Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers for ‘Your Honor’
Your Honor, originally intended as a single-season miniseries in 2020, finished its second season in 2023. The hauntingly tenseBryan Cranstonvehicle isanother instance of the veteran actor depicting an otherwise upstanding citizen debased to a life of crime and deceit. Evoking similar themes tohisBreaking Badturn, Cranston playsa New Orleans judgewho will do anything to protect his loved ones, and “anything” includes a rather heightened degree of deplorability. Developed for Showtime byPeter Moffat,Your Honoris stacked with an undeniably impressive cast and a refreshingly convincing set of high-stakes drama.
Cranston stars as Michael Desiato, pitted against a prominent crime family, led by Jimmy Baxter (Michael Stuhlbarg), Gina Baxter (Hope Davis), and their eldest son, Carlo Baxter (Jimi Stanton). Their daughter, Fia Baxter (Lilli Kay), lives somewhat estranged after having a baby boy with Michael Desiato’s late son, Adam (Hunter Doohan). With his wife and son dead, his mother-in-law, Louisiana State Senator Elizabeth Guthrie (esteemed character actressMargo Martindale), is Michael’s only semblance of family left, and his list of friends has grown vanishingly thin. Aftera lauded first season, let’s dive into howYour Honor’s commendable (and likely final) follow-up concludes.
Your Honor
Your Honor is a legal drama series starring Bryan Cranston as a respected judge whose son becomes involved in a hit-and-run accident. The incident sets off a dangerous chain of events that forces the judge to confront his own principles and navigate the moral complexities of the law. The series explores themes of justice, loyalty, and ethics, offering a compelling narrative of a father’s desperate attempts to protect his son.
What Is ‘Your Honor’ About?
Season 1 laysa devastating foundationbefore Season 2 focuses on the fallout. Judge Michael Desiato’s son, Adam, accidentally killed a boy in a hit-and-run. Michael’s keen on having Adam turn himself in until he realizesthe boy Adam killed is Rocco Baxter (Benjamin Wadsworth), the youngest child of mob boss Jimmy Baxter. This is nota man to become entangled with, let alone a man to wrong so tragically. Michael seeks the help of his best friend, mayoral candidate Charlie Figaro (Isiah Whitlock Jr.), who uses his ties to the Desire gang to deal with the car Adam was driving, an incriminating piece of evidence. However, Kofi Jones (Lamar Johnson), a young initiate of Desire, is caught taking the car.
Word quickly reaches Jimmy Baxter. Believing that Kofi stole the car before then killing his son, Jimmy orchestrates an opportunity for his surviving son, Carlo, to meet Kofi in prison and kill him. Jimmy goes even further and has Kofi’s family home blown up, killing his mother and siblings. Kofi’s only surviving family member, a young boy named Eugene (Benjamin Flores Jr.), is taken in and influenced by Desire. As Michael becomes wrapped more heavily in a web of lies in an attempt to protect his son’s lie, Adam grows romantically close to Rocco’s sister, Fia Baxter. When the court ultimately exonerates Carlo Baxter for the murder of Kofi, Eugene buys a gun and heads to an ongoing celebration at the Baxter family hotel. Attempting to shoot and kill Carlo,he misses, hitting Adam instead.
Michael Desiato Isn’t Through With the Baxter Family In ‘Your Honor’ Season 2
A year after Adam’s death,Season 2 openswith Michael disbarred and in prison after making a taped confession. Emotionally stripped bare, Michael’s all but given up, but U.S. Attorney Olivia Delmont (Rosie Perez) has a use for him. Having his imprisonment written off as a matter of tax evasion to keep the Baxters unaware of his culpability,Olivia wants Michael to use his ties to the Baxters and act as an informant. Olivia convinces Michael thanks to his confession implicating Charlie Figaro, who’s been elected mayor. The door to the Baxter family is open even wider now that Fia has given birth to Adam’s child, unceremoniously uniting Michael and Jimmy in grandfatherhood.
