S02.E03: Sliding Floors

[WendyCR72]

Airing on November 30, 2020:

Presiding over Luke’s cases forces Lola to acknowledge her own implicit biases and brings her into conflict with Judge Benner. On the home front, while Lola’s husband, Robin, is in D.C., she ponders single motherhood and carries on a one-sided conversation with the new baby growing in her stomach. Also, Mark contemplates reopening an old investigation that causes friction between him and Amy.

[juno]

So Mark has decided to put his career on the line and possibly his relationship due to one picture that he thinks is 100% authentic. This high level DA believes there was no retouch and that there was no changes to a mysterious picture sent to him. He has managed to discuss it with at least 3 people before going to get it professionally verified. Even discussing something like this could get him in trouble. Also the picture could be verified but staged and the time stamp can be forged.

Emily has decided to become Norma Rae and fight the system when she can simply accept plea deals for her clients that may help them and reduce her client load. While not perfect, the system runs on the pre trial plea deal.

Luke needs to decide if he wants to be a prosecutor or a pub defender and stick to it. You have to be 100% in to represent your clients.

The new clerk is beyond unprofessional and disrespectful and doesn't seem to understand how to conduct herself in a court room and in the presence of a Judge.

Emily has been insufferable this season but now Mark. I am hanging on but a new trial may bring my exit.

Edited December 1, 2020 by juno

[Court]

I really have come to be super annoyed by Emily. Part of the reason you have so many cases is because you insist ok taking them all to trial. 

Milk Eyes creeped me out a bit.

I need more Lola and Mark. Happy to see the dude from downstairs back.

I like Sam and Luke.

[A.Ham]

13 minutes ago, juno said:

Emily has been insufferable this season

Yup, beat me to it but I came to say exactly that. Not only is she insufferable, there’s just too much focus on her. She was downright histrionic. To top it off, she put herself in that situation to begin with. I just can’t with her.

[preeya]

Adam Noshimuri (Hawaii Five-0) aka Ian Anthony Dale makes his entrance into the fray. 

My gut tells me he (Adam Noshimuri) has something to do with the photos sent to Mark. Perhaps testing him to see his reaction and course of action.  Or he's baiting him into something under handed.

Edited December 1, 2020 by preeya

[UnoAgain]

4 hours ago, preeya said:

Adam Noshimuri (Hawaii Five-0) aka Ian Anthony Dale makes his entrance into the fray. 

My gut tells me he (Adam Noshimuri) has something to do with the photos sent to Mark. Perhaps testing him to see his reaction and course of action.  Or he's baiting him into something under handed.

That was my belief too.. As he was introduced as a guy who took on the rampart scandal... And how he said mark reminded him of his younger days...I'm not sure what Amy wanted from mark... He had already asked the old da to look into it and all he said was if it pans out he would get into it... And that's what he's doing. 

[greekmom]

7 hours ago, juno said:

The new clerk is beyond unprofessional and disrespectful and doesn't seem to understand how to conduct herself in a court room and in the presence of a Judge.

Word. And why are subordinates calling her Lola? It should be Judge.

I was surprised. I thought for sure Luke was going to switch sides.  The differences between the office that Emily works in compared to the DA's office is like a sweatshop to a posh factory.

Otherwise it was a meh episode.

[cameron]

Wish that Emily's new squeeze would stop switching from a hispanic accent to non accent.  Speak one way or the other.

[Empress1]

Sherri’s face at the picnic mirrored mine. I can’t stand the new clerk.

Mark running in with his baby carrier was adorable. 

10 hours ago, A.Ham said:

Yup, beat me to it but I came to say exactly that. Not only is she insufferable, there’s just too much focus on her. She was downright histrionic. To top it off, she put herself in that situation to begin with. I just can’t with her.

I said out loud “Emily, shut up!” when she got up on the desk and started preaching. We are getting to “fast forward through her scenes” territory with her.

Love Lola talking to her baby. “Bean, let me tell you what you not gon’ be ...”

Edited December 1, 2020 by Empress1

[Shelbie]

Such a frustrating and irritating episode. Why isn’t Emily’s boss ordering her to look at plea deals for at least some of her clients ? 

[tennisgurl]

I thought that Emily could be annoyed last season, but she is becoming just insufferably annoying this season. I straight up rolled my eyes at her Norma Rae shit she was pulling, sit down and stop throwing folders Emily, your just going to have to pick them up later. There is way too much focus on her and her overly dramatic self important rants, especially as her problem of having too many clients is her own fault for refusing any plea deals, even good ones. 

I still prefer Emily to the new clerk though, I have no clue why Lola puts up with her disrespectful and unprofessional attitude. 

Lola in baby prep mode was really cute, and I am so glad that Mark and Lola are good again, he is so enthusiastic about helping with baby stuff, its really sweet. 

I like Luke and Sam, even if they are still "just friends" for now. Poor Luke, its too bad his first big win wasn't against some random jerk he could feel alright about sending to jail. 

