In Netflix‘s new Brazilian legal drama Habeas Corpus, a law professor who quit litigating due to a violent courtroom incident, puts together a team of students to help get a murder conviction overturned.
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conviction → quit → students
The most tenacious member of that team has a secret connection to the professor and that fateful case.
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member → have → professor
A lawyer very dramatically makes her closing argument, telling the jury that they should convict the defendant.
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they → make → defendant
But as she closes her argument, she’s shot in the shoulder.
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she → close → shoulder
Eight years later, that lawyer, Inez Franco (Marjorie Estiano), is now a law professor because she cannot set foot in a courtroom because of PTSD from that incident.
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she → set → incident
She talks to her class about the case against Jonathan Ferreira dos Santos (Hipólyto), who was convicted of a double murder and given 47 years in prison.
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who → talk → prison
The woman suspected of arranging the murders, Renata Vargas (Paula Cohen), is set to go on trial, represented by Inez’s old firm and her ex-boyfriend, Murilo Villar (Vladimir Brichta).
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woman → suspect → firm
Her aim is to gather a team of students to investigate and once they have enough evidence, file a writ of habeas corpus to reopen the case.
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they → gather → case
One of the students vying to be on the team is Marina (Any Gabrielly), a young mother who lives in the favelas of São Paulo.
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who → vie → Paulo
She’s trying to juggle her efforts to show that she’s worthy of being on the team with the care of her son, but she often leaves her son home alone to work on the case.
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she → try → case
But her reasons for wanting to be on the team go beyond getting justice for Jonathan; she has a connection to the last time Inez was in a courtroom.
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Inez → want → courtroom
What Shows Will It Remind You Of?
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It → remind → You
Habeas Corpus reminds us of legal dramas like The Rainmaker.
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Corpus → remind → Rainmaker
There’s nothing particularly revolutionary about Habeas Corpus, except for perhaps the idea that legal dramas can be just as entertaining when another country’s court system is examined.
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system → ’ → idea
But it’s a solidly-written drama with fine performances by both Estiano and Gabrielly, and a twist at the end of the first episode that makes this case even more intriguing.
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case → ’ → episode
The rest of the members of the team are more stock characters, including a couple, a hard-driving overachiever, and the son of the managing partner of Inez’s old firm, who is basically there as a spy.
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who → include → spy
But the relationship between Inez and Marina — and the secret reasons why Marina wants to be on Inez’s investigative team — should drive the dramatic tension as the team probes Jonathan’s case.
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team → want → case
There are some hiccups in the first episode that jump to some conclusions; we’re not quite use why Murilo takes on Jonathan’s case other than a way to keep it away from Inez, and we’re not sure how Jonathan is convinced to switch his representation over to Inez and her team.
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Jonathan → be → Inez
But all of the intrigue that goes along with Inez’s quest and her team, not to mention how she’s going to be able to get herself back inside a courtroom again, is certainly enough to keep the tension high in this series.
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she → go → series
Marjorie Estiano is dynamic as Inez, but we also appreciate Any Gabrielly’s more understated performance as Marina.
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we → appreciate → Marina
Like we said above, the two performances mesh well.
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performances → say → ?
We see how Marina is connected with the day in court where Inez got shot.
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Inez → see → court
It also feels universal, even if you’re not really familiar with Brazil’s legal system.
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you → feel → system
Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie.
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he → write → himself
His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.
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writing → appear → Times
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