On what should be a perfect night - her hen night (for Americans, that's a bachelorette party) - Tara makes a startling discovery when she misses her fiance Eric Dunbar (Rory Keenan) so much that she surprises him at his flat, only to get a surprise of her own when Eric is in bed with a fellow solicitor at their firm. Needless to say, Tara is beside herself and Eric is all apologies, but she needs to figure some things out.
The next morning, she grabs all of her files from the law office where they both work, which is run by her future father-in-law, Richard Dunbar (Paul Antony-Barber), and she bumps into client Ray Lamont (Emmet Byrne), who informs her they are due in court in 20 minutes. After sprucing herself up and mentally preparing for this case, she makes a snap decision and falsely tells the judge that her client is employed, then hires him for the next two weeks as she sorts out her life changes.
As it turns out, she starts working out of the back office of Stockholm Coffee where owner Pete (Brahm Gallagher) has graciously allowed her to set up shop. Ray soon proves himself fairly indispensable and Tara also discovers tech whiz/private detective Meg (Fiona O'Shaughnessey) after seeing her shine in court, and she becomes a valuable resource for getting things done, especially the kind of digging that Tara needs, but is better off not knowing where the info comes from. The last piece of Tara's new beginning is friend and mentor Vincent Pike (Neil Morrissey, Line of Duty), a barrister that she often works with and one who is leading the charge on a huge investigation, a lot of which leads back to Tara's old firm.
Naturally, Eric is desperate to get her back and Tara finds herself bumping into him over and over as she gets a few cases to start off her fledgling firm, mostly those leaning towards family law. There's a case where a well-known TV personality is being blackmailed over some raunchy sex footage; one where old family friends of Tara's clash over a will when their father dies; one where two women both claim to be the current wives of a wealthy but dangerous businessman; and finally, a child is taken by social services from some friends of Ray's and he needs Tara to handle the case for them. Handling these cases is difficult and quite raw, but it is enough to convince her that she's on the right track, throwing corporate law to the side for family law. All is going well until things start to unravel, one by one, and it doesn't take long before Tara realizes that Eric's controlling father, Richard Dunbar, must be behind all of this. I can't wait to see what happens in Series 2.
The characters and the actors that play them in Striking Out: Series 1 are endearing and very believable. Eric is handsome and a bit smarmy, but pretty vulnerable now that he's lost Tara, whereas Tara was a weeping mess at first, but then pulled herself up by her bootstraps and has become rather formidable. Ray is so sweet and genuine and you truly want him to succeed in life, while Meg is mysterious and you get the feeling that there is much more to her than meets the eye. Finally, Vincent is Tara's rock in the storm, but he is going through some pretty tough times himself and, yeah, sometimes he sorts it all out with a bong. Who knew?
Aside from the four episodes, there are also interviews with each of the main cast members, as well as the Director, the Director of Photography, and the Production Designer, plus a photo gallery. There are all novel and interesting, but the main draw is the show itself. It takes place in Dublin and the settings can be absolutely gorgeous at times, so the featurettes with crew on production and photography make sense. If you enjoy legal drama, you'll likely fall in love with Striking Out: Series 1 and these new characters as well.
