7.04 - "Taxed"
This week, Alicia hit more turbulence in Bond court, while Diane was stuck on a case she personally opposed. Eli and Ruth continued their background political antics, and Jason Crouse made another appearance.
"Perps by the pound."
In the continued foray into Bond court, Alicia found herself in a competition of sorts, where each of the 4 bond court lawyers tried to get the heaviest clients available. Whoever had the heaviest total at the end of the day "won" and could choose which days they wanted to work the following week. It was the first of many signs in the episode that pointed to the manufactured nature of the process. It was hammered home again that it didn't matter whether or not these "perps" were in fact guilty, so much as that they were there, and the fastest way to get out of there was through a lawyer and a deal from Matan Brody, as slimy as ever.
On some level, I feel as though I still don't quite understand what actually happens in Bond court. I think it's fudged a bit for the show's drama... But from what I can tell, I see people who have been brought in on charges, and are immediately thrown into a fight for their freedom against both an expedient process, and a room of people with authority that work within the realm of metrics rather than justice. How many cases can the judge process daily? How many deals can Matan Brody bring back to his boss? How many clients can one of the bond court lawyers snag and get paid their 130-something dollars? While I think we're close to the end of being able to prop up Alicia's career with these bond cases, it's been an interesting set for Alicia to move back to unfamiliar territory, and it allows the show to portray another aspect of the widely corrupt government in Cook County. I hope these injustices don't just take up time only to later disappear--I hope someone does something about it.
Alicia doesn't understand the "perps by the pound" game, and she doesn't understand her place in the courtroom. After hearing one of the other lawyers blatantly lie to his client about how Judge Schakowsky could stack more charges onto her current charges of shoplifting, Alicia tells the woman that it is not true, and if she was innocent, she could maintain her stance, and not take a plea. She fires her lawyer, and immediately asks Alicia to stand in as her representation.
"Why do you think you got me so cheap?"
In spite of drawing the ire of the judge and each of the other lawyers in the courtroom, Alicia attempts to provide some proof of innocence for Maia, her new client in Bond court. She brings in Jason Crouse once again, for a few hours of investigation -- which makes sense, as she says she can't always afford to have an investigator on hand currently. Through multiple arguments, Judge Schakowsky makes it apparent that he has no regard for due process (and I don't even know if he has to, really... Like I said I don't know if Bond court actually hears stuff that has to do with the actual charge?) and sides with Matan Brody every chance he can.
Unable to get any decent footage that could clear their client of the shoplifting incident, Jason goes to the store and observes an attendant actively following around a customer who is a person of color. The very next day, that woman is in court awaiting bond for "shoplifting" just like Maia, Alicia's client. She puts Jason on the stand to testify to the store's blatant racist antics, how they profile and accuse people of color on a routine basis. However, Matan brings up Jason's past to discredit him. He apparently had a run-in with a judge, and punched him in the face. Since that point, he was disbarred and his reputation was pretty much ruined. Still, somehow they were able to get the footage they needed to disprove the charges against her client. Except, unfortunately, instead they found Maia's mother a few days before outright stealing the shirt in the first place. What started as a decent test case in a possible class action lawsuit became a humbling moment when Maia had to decide between allowing Alicia to present the evidence against her own mother, or have her take the plea after all that commotion they caused, and go to jail for something her mother did. And furthermore, for Alicia, this was a defeat in front of the judge and lawyers that were so bent on seeing her fail. "The best way to get out is to plead," Plain and simple... and very unfortunate.
"Objection! Miracles aren't based on fact."
In the other case of the week, we finally got to see Diane back in the courtroom. On top of that, we had her facing Louis Canning of all lawyers! In court, we usually saw him square off against Alicia, in a sort of raising-the-stakes mindgames cycle, where somehow he'd always get one up on her, even if she "won." Well, against Diane he didn't fare as well. Pressured by Reese Dipple's new stand-in character, Ethan Carver (played by the suave Peter Gallagher), Diane was forced to take the side in an argument which she disagreed with wholeheartedly. She did so because R.D. is the new Chumhum--he keeps her firm's doors open. But even her staunch stance on being a proponent of "physician-assisted suicide," Diane was able to go toe-to-toe with Louis Canning by both relying on weaknesses in arguments posed by the plaintiff's witnesses, and more pointedly, by removing the obstacles Canning would setup for her.