[UnoAgain]

Something about milk eyes is off- putting... But as I like Luke away from Emily and I really like Sam.. I'm gold with him occupying her time... As long as it doesnt get dark... I can just ffwd the two of them the way I used to do to Amelia and owen on Grey's anatomy... I imagine nessa will mellow out  soon,  I think she's come out so strong as to have sherri just hate her and to give Lola someone to rein in at times and someone to push her at times... 

[HurricaneVal]

I like Emily, and I like how they are making her be passionate and compassionate and dedicated.  Last season.  This season they kicked her up to eleven, and she's become strident and obnoxious.  I think she's going to burn out soon--and I hope they show that process, because having a job like that really does take it out of you, no matter how idealistic you are.

And yes, Emily is adding to her own workload by not even bothering to review the plea deals.  How does she know they're all universally bad for all of her clients?  Flat out, some of her clients are clearly guilty, and maybe that plea deal is going to be the best thing that ever happened to them.  You can't take them all to trial.  Not to mention every one of those files that sits on her desk is someone who is not getting their right to a speedy trial, and who is sitting in jail longer than they need to if she really thinks they can be set free just by taking them to trial.  Emily is not looking at those file folders as people.  Or maybe she is, and that is adding to her overwhelming stress that she can't help all the people, all the time.

Public defenders aren't known to be at the top of the attorney pay scale, so how is it, exactly, that Emily can pay for whatever whim her clients require like swiss rolls, new clothes for trial, and hell, fancy designer clothing and shoes for herself?

Something has to happen, something has to resolve.  We can't get yelled at all season by Emily. 

I did like the juxtaposition of Luke's two cases, and how each defendant was treated in the two different courts by the two different DA teams and by the two different judges.  I knew Judge Benner was a harsher judge than Lola, but wow.  Not swayed one bit by the truncated Zoom call from the defendant's patient.  In fact, it seemed to anger her even more.  I hope they explore a little more of this "judge roulette" concept of how well or how poorly the defendant does is directly related to which judge they draw. 

I was terribly confused, though, when halfway through Luke and Sam are in WWII costumes doing some sort of reenactment thing.  Was Luke having a dream?  Is this sort of cosplay something he does?  I missed the whole start to that, and I was terribly confused when his facetime with Lola was real because I was firmly convinced it was a dream sequence, because I could not otherwise explain the costumes.

[Dowel Jones]

7 minutes ago, HurricaneVal said:

Flat out, some of her clients are clearly guilty, and maybe that plea deal is going to be the best thing that ever happened to them. 

This is the fault of legal shows.  Far too often, for the sake of drama, they throw in the case of the unfairly convicted client ( or soon-to-be-convicted).  Yes, there is a presumption of innocence, but, in reality, which is how the viewing audience usually sees it, the DA doesn't even go to trial without sufficient evidence to back up their accusation (certain high profile cases excepted).  What is it, 90% of cases are done by plea bargaining?  Yet, courtroom dramas love to show the defense coming up with some unknown little factoid that clears their client.  It gets old after awhile, but, yes too, showing plea deal after plea deal makes for boring television.

And, from the shallow end of the pool, Emily is also going to get an education about riding a motorcycle while wearing a flowing skirt.

[Irlandesa]

17 minutes ago, HurricaneVal said:

I like Emily, and I like how they are making her be passionate and compassionate and dedicated.  Last season.  This season they kicked her up to eleven, and she's become strident and obnoxious.  I think she's going to burn out soon--and I hope they show that process, because having a job like that really does take it out of you, no matter how idealistic you are.

 

The system functions on plea deals which does suck for people who aren't guilty. And states often gut the public defender system so they're overworked and underpaid.  I get Emily's frustration.  But that speech wasn't applause worthy.  After her speech, I was really hoping her boss would suggest she might need to take some time off and see someone. Or enter into private practice or something.

I also didn't get why Amy was so upset. She's a defense attorney.  Why can't Mark make decisions about which cases to pursue?  It'd be one thing if she thought he was being scammed but I think her main complaint was that Mark listened to Lola's advice over hers.  Do we really need jealousy here?

I don't normally mind some inconsistency with mask wearing but there were some weird decisions in this episode.  Like Milk Eyes sliding within a foot or two of Emily (after sitting six feet apart) as they discuss taking COVID tests.  Dude, COVID isn't an STD.  Sliding that close is exactly how it's transferred. 

And then when Mark went to talk to the guy who works in the basement, that guy put on a mask but Mark didn't. 

Edited December 1, 2020 by Irlandesa

[Empress1]

16 minutes ago, Irlandesa said:

I don't normally mind some inconsistency with mask wearing but there were some weird decisions in this episode.  Like Milk Eyes sliding within a foot or two of Emily (after sitting six feet apart) as they discuss taking COVID tests.  Dude, COVID isn't an STD.  Sliding that close is exactly how it's transferred. 

And Emily is in a role where she's dealing with people, including people who are being held in jail where COVID spread is (tragically) rampant - she was against Luke doing something in a jail last season precisely because of that. 

