Bull’s latest episode, “The Fall,” explores the world of eSports and capitalizes on the heavy drama that often happens between team owners and players in this billion-dollar industry. While it would have made more sense for the show to focus on one of the top games in the sport, like Dota 2, Starcraft II, or League of Legends, they made a valiant effort with Titanfall.
One very refreshing thing about this episode is that, while it is about gamer culture, the team never looks down on their client, Titanfall player Jace Rundle, for his profession. The episode opens with Bull and Chunk going to an eSports match because Chunk’s a huge fan of the game. He’s such a fan of Jace and his team, DV8, that he’s shocked when Jace chokes and ruins the big match. Everyone in the gaming world is shocked that the world’s best player lost a three-million-dollar match.
The team owner, Vin Creuster, thinks Jace couldn’t have choked by accident. He insists that Jace threw the match on purpose, fires him, and blacklists him from the sport. Jace sues Vin in a twenty-million-dollar defamation suit and the team is called in to stack the deck in his favor.
Bull needs ten out of twelve jurors to believe that Vin tanked Jace’s career for no good reason. He stacks the jury with people suffering from their own horrible bosses. He hopes that jurors, like the architect whose superior took credit for his work, will see how Vin ruled the team like a tyrant and punished Jace for making a very human, but not malicious, mistake.
Bull is suffering through a horrible boss of his own. Jace’s lawyer, Abigail, immediately shows her authority and tells Bull that if the trial is a success, she will be taking all the credit for himself. Jace has a cooler mind, but is clearly ok with deferring to more aggressive presences, whether that’s his lawyer or his own toxic girlfriend.
Bull and Abigail first clash about a blind strike. Because the judge wants to move things forward quickly, instead of completing a proper voir dire, the two sides must submit a list of jurors they want to strike. Neither side wants to waste their strike on someone the other side was going to strike anyway. Bull insists that the defense was going to strike Arlo, the ultimate horrible boss. Abigail doesn’t want to take the risk, strikes Arlo, and sticks the team with Connie, an animal activist with a strong distaste for gamers.
Bull tries to get Connie to buy into eSports with the IKEA effect. The IKEA effect says that people will assign more value into things they’ve put work into. You like the furniture you assembled yourself. Connie needs to play the game itself to understand Jace’s mindset.
Then, the show briefly turns into a Titanfall commercial. Look at the jurors having fun playing Titanfall! Look at the judge having fun playing Titanfall! Look at the team having fun playing Titanfall!
The team’s gaming session does gives Chunk an idea. Cable’s ex-boyfriend, Wes, is a big gamer. Chunk tells Cable to ask him for help. Cable is reluctant. She has bad memories of him picking his games over her. She does it anyway, and is pleasantly surprised to see that Wes no longer plays. She even tentatively restarts their relationship once the case ends.
Back in the courtroom, Bull realizes that Connie is still against Jace. Instead of making Jace look better, he and Abigail (with an assist from Danny) make Vin look worse. Abigail bates Vin into pulling out his keychain, which has a genuine rabbit’s foot charm on it. Connie has two rabbits at home. There’s no way she’s voting for Vin now.
Vin knows it and offers Jace his job back if he drops the suit. Bull and Jace are in agreement. They’d rather take the win.
Then, Wes gets back to Cable with some weird news. He analyzed Jace’s choke in the finals and doesn’t think he did it deliberately. It’s the early signs of a neurological disorder. Things take a dark turn when Jace gets diagnosed with Parkinson’s. His eSports career could be over, whether or not he wins the suit.
Instead of figuring out a way to win in court, Bull decides to do what Jace wants. It’s a signature of Bull that the show often ends with mediation instead of a big court win. Like the case in Texas, both sides are people, not evil masterminds.
Jace doesn’t want the world to know about his disease. He just wants to keep playing. Bull confronts Vin and appeals to the man’s better nature. Not only does he get Jace back on the team, but at full benefits. At the same time, Bull gives Vin the name of Jace’s traitor teammate who actually threw the match. Jace is happy and Abigail stops looking and acting so horrible to Bull.
In the end, “The Fall” was a slight episode that didn’t spend a lot of time with the team or do anything clever with the premise. It was, however, an earnest attempt to interact with a world I’m sure not a lot of viewers are too familiar with. In that case, it was a success. Just maybe not a win.
Juror of the Week: friend to all animals, Connie
What did you think of tonight’s episode? Let me know in the comments! To any actual Titanfall players out there, does anyone actually call it, ugh, "The Fall?"
