‘Necessary Roughness’ 1.03 Recap: “It’s Time to Make Friends with Speed”

Only three episodes in, and I’m already getting bored with ‘Necessary Roughness’. That’s not a good sign, is it?

In last week’s episode, ‘Spinning Out’, Dani’s new client is a NASCAR racer named Billy who’s afraid to go back on the track again after losing control of his car and nearly getting splattered on the course. After much angst, Dani figures out that what he’s really afraid of is a veteran driver who’s been aggressively bumping his car to make him lose his nerve. Billy feels like he’s not worthy to challenge his idol. When Dani helps him to realize that the bully is just as afraid of him as he is of the bully, Billy finally stands up for himself and starts racing again.

Once again, this is a terribly simplistic solution that ties everything up neatly for a client that we will undoubtedly never see again. I’m already tired of this formula.

The main plot is mirrored by TK’s storyline this episode. He feels threatened by a new hotshot player named Shane. Naturally, TK lashes out, picks fights, and eventually steals the guy’s girlfriend. Shane in turn then steals TK’s old girlfriend. Before things can get too heated, Dani talks them both down, and everyone becomes good friends in the end. Sigh.

On the homefront, a Court Appointed Observer keeps poking into Dani’s home life in order to evaluate her fitness for custody of her two kids. Of course, this would be the perfect time for Dani’s heinous bitch daughter to throw a big party at the house that eventually brings cops to the door, just as the Observer shows up. Dani and her daughter have a heart-to-heart, and Dani realizes that perhaps she’s just been too darn strict with her children since kicking her husband out.

Bullshit. This horrible girl doesn’t need a hug. She needs to be sent to reform school. Forever.

Everything wraps up neatly here as well. Despite all the mayhem she witnessed, when the Observer finally turns in her report, she says that this is a perfectly normal family with perfectly normal problems, and Dani should retain custody. How convenient.

I just don’t know about this show. I like star Callie Thorne and want her to be successful, but ‘Necessary Roughness’ is so generic and so badly underwritten. I may continue to watch for a few more episodes to see if it gets better, but I’m not sure whether I’ll bother to continue recapping it here. It hardly seems worth the effort.

Is anyone else still watching this show?

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