The fifteenth episode of the pilot season was a jam packed tale of two cases, one which was the main focus of the hour, of course, and the other was one that Todd sort of stumbled upon by accident that ended up leading to a major revelation at the law firm, finally setting Margaret up to receive the partnership that she has desperately been seeking.
Margaret’s image means everything to her, and when she comes face to face with her college nemesis, Natalie (Laila Robins), who wastes no time demeaning her, she makes a spur of the moment decision to go head to head with Natalie, who happens to be an assistant U.S. attorney, by defending the person she is accusing. The accused is sophisticated 17-year-old hacker, Ava, who goes by the name of “Ivan the Terrible.” Ava is accused of hacking the US department of defense and releasing confidential documents. When the judge mandates that Ava be supervised 24/7 as a condition of her bail, Margaret assigns Todd the responsibility of babysitting her. This leads to a hilarious hour of Todd attempting to manage a hormonal teenager who also happens to be a lot more tech savvy than he is. Skylar Astin is a master at improvising one-liners with perfect comedic timing, notably his “you think I’m extra, that guys name is Cheese,” line had me bursting into a fit of laughter. Genea Charpentier did a stellar job at bringing Ava to life, a next-level tech genius mixed with all of the teenage angst one would expect from a 17-year old girl. Highlights of their shenanigans include Ava locking Todd in his car and his comedic attempt to get out, and Ava begging Todd to find out what Harry Styles was wearing that day or she would die.
It wouldn’t be a Margaret Wright case without Todd placing some kind of undue stress on his mother. In the midst of the babysitting drama, Todd is distracted by another seemingly innocent situation. He has set up a nanny cam in his office at the firm, and has observed one of the partners, Alistair Song’s, receptionist taking files out of a confidential drawer every Tuesday and returning them every Thursday. Todd is adamant that there is something more devious going on, and although most of the viewers likely initially assumed that he was wasting time as usual, his investigation actually managed to uncover corruption at the firm. Ava helped provide Todd with the information he needed to prove that Song has been embezzling money from the firm. He is stripped of his partnership and removed from the firm, which paves the way for Margaret to achieve her ultimate goal of becoming partner. There have been plenty of opportunities for this to happen already, but the writers have chosen to drag it out throughout the season, creating some “will she or won’t she” drama. At this rate, it is likely that Margaret may not make partner until the end of the season, if that.
Your turn, Todd fans! Do you think Todd and Ava make a good team? When do you think Margaret will get her partnership? What’s next for Todd and Susan? Share your ideas below and follow me on Twitter @MiddleofCanada