Guest Star Goodness: Franklin & Bash “L’affaire de la Coeur” 

We’re five episodes into Franklin & Bash season 2. Before we get to the guest star goodness that went down in this latest episode, it’s time to discuss the status of what’s turned into a perfect summer show:

• Aside from a shaky season 2 premiere that was really all over the place and almost too frenetic, Franklin & Bash is better than ever before.

• The actors look like they’re having a good time.

• The cases are fun and quirky.

• The Jared/Peter bromance is actually working on all levels — the chemistry is there; their banter comes off more natural than it ever did season 1; as lawyers they are proving themselves to be as competent as they are crazy and rebellious.

• Making them partners at the law firm was a good move. They do have to act a bit more responsible but they haven’t lost much of their Jared-and-Peter-versus-the-world schtick.

• Glad they are finally filling in some of the blanks of Pindar’s past. He’s been adorable this season as he tackles his agoraphobic issues. His recent teaming up with the wonderfully sardonic Damien Karp to save his cheese-making friend was great. Hope the show continues to get Pindar out of the house and interacting with the rest of the cast.

• So far not much going on with Carmen. She’s been helping Pindar and we did get some good stuff from her at the end of last season. Still, I’d like to see her do more. But I have to say, the show needs to figure out what to do with Hanna. Garcelle Beauvais is woefully underused thus far. We really don’t know much about her character at this point. And we’re in season 2. Plus, all of a sudden, she’s kinda sorta working against Jared and Peter? It seemed like that in this year’s premiere, but there hasn’t been much else mentioned about this so I’m not quite sure what’s going on there. Regardless, I don’t like that development at all.

• The guest stars are helping make this show even more entertaining. There are many times when casting so many guest stars backfires, but I’ve loved the way these actors have been utilized in each episode for the most part. Sean Astin as the “superhero” in “Viper” and Jane Seymour as Bash’s mom were both excellent and they appeared in the same episode in different storylines. Hopefully, we’ll be seeing Seymour again and again. The woman doesn’t age. It’s one of those mysteries of life. She is beyond stunning.

• In “Jango and Rossi,” Seth Green and Eric Mabius played second-rate versions of Jared and Peter. It was a great reunion for Green and Breckin Meyer (Du Jour 4ever! If you don’t know what Du Jour is, please rent the movie Josie and the Pussycats tout de suite). Cybill Shepherd did a guest-star spot in that same episode as one of Infeld’s ex-wives. Even RoboCop himself, Peter Weller, recently popped up during a case. The stunt casting is fun and adds to the enjoyment of each episode. Speaking of which, the guest star goodness for “L’affaire de la Coeur”:

Warning: There’s some recap involved here so major spoilers for the episode

Tuc Watkins

F&B Role: Watkins played Lance, Damien’s former college friend who needed his help to prove that he’s gay in order to keep a championship softball trophy. He admitted that he hadn’t ever had sex with someone of his gender so everyone thought he was just a ringer because he loved playing competitive ball. It turned out that back in the day he tried to tell Damien that he was gay (and in love with him) but Damien was his usual self and wasn’t listening. That earned Karp a punch. Lance broke his nose and their friendship ended. Favorite part of this story was when Damien made Lance tell the truth under oath in court. Watkins and Reed Diamond did such a good job.
The Actor: If you don’t know who this awesome actor is, let me tell you. On the late great daytime soap, One Life to Live, he was scene-stealing scoundrel David Vickers. His chemistry with Robin Strasser (who played Dorian Lord) was simply perfection. Watkins recently played Pistol Pete on NBC’s Parks and Recreation as well as Bob Hunter on Desperate Housewives. He was also the closeted casting executive Malcolm Laffley on Showtime’s Beggars and Choosers which aired from 1999 – 2001. Love him. Lots.

Bellamy Young

F&B Role: DA Margaret Pollack. She tried to frame her fiancé in order to run off with her boyfriend who just so happened to be in jail. This lawyer had all these great things she was known for but, in the end, she broke the law and she broke the judge’s heart.
The Actress: Bellamy has been racking up a serious amount of TV credits as of late. She was Billy Baldwin’s wife, Ellen Darling, on Dirty Sexy Money. More recently, she’s played Hotchner’s love interest on CBS’ Criminal Minds and is the very devious and clever First Lady on ABC’s Scandal. She’s just been upped to a series regular and I couldn’t be happier. I can’t wait to see what she has in store for the world in season 2. She also did several episodes of Scrubs and an episode of Supernatural where she played the wife of Lucifer’s new meat suit (Mark Pellegrino) in “Sympathy for the Devil.”

Claire Coffee

F&B Role: Janie Ross, Peter’s ex-girlfriend and current whatever you want to call it — hook-up, maybe? Plus, she sometimes sits as opposing counsel to Franklin and Bash since she works for the DA’s office. In “L’affaire de la Coeur,” Janie and Peter had a bit of a rendez-vous in her office…on her desk. We’ll just have to see how mixing business with pleasure will work out for the two.
The Actress: After appearing on shows like NCIS, The West Wing and Cold Case, Coffee played Nadine on the daytime drama General Hospital. Her post-soap career has included a stint as former Hexenbiest, Adalind Schade, on several episodes of Grimm.

Don McManus

F&B Role: Judge Derek Kohler, who was arrested for having an affair with a lawyer while they presided over the same cases. As a judge, he wasn’t a big fan of Franklin and Bash, but when he was arrested, he knew their creativity and boldness was just what he needed to help clear his name. It turned out his fiancée tried to set him up. Poor guy. She was planning on running away with one of the prisoners she was helping him learn French.
The Actor: McManus is a veteran actor that has done a lot of TV work. He’s appeared in everything from Northern Exposure and Murder One to NYPD Blue and Party of Five. He guest-starred in the “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Sam Winchester” episode of Supernatural, was A.D.A. John Lennox on Boston Legal and recently did Harry’s Law and The Mentalist.

Jamie McShane

F&B Role: Julian Aroyan, the newly “reformed” new age-y prisoner who fell in love with DA Pollack. In the end he ended up back in jail and lost his girlfriend as well since she was about to start doing time herself.
The Actor: McShane has guest starred in pretty much every procedural show on TV now including Criminal Minds, NCIS, CSI: Miami, Castle and Mark-Paul Gosselaar‘s earlier TNT series, Raising the Bar. He’s also had extensive roles on Southland, The Nine and Sons of Anarchy. Most recently, he showed up on an episode of Longmire and in a man-on-the-street interview in the blockbuster movie The Avengers. He was one of the New Yorkers celebrating the superheroes.

Jocko Sims

F&B Role: R.J. Carlton, the opposing counsel in Damien’s case.
The Actor: The whole hour I kept thinking I had seen Jocko Sims before but I couldn’t quite place where. Turns out he was Jackie Vance’s troubled brother in a recent NCIS episode called “The Good Son.” Vance went out of his way to defend his brother-in-law when the team was investigating the case of a murdered petty officer. What was beyond sad was that the character was actually guilty. Sims also starred in the Starz series, Crash, and guest starred in everything from CSI and Grey’s Anatomy to Bones and Burn Notice.

Franklin & Bash airs Tuesdays at 10/9c on TNT.