S01.E08: Maricela And The Desert

[WendyCR72]

To air on November 18, 2019:

Lola and Emily find themselves on opposing sides when the key witness in a murder trial is the victim's 11-year-old daughter; when Mark's key witness winds up in jail, Luke accompanies Mark on a road trip to bring the witness back to testify.

[possibilities]

I wanted Lopez to ask the kid why she was correcting herself every time she said "Dad" and then changing it to "Felix". It sure seemed like she was being coached to do that, and not like it was what she really wanted to do.

[Raja]

When Judge Lola was telling Deputy Luke to watch out for Mark in Vegas I thought they were going with him being a compulsive gambler.  After seeing the episode play out I am guessing that his father was in the Las Vegas mob and that was were he was raised. But trying to bribe a Clark County deputy was a step too far.

Edited November 19, 2019 by Raja

[Empress1]

Mark's "I ... hate ... Vegas!" cracked me up.

Deputy Luke was fine AF in his suit.

[possibilities]

Luke is the best sidekick ever. I just want to see him be treated as well as he deserves, and not always have him playing support roles. Who supports him?

[HurricaneVal]

I really liked this episode.  It had the funny, it had the feels....

I like how smart everyone seems to be, and how dedicated.  I'm not fond of how klutzy they're making Lola out to be, like the writers think "Oh, she needs a flaw, she can't be so earnest and passionate and perfect all the time.  Oh!  I know....let's put her in situations where she can literally take a prat fall, that will soften her up."  I think it would be more effective if they showed that she can be earnest and passionate and also wrong sometimes.  They kind of went there last night, with how seemingly harsh she was about the father/daughter relationship, which turned out to be a legit loving and caring dynamic, and the dad was innocent.  She was right under the law, that there needs to be separation between the witness and defendant, but she seemed heartless about that. 

I also liked how Lopez was torn between advocating for Maricela because of her natural empathy, but also wary of her because she represented a witness for the prosecution.  Speaking of prosecution, oh man.  What a weak case.

Vegas truly is a disaster for Mark.  I was sure they were going to go with a gambling addiction past for Mark, but it turned out to be just a "Vegas makes me turn my filters and inhibitions off, and the Murphy demon rides me like his bitch while I'm in this town."

Deputy Luke.  Sigh.  Deputy Luke.....  Finest character on TV today.

[illdoc]

BTW, someone needs to fire that social worker!! She has one job--watch Maricela---and yet Maricela just wanders here & there, without supervision.

[mommalib]

I like that Judge Lola can be a little bit of a hard ass. Gives her an edge.

I love Lopez's passion and I hope she doesn't get cynical.

Luke is my favorite character, he's a good stand up dude. 

[mojito]

I like seeing the goofy side of Lola combined with the disapproving Sherri and the boss who will bend enough to help redecorating the courtroom. I also very much appreciate the friendship between the various characters.

[tennisgurl]

First of all, someone fire that social worker, she had one job, take care of and keep an eye on Maricela, and she couldn't keep the kid in her sight for more than three seconds! 

It was kind of cool seeing Lola be a bit more of a hardass this week, even when it puts her and Lopez in a snippy kind of place. I suspected the neighbor right away of making things up, and I am glad that the dad was innocent. I do wonder what Lopez will do if she really does end up with a client who did something really bad or is just a generally scummy person? You have to defend everyone when your a defense attorney after all. 

I thought that Mark might have a gambling problem and thats why Lola was worried about him going to Vegas, but I guess Vegas just brings out a side to him he doesent like. I wonder if he grew up there mostly and it gives me bad memories of his childhood? Speaking of, have we heard anything about Marks mom? Is she dead? Not in the picture? His memories of childhood seem to only have his dad in them. 

Luke is the episode MVP, as always, and I liked to see him and Mark bonding on their roadtrip. 

[HurricaneVal]

Oh!  I forgot about the one thing that kept bugging me about the episode.  There were a lot of long, lingering, camera shots of Maricela's pink flowered backpack.  At security, in the judges office, and in other various places.  I was working on an assumption that it had a bomb in it, or a gun, or something, but it went nowhere.  Or did I miss it?

[KaveDweller]

1 hour ago, HurricaneVal said:

Oh!  I forgot about the one thing that kept bugging me about the episode.  There were a lot of long, lingering, camera shots of Maricela's pink flowered backpack.  At security, in the judges office, and in other various places.  I was working on an assumption that it had a bomb in it, or a gun, or something, but it went nowhere.  Or did I miss it?

I had that thought too, I don't know what all the lingering shots were about when there was nothing important in there.

[topanga]

On 11/20/2019 at 9:59 AM, mommalib said:

I like that Judge Lola can be a little bit of a hard ass. Gives her an edge.

I love Lopez's passion and I hope she doesn't get cynical.

Luke is my favorite character, he's a good stand up dude. 

I loved the scene where Lopez lost her temper and yelled at Judge Carmichael. "With all due respect!" followed by whatever else she said. Well done by both actresses. 

On 11/20/2019 at 2:11 PM, tennisgurl said:

First of all, someone fire that social worker, she had one job, take care of and keep an eye on Maricela, and she couldn't keep the kid in her sight for more than three seconds! 

It was kind of cool seeing Lola be a bit more of a hardass this week, even when it puts her and Lopez in a snippy kind of place. I suspected the neighbor right away of making things up, and I am glad that the dad was innocent. I do wonder what Lopez will do if she really does end up with a client who did something really bad or is just a generally scummy person? You have to defend everyone when your a defense attorney after all. 

I thought that Mark might have a gambling problem and thats why Lola was worried about him going to Vegas, but I guess Vegas just brings out a side to him he doesent like. I wonder if he grew up there mostly and it gives me bad memories of his childhood? Speaking of, have we heard anything about Marks mom? Is she dead? Not in the picture? His memories of childhood seem to only have his dad in them. 

Luke is the episode MVP, as always, and I liked to see him and Mark bonding on their roadtrip. 

Yes, that social worker was useless. 

The scenes with Mark and Luke were great. 

[txhorns79]

I just caught this episode.  I felt like they treated Maricela as a much younger child than she actually was by filling up the courtroom with stuffed animals and the like.  I mean, she was 11, potentially a sixth grader, but everyone treated her as though she was 5 or 6.  

[Avabelle]

Who is the actress that played Maricela? I’ve seen her before..

[incandescent]

On 6/5/2020 at 8:13 AM, Avabelle said:

Who is the actress that played Maricela? I’ve seen her before..

Here is her IMDb. It looks like "Sofia Sloan-Torres" on Grey's Anatomy is her most prominent role to date.

Edited June 6, 2020 by incandescent

[Avabelle]

Ah that’s exactly what it was..