Explosive and appalling, 61st Street tears off its mundane outer wrappings to reveal foundation garments of pure steel.

While the writing can sometimes be heavy-handed and a bit too preoccupied with making grand statements, the scenarios outlined in “61st Street” have a ring of authenticity and familiarity, the dialogue can be pinpoint accurate at times—and the cast is absolutely sensational, with Courtney B. Vance, Aunjanue Ellis, Tosin Cole and Holt McCallanay all turning in nomination-worthy performances.

It doesn't always want viewers to like what they're seeing and doesn't seem to care whether they do or not. But it does want them to at least think about what they're seeing. ... Hard to watch, but well-worth watching.

The ticking clocks of Moses’ eroding confidence, the case evolving in more urgently dangerous ways, and Franklin’s dismal cancer diagnosis combine to keep “61st Street” moving, propulsive and palpably stressful. Vance might not have as many explosive moments in this series’ first several episodes as he has in other productions; he doesn’t even get a real courtroom scene until the season’s almost through. But he nevertheless imbues his performance with a singular gravity that makes clear Franklin’s resolve to make things right, no matter how steep the hill to get there.

A watchable blend of provocative ideas, a semi-vivid setting and one narrative trope after another that feels lifted from one prestige TV show after another, overlaid one on top of the other so that moral murkiness and narrative cacophony go hand-in-hand.

We’d like to think that without the heavy-handed style, with more subtlety, more trust in the audience to get it, even more gray areas, 61st Street really could have really connected.

"61 Street" throws a myriad of complex arcs in the air, leaving viewers to wait for their fall before deciding whether the time invested was worth it. And while nothing in Moffat’s all-too bleak legal series offends the spirit, nothing feeds it either.