The second series of the compelling US legal
drama continues. Shark follows the personal and

professional life of Sebastian Stark (James Woods)
– a former defence attorney who has ‘switched
sides’ and brought his cutthroat tactics to the
prosecutor’s office. In this week’s instalment, the
murder of an investigative journalist points to a
fitness trainer involved in a doping scandal, before a
corrupt medical examiner enters the frame.
When Stark arrives at the LA Memorial Coliseum,
the scene of his latest case, medical examiner
Laura Fields is already assessing the victim – an
investigative journalist called Victoria Pearson who
appears to have been killed by a blow to the head.
Pearson is well-known to Stark and Devlin, having badgered them for stories in the past. “Apparently, she finally asked the wrong question,” says Devlin.
After an examination of Pearson’s office, Madeleine and Raina find a threatening letter from one Don Kipling, a fitness trainer thought to be involved in the illegal supply of human growth hormone to athletes. Pearson, it seems, was about to expose Kipling’s alleged dealings just before she was killed. When Fields discovers tissue that matches Kipling’s DNA under the victim’s fingernails, Stark and the team arrest their man. Kipling admits threatening Pearson, but insists he is not involved in doping and denies killing the journalist. He also provides an airtight alibi for the night of the murder. Fields, who has worked with Devlin for many years, maintains that DNA evidence never lies, but Stark is not convinced and brings in another ME for a second opinion. Another examination of the body shows that Fields’s autopsy was flawed, and that the victim was not killed by blunt-force trauma – she was injected with a poison. Stark then realises that it would have been impossible for Fields to arrive at the crime scene before him – unless she was already there...
Devlin tells Fields about the new findings, knowing that she will try to cover her tracks if guilty. Sure enough, Fields goes to the morgue at night and begins to tamper with the evidence – at which point Stark and Devlin step out of the shadows and arrest the ME. “You set me up,” says Fields. “And now you’re going down,” retorts Stark.
Stark and his team do some digging and learn that Pearson had been in contact with a number of prisoners who Fields had helped convict. One of them, Greg Tobias, claims to have been framed by the ME for a murder he did not commit. Could Fields have killed the reporter to cover up a long history of malpractice? As the trial begins, Stark tells the jury that Fields learned of Pearson’s intention to publish her story, so she lured her to the stadium, killed her and then used her expertise to throw the investigators off the trail. “She committed murder in our name,” he says. “Don’t let her get away with it.”
The defence claims that while Fields may be guilty of tampering with evidence in the past, she only did it at the insistence of the then DA – none other than Jessica Devlin. The wily lawyer insists that when Pearson was murdered, Devlin knew the trail would lead to the wrongly convicted Tobias, so she set up Fields to take the fall.
With Devlin now also in the frame, Stark takes some desperate measures to get his suspect convicted. Despite the judge’s order that the ME’s old cases are inadmissible, Stark cross-examines Fields and begins to talk about the case of Louis Breck – a man who was put to death for the murder of a sheriff’s deputy thanks to Fields’s testimony. Before the judge can halt proceedings, Stark brings in a prisoner he claims has confessed to the deputy’s murder, meaning that Fields helped condemn an innocent man. At this point, the judge furiously calls Stark to the front of the court. “I am declaring a mistrial,” he spits. “And you, sir, are in contempt of court!” Has Stark taken his questionable tactics a step too far?
Also this week, Stark’s ex-wife, Claire, comes to LA having broken up with her partner. Stark insists that she move into his house until she can find alternative arrangements. Could there still be a romantic spark between the one-time lovers?