(Season 6, Episodes 8-9)
I guess Jimmy can’t be kept down. Just two episodes after barely saving his bar card, he was right back in there swinging with Bobby and the boys (and girls) at the firm. It was actually interesting to see a Bobby-centric episode again — he’s definitely been overshadowed by Eugene, Ellenor, Jimmy, and Helen for quite a while now, so I guess this is where Dylan McDermott plays catch-up. Funny too, because I was a huge fan of his going into my virgin diary. Now? I can wait for season two of Dark Blue to get more McDermott.
6.8 “Dangerous Liaisons”
It took me a few minutes to realize it, but check out a young Gabrielle Anwar (Fiona on Burn Notice)! Here too she played a woman who had the ability to cast a spell over men … I didn’t get it, but okay. In fact, that whole “Bobby has feelings for her” was kind of stupid and unnecessary. Plus, if it’s a plot that has Jimmy seeming like the practical one, you know you’re in trouble.
But I didn’t get how Bobby pointing the finger at another person was a desperate play. Anwar’s character was standing trial for murdering her former lover, and Bobby managed to cast suspicion on the man’s secretary, who he was also sleeping with. To me it didn’t play as desperate at all, although the jury still came back guilty. It was nice to see the firm lose for a change.
Meanwhile, Lucy was off handling another rape crisis center call, and this time the victim was an elderly woman. It’s really interesting to see the dynamics in these cases between her and Mike (Ray Abruzzo) and Helen juxtaposed with the way the DA’s office deals with the firm on a regular basis. It really is all about the cases, and pursuing justice.
Anyway, it was weird that the victim just wanted her rapist to apologize, although nice move by Lowe to think to use his apology as a confession. But I was not in any way prepared for the victim to pull out a huge handgun and kill her rapist. Wow.
6.9 “Inter Arma Silent Leges”
Rebecca took on the case of a man being held by the FBI shortly after September 11, 2001. There was a lot of new territory here, considering that Rebecca needed to be granted security clearance, and that she appeared in Federal court. But in the end I was just left really confused about what happened. I understand the facts, but this episode was written in the Fall/Winter of 2001, which means that there was a lot of emotion in it that was very reactionary to what was happening at that time. Eight-plus years later it’s a little tough to grasp. But it was cool to see Married… with Children’s David Garrison (Steve Rhoades). He looked so distinguished with a beard!
The other plot was a head-scratcher as well. Eugene got handed the court-appointed case of a homeless man accused of raping and murdering a young woman. I understand why Eugene wanted off the case, and why turning it into a trial about race (the accused was black, the victim white) was so distasteful, but all Eugene did was put on a defense akin to any other I’ve seen on this, or any other legal series. The fact that Helen and Judge Kittleson were giving him such a hard time at every turn made no sense, and the little speech that the jury foreman gave instead of a verdict made even less. All Eugene did was put on a defense. Isn’t it reasonable to question whether the woman providing the ID had trouble differentiating between black men? Or to provide the jury with an alternate story, that the defendant and the victim were actually romantically involved? I totally didn’t understand what the problem with that was.
And it was more than fair to imagine that the victim would have kept her relationship with a homeless black man a secret for numerous reasons, particularly if her father was bigoted. I don’t understand what was wrong with the trial, save for the fact that the DA seemed convinced that he was guilty simply because he was a homeless black man, and therefore could only have slept with her had he raped her before murdering her.
Confusing episode.
Clacked by Aryeh S.
on Mar 25, 2010 @ 15:00 EST5EDT
“But I didn’t get how Bobby pointing the finger at another person was a desperate play. Anwar’s character was standing trial for murdering her former lover, and Bobby managed to cast suspicion on the man’s secretary, who he was also sleeping with. To me it didn’t play as desperate at all”
It was desperate because the defense’s theory prior to that was suicide. To suddenly switch halfway through the trial and argue that it wasn’t a suicide because the secretary did it definitely came off as desperate.
*POST AUTHOR*
Okay; what I was hearing was that Bobby was saying, “The DA’s proof amounts to a bad video and the existence of an affair. How can that condemn her if there’s another woman who he was having an affair with who could have easily been the one in the video?” Meaning, just eradicating their case, as opposed to pointing a finger and saying, “She did it.” I didn’t get the impression that he was doing that, but maybe that was the intent. I just didn’t see it.