(Season 4, Episodes 19-22)
I can’t believe I’m halfway done with this series. There’ve already been a lot of reruns, although I suppose death row cases have to be respected enough to be done numerous times. But how many times do we have to be reminded that rape victims, or their families, do not have a free pass to murder said rapist? Do we need that oversight rubbed in our faces?
And Ms. Matlin? You are awesome; thank you for being you.
4.19 “Till Death Do Us Part”
Ellenor took the case of Stuart Donovan (John Hawkes) to the max, trying every means she could think of to stay his execution. Including bribing the jailhouse snitch whose testimony helped convict her client with the promise of a prison transfer. Can fighting capital punishment be so noble a cause as to justify breaking every oath an attorney takes, and every code we as humans live by? I’m not looking to take a position here, but respect must be paid to the laws our society stands on, both the ones we disagree with as well as the ones we break in trying to repeal the ones we disagree with.
Rebecca defended a marriage whose validity was being challenged — a man married a woman with early-stage Alzheimer’s, and her children questioned whether she was competent enough to do so. I though the case was a throw-away, until the woman let slip that her current husband murdered her first husband, and the marriage was in part to keep her from being able to testify against him … huh.
4.20 “Liberty Bells”
All Stuart Donovan, all the time. Not that it shouldn’t be, and it’s good to see how committed most of the firm is to this (where were Bobby, Lindsay, and Rebecca?), even if it was just this side of obsession. And as long as the attempts are legal, I can get onboard with throwing everything you’ve got at saving a man’s life (would it be different if they thought him guilty?). But what was with the “that’s good enough” attitude that Ellenor took on every motion they filed? Even if it’s a race against time, shouldn’t a lawyer respect the court enough to only approach it when prepared to do so?
The DA (Gregory Itzin) surprised me at how stubborn he was in ignoring the DNA evidence absolution, although I imagine that in order to do their jobs DAs need to believe in the trials and juries that convicted felons. And while the necessity for overturning convictions angers me, as I’m sure it does all of you, I do wonder at the black and white nature of this type of situation. The DNA was screwed up in the first place, so it wasn’t past of the original trial. Which means that Stuart was convicted on other evidence. So at the very least he should get a new trial. Yes, he should be compensated for the years he spent on death row … cash from the city or state paid to his family. A lot. But just releasing him without taking the new data, combining it with the old, and retrying him? I don’t get that.
4.21 “Honorable Man”
Two repeats: Eugene questioning what he does for a living, and Jimmy stupidly defending a friend or relative without seeing the transparent nature of their crime. There isn’t a finite amount of plot out there, is there?
Jimmy’s old friend announced to his company that an employee had AIDS, eventually leading the employee to quit. Even if he didn’t turn out to be homophobic, how did Jimmy not get that this guy wasn’t looking out for the safety of the rest of his employees? Hello? And then Jimmy pulled his old high and mighty after the jury fined his client $25. That guy makes me sick.
And Eugene got sick over defending a homeless man accused of murdering a woman and then raping her corpse. Sure it should turn your stomach, but we’ve heard this sad song too many times. And what’s this about Sharon having left him just a few days prior? Since when did they get back together? The show spent so much time focusing on why they split, and then didn’t bother to keep us in the loop?
4.22 “Life Sentence”
Marlee Matlin did a fantastic job guesting as a woman on trial for killing the guy who raped and murdered her daughter. It always blows my mind that she can act so well without speaking the majority of the time she’s on screen. I know her career goes much further back, but I’ve been a big fan since The West Wing, and I just can never get enough of Matlin when she’s around.
And I was absolutely blown away when, halfway through the episode, it was revealed that her daughter was seven. My God … how did a jury find her guilty of second degree murder? I don’t care if she’d written him a letter beforehand letting him know exactly how she was going to do it, then recorded the murder and broadcast it all over the world — I would have found her straight not guilty. Sick world.
Richard was (finally) under review for sucking, or put more gently for losing so many slam-dunk cases. How he gets out of this without losing his job as well is anybody’s guess.
I’m sure Lindsay and Bobby’s wedding was the talk of the time when this aired, but I give it a “whatever.” I’d like to hear how they wrangled eloping on the field at Fenway Park, both the couple and the show, but otherwise I can do without it. I’m surprised it actually happened, but I’d be even more surprised if their marriage is even apparent on the show going forward.
Clacked by Aryeh S.
on Dec 10, 2009 @ 16:00 EST5EDT
