As you've read, I've enjoyed the CBS summer replacement series executive produced and created by Dana Stevens titled Reckless. Impressed with the writing and the forward movement from "steamy drama" to the serious legal contentions and personal struggles of the primary and secondary characters, I decided to take a look at these well-acted and perfectly cast characters who exude either charisma, sensuality, and professionalism, or manipulation, duplicity, and darkness.
It was said the title originated from a cast of characters who find themselves living recklessly - sometimes physically and emotionally and other times unintentionally and uncontrollably. Some of them seek noble aims and purpose while others seek control and personal gain. And still others find themselves caught in a revolving series of terrible choices they can't ever undo.
Pictured above is the co-star Anna Wood who plays "Yankee" attorney Jamie Sawyer, purposefully displaced from New York City to practice in Charleston, South Carolina. The two sides to her character are perfectly captured in these photos: the whimsical, sensitive woman and the killer-serious, drop-dead professional.
Jamie Sawyer believes in her clients, although her primary and biggest case involves a young former police officer fired from the Charleston PD because of her conduct in a sex tape involving several other cops on the hood of a squad car. Lee Anne Marcus is the only cop fired, and she is suing the city for wrongful termination and defamation of character, but Lee Anne keeps throwing disturbing wrenches into Jamie's case involving the Detective Terry McCandless, supposed instigator of the sex tape and Lee Anne's ongoing lover. Once the sex tape is leaked just before the jury selection commences, Jamie's case gets tougher.
Jamie grew up with a drug addicted mother and spent much of her youth in foster care. She had a younger half-brother she lost track of as she grew up and became an attorney, legally changing her name. Finding him was the reason she came to set up her practice in Charleston. An episode which exposed this private part of her life also brought her closer to City Attorney Roy Rayder.
When we see the different nuances of Jamie's character, we learn she's passionate about justice and deeply disturbed when she discovers she's been fooled. The pull between due diligence to her client and her need for true justice are pressed to the wall in the two-segment Series Finale.
Jamie Sawyer is a perfect blend of tough and tender, winner and loser. Strong, compassionate, and seeking to do the right thing, she's thrown into emotional turmoil at the culmination of factors in this first season of Reckless. We want to root for her because of her strengths and dedication, but we care about her because of her past and her subtle but compelling need for real love and a sense of belonging.
Anna Wood has given us the presentation of a slick, savvy, sensual attorney who is adapting to the characteristics of the South. Her Yankee history is slowly becoming a non-factor with every success in court. Her underlying sadness only surfaces occasionally – just enough to keep viewers aware of her innate vulnerability in spite of her overall confidence. Perfectly done.
Father, you know the hearts of us all. I pray for each one to turn to you for truth and real love. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.
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