Eugene is in hiding after killing Adam, shielded by Big Mo (Andrene Ward-Hammond) and the Desire gang. Eugene also has a lawyer named Lee Delamere (Carmen Ejogo) looking out for him. She’s Michael’s former pupil who subsequently became his (also former) love interest, and she’s become increasinglydisillusioned by the justice system’s treatmentof Eugene. Meanwhile, Big Mo’s plans to expand Desire’s empire — purchasing a club next to the Baxter hotel and wooing a singer named Janelle (Ciara Renee) — are rivaled only by that of the Baxters themselves, who aim to develop coveted land and further codify New Orleans as their own. Naturally, no one’s ideal outcome will come to fruition, save for those who simply want the truth to be told.
How Does ‘Your Honor’ Season 2 End?
Despite killing Kofi and nearly wiping out his entire family, the Baxters aren’t satisfied, especially Gina. Eugene may have killed Adam, but he meant to kill Carlo Baxter, and for that, they want him dead. Although Desire kept him hidden for some time and Lee worked whatever avenues available,Eugene was ultimately caught and must stand trial. Season 2 may be a more ensemble-driven venture, with each character grasping at separate versions of coming out on top, but at the core, Kofi was wrongfully convicted and murdered for Rocco’s death, and the secrets of the Baxter family’s retribution remain in the dark.
In a poetic reversal, everything comes to a close in the same courtroom where Michaelonce held the gavel. Enlightened by the reality that the Jones family couldn’t pay their bills, it’s revealed that their gas wasn’t even turned on at the time of the explosion. Fia, who has grown deeply suspicious of her family’s criminal activity, hears this, and any hope Jimmy once had of reconnecting with his ashamed daughter flies out the window. Moreover, before Michael’s final moment on the witness stand,Lee pleads with him to do the one thing that could save Eugene: lie.After all, what integrity does he have left? If he lies and refuses to identify Eugene as Adam’s killer, the poor kid has a fighting chance. Fia, the court, and the community of New Orleans receive one last shocking truth — the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
By confessing Adam was the one who killed the Baxter’s son,every lie so strenuously built and violently defended throughout the series crashes in an instant. Eugene is freed and given a new life through the Witness Protection Program, but not before he and Michael make brief, crucial amends. Detective Nancy Costello (Amy Landecker) begins an investigation into the Baxter family over the death of Eugene’s family. Fia, through with it all and tainted by the hard truths she’s learned, gives up her baby to a supportive priest for adoption and moves on to a new life. Gina Baxter, dismayed at her husband’s failure, convinces her father, Carmine Conti (Mark Margolis), to shoot Jimmy. With her father arrested and Jimmy hospitalized, Gina is left to run the Baxter empire. She and Big Mo make a deal to continue their criminal operations in coexistence. Finally, Michael is sent back to prison, this time fully content, knowing his honor is what brought him there.
‘Your Honor’ Season 2 Trailer: Bryan Cranston and Hope Davis Go Head-to-Head
‘Your Honor’ lands on Showtime on Friday, January 13.
Will There Be a Season 3 of ‘Your Honor’?
It’s likelyYour Honorwon’t get a third season, butone certainly isn’t needed.Bryan Cranston may have top billing, carrying the show through an incredibly nuanced performance, butYour Honoris Eugene’s story.Cranston toldDeadlinethat “Showtime has indicated there is interest,” but there would “have to be some great reason to keep expanding in this world and to find out where the allegiances are. I’d be very interested in producing that. I don’t know about being in it because my guy’s back in prison.” Michael’s in prison, and Fia has rightfully left. Is there a story to be found in Gina Baxter and Big Mo’s continued exploits in New Orleans? It’s possible, but it might be better to leave well enough alone. Eugene, the only key player who’s had all of this wrongfully thrust upon him, has finally seen a sliver of justice delivered in his honor.
Your Honoris available to stream on Netflix in the U.S.
WATCH ON NETFLIX
