, "So the premise is that he went to a Black neighborhood and some bangers threatened his life for simply pulling up to anywhere in the neighborhood? And they were ready to ride out on him immediately so much so that he couldn’t pull over and get his inhaler?"

Should we feel sorry for him or lament his actions? "Yeah 13 minutes into #YourHonor I do not feel sorry for this white boy the Black guys scared me and that's why I hit that poor White boy..." one viewer wrote. Makes sense. Adam could have been more careful, couldn't he? Had he answered the 911 call, things wouldn't turn out to be so chaotic.

Do you think Adam is a killer? And does he deserve what Michael might have to do to save him? Can the father-son duo ever escape the guilt? And will Adam be convicted? Well, only time well. Directed by Edward Berger and written by Peter Moffat from a script adapted from the Israeli TV series 'Kvodo', the episode leaves you in dilemma.

In an interview with TV Insider, Hunter Doohan said, "I would say Adam is a guy who's far from perfect. To me, he has the best of intentions, and that's what's going to make people care for him. But his actions, or sometimes inaction, and these giant mistakes that he keeps making throughout the show are going to be what pull people apart."

‘Your Honor’ premieres with Part One on December 6, 2020, and more episodes in the miniseries will follow every Sunday at 10 pm ET.