An Unlikely Pair, Partners: They Come Together (S1, E1) Review

PARTNERS — “They Come Together” — Episode 1 (Airs Monday, August 4, 9:00 PM e/p) — Pictured: (L-R) Kelsey Grammer as Allen Braddock, Daniele Watts as Laura Jackson, Martin Lawrence as Marcus Jackson, Thelma Hopkins as Ruth Jackson. CR: Byron Cohen/FX

Martin Lawrence and Kelsey Grammer come together as Marcus Jackson and Allen Braddock in FX’s newest comedy, Partners. While just from reading this you might see them as an unlikely pair, your mind might just change after watching the first episode, They Come Together. Partners premieres on FX tonight at 9PM EST/PST, with the second episode airing right after at 9:30PM EST/PST.

The first episode show’s how and why Marcus and Allen come together, while it is not your regular old meeting, it does manage to create an entertaining storyline. We start off by seeing Allen getting fired from his own father’s law firm, quite a demotion, but at least he wasn’t demoted to a janitor like his uncle. You might have guessed, the reason for his demotion, is of course for his questionable or not always right ethics. His way of the law leads to some good jokes being made, especially between himself and Marcus as the episode progresses.

Then we learn some stuff about Marcus, who is played by Martin Lawrence, and yes he does do a great job. We quickly learn that he was married and is now in the middle of a divorce, with a very lopsided settlement. We also get to meet his daughter Laura Jackson, played by Danièle Watts, and his mother Ruth Jackson, who is played by Telma Hopkins. The daughter seems very clean, in that she feels that once someone is married, they should never leave each other and she is saving herself for the right person. Martin Lawrence does an excellent job of crafting a unique relationship between Marcus and Ruth, with his physical movements and emotions, you can really feel the different levels of the relationship. We learn that Marcus is letting his ex-wife walk over him and take everything from him, but both his Mother and his assistant Michael(Rory O’Malley) want him to learn to stand up.

PARTNERS — “They Come Together” — Episode 1 (Airs Monday, August 4, 9:00 PM e/p) — Pictured: (L-R) Martin Lawrence as Marcus Jackson, Kelsey Grammer as Allen Braddock. CR: Byron Cohen/FX

While at the courtroom, before what should Marcus’s final court hearing, the judge pulls in Allen to give him some pro-bono cases to work on for his unusual ethics. Then the Judge makes Mr.Braddock stay to observe Marcus, as he is the next case. After seeing the settlement, the judge gives them one more day to think of it. Fast forwarding it about, it leads to Marcus and Allen making a deal and now instead of representing himself, Allen is representing Marcus. This then leads to Allen learning more about, what might just be, a new-found partner. It turns out the wife, moves in at the Church, works there, gets room and board, and makes large monthly donations.

PARTNERS — “They Come Together” — Episode 1 (Airs Monday, August 4, 9:00 PM e/p) — Pictured: (L-R) Kelsey Grammer as Allen Braddock, Martin Lawrence as Marcus Jackson. CR: Byron Cohen/FX

To put it simply, the situations presented and the dynamic of Martin and Kelsey, lead to a great chemistry for the show. You end up wanting to learn more about the characters and in the end, you are happy about the outcome. Marcus learns to stand up and not let himself be put around and Allen finds a new law office to work out, and what do you know, they are Partners. I think the chemistry between these two comedy pros will help to create these unique investigative comedy situations, that in the end will work out well. They currently have 10 episodes of Partners and if the rating do well enough, FX will be ordering another 90. Time will tell, but in the meantime be sure to check out Partners on FX, it is a comedy that is unique enough and it just might work.

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