"Suddenly, there's a palace guard wearing a pants suit and cheap shoes."
She builds rapport and trust with kind, flattering remarks, and that sweet persona she can so easily conjure. Finally, after multiple episodes of Eli hitting her with everything he has, she's got one up on him. She deftly stopped his meddling, and then challenged him to try harder. On some level, it was nice to see that. Eli has not only gone rogue, but he's pretty much just an anti-hero now... But like a "rebel without a cause" -- just acting as an annoyance for Ruth in her campaign. As Peter put it, this is a race for President, there doesn't need to be all this bullshit happening in the background. That is precisely why Eli's working that angle, of course... But it just feels so petty. I want Eli to have a better story than to just be an irritant for a new guest character.
"You wanna do it together?"
After a trying day at court, Alicia and Lucca drink at the bar. Lucca finally tells her that she either needs to accept how bond court is--mechanical, unemotional, and irrespective of a client's guilt, or she needs to find different cases altogether. Go out and find a real case that she can obsess over. Alicia then turns to her, and asks "You wanna do it together?" Instant fade to the credits. So, while they don't really know each other very well, she wants to go ahead and start a new firm with Lucca. Maybe that's the draw there? She doesn't know every little thing about her, she doesn't have years of emails, cases, etc. shared with Lucca. It's a total redefinition of a "new firm" for her. Hey, it could work! Also, the way she phrased it totally sounded ambiguous enough that it was pretty much also asking for sex. That had to have been intentional.
Sidenotes:
- This is the second episode this season where someone's referred to as "the devil" while Louis Canning is somewhere in the episode... Coincidence!?... (Probably?)
- Physician-Assisted Suicide AND systemic racism/profiling/injustices in the bond courtroom in 1 episode... A lot to handle between many characters and stories at once.
- Cary is only a footnote in this review, unfortunately. We finally got more Diane, but Cary was relegated to awkwardly approaching Alicia about twisting Peter's arm on an upcoming bill, all with the promise of coming back to the firm. Alicia shut it down immediately. So, with Diane having her own case this week, Cary became the mouthpiece for the firm politics, which was off-putting. I need more of Cary either in court, or outside of the ridiculous Howard Lyman ageism plot.
- How much longer will Diane represent someone who forces her to partake in changes that go against who she is? I feel like these things are going to possibly cause tension for her, and might end up messing things up for the firm later on if she decides to fire him as a client.
- This is probably the first episode of the season that felt properly weighted between multiple characters/arcs. I hope the show stays within this groove, it feels almost like old times.
- I don't even mind that Jackie is in the show so much right now... I bet a lot of people dislike her but she always brings something odd to the table when she shows up.
- Physician-Assisted Suicide AND systemic racism/profiling/injustices in the bond courtroom in 1 episode... A lot to handle between many characters and stories at once.
- Cary is only a footnote in this review, unfortunately. We finally got more Diane, but Cary was relegated to awkwardly approaching Alicia about twisting Peter's arm on an upcoming bill, all with the promise of coming back to the firm. Alicia shut it down immediately. So, with Diane having her own case this week, Cary became the mouthpiece for the firm politics, which was off-putting. I need more of Cary either in court, or outside of the ridiculous Howard Lyman ageism plot.
- How much longer will Diane represent someone who forces her to partake in changes that go against who she is? I feel like these things are going to possibly cause tension for her, and might end up messing things up for the firm later on if she decides to fire him as a client.
- This is probably the first episode of the season that felt properly weighted between multiple characters/arcs. I hope the show stays within this groove, it feels almost like old times.
- I don't even mind that Jackie is in the show so much right now... I bet a lot of people dislike her but she always brings something odd to the table when she shows up.
- Peter was funny in this episode. His family and their opinions terrify him. He was pretty much helpless in the situation!
What did you think of this week's episode? Start a discussion below in the comments!