[illdoc]

2 hours ago, HurricaneVal said:

And yes, Emily is adding to her own workload by not even bothering to review the plea deals.  How does she know they're all universally bad for all of her clients? 

In fact, during this episode's trial...didn't Luke say the plea offered was something like..16 months probation? But since that offer was rejected, the sentence was 2 years (6 months off for time served) in jail! Good job, Emily!!! 

[Irlandesa]

2 minutes ago, illdoc said:

In fact, during this episode's trial...didn't Luke say the plea offered was something like..16 months probation? But since that offer was rejected, the sentence was 2 years (6 months off for time served) in jail! Good job, Emily!!! 

No. I think there was still jail time in the plea deal.  I also don't think Emily was the trial lawyer.  She only jumped on for the sentencing portion so it was too late to do much to help her after the guilty verdict came down.

I did find it curious how they chose to tell the story. The two crimes were similar but Emily's client had a prior on her record.  The rich client, who knew how to behave in court, did not. 

[Empress1]

41 minutes ago, Irlandesa said:

No. I think there was still jail time in the plea deal.  I also don't think Emily was the trial lawyer.  She only jumped on for the sentencing portion so it was too late to do much to help her after the guilty verdict came down.

I think it was 16 months in jail, which is just about what she ended up getting (2 years in jail with six months off for time served). And Emily wasn't the trial lawyer, you're right - the defendant said she wished she'd met Emily sooner.

[A.Ham]

10 hours ago, cameron said:

Wish that Emily's new squeeze would stop switching from a hispanic accent to non accent.  Speak one way or the other.

Ha! I didn't even notice it.

For me, English is my second language, but I learned it as a pre-teen so I have very little accent that seeps in every now and then, at the most random times. I once asked my boss "Du ju want this door closed?". No sooner did I finish saying it, we both busted out laughing as my accent is not usually that thick.

I suppose they could always do re-takes if he goes in and out of it; but also, sometimes that is just the way you end up sounding after growing up speaking two languages.

[Empress1]

2 minutes ago, A.Ham said:

Ha! I didn't even notice it.

For me, English is my second language, but I learned it as a pre-teen so I have very little accent that seeps in every now and then, at the most random times. I once asked my boss "Du ju want this door closed?". No sooner did I finish saying it, we both busted out laughing as my accent is not usually that thick.

I suppose they could always do re-takes if he goes in and out of it; but also, sometimes that is just the way you end up sounding after growing up speaking two languages.

One of my best friends is an Iranian immigrant, so she's a native Farsi speaker, and her accent comes out more with certain English words too. (Her two siblings have stronger accents overall because they were older when they came to the States.) I don't notice that guy's voice because I tend not to pay attention when he's on screen. Emily and her associated storylines are really getting on my nerves (but I still love Luke - call me, Luke).

[Guest]

Emily is unwatchable for me. As are Vanessa and Sara. 
 

I appreciate what the show is trying to say on social issues but I think they are doing a really bad job of showing it. I feel like we’re dealing with the social issue of the week in a very special episode way rather than letting this stories land with real impact. Stretching Luke’s story out of more than one episode would have worked so much better. 

6 hours ago, Irlandesa said:

No. I think there was still jail time in the plea deal.  I also don't think Emily was the trial lawyer.  She only jumped on for the sentencing portion so it was too late to do much to help her after the guilty verdict came down.

I did find it curious how they chose to tell the story. The two crimes were similar but Emily's client had a prior on her record.  The rich client, who knew how to behave in court, did not. 

I felt like they threw too many contrasts into that story. Criminal defense attorney vs public defender, priors vs no priors, nice judge vs harsh judge, family support vs no family, cooperative client vs belligerent client...

I agree with the points the show was trying to make but I’m still not sure if I think the harsher sentence was that unfair. Oddly, I found myself agreeing with the DA that Lola was too lenient, based on what we know. 

[KaveDweller]

8 hours ago, HurricaneVal said:

And yes, Emily is adding to her own workload by not even bothering to review the plea deals.  How does she know they're all universally bad for all of her clients?  Flat out, some of her clients are clearly guilty, and maybe that plea deal is going to be the best thing that ever happened to them.  You can't take them all to trial.  Not to mention every one of those files that sits on her desk is someone who is not getting their right to a speedy trial, and who is sitting in jail longer than they need to if she really thinks they can be set free just by taking them to trial.  Emily is not looking at those file folders as people.  Or maybe she is, and that is adding to her overwhelming stress that she can't help all the people, all the time.

Emily didn't even look at the plea deals, they may be great. Plus, can't she counter pleas to get something better? I liked her last season, but she is super annoying this year. The woman needs a vacation or something.

The mask usage is making me crazy. I get that it is TV and they want to show people's faces, but they had a scene where everybody had their masks on while they were walking up to each other (and far away) and then when they got close they took them off. Then the clerk had a mask that didn't cover her nose. It is just distracting.

[Driad]

This show has too many characters. Sometimes I can't tell who someone is. The masks don't help.

[Guest]

2 hours ago, KaveDweller said:

Emily didn't even look at the plea deals, they may be great. Plus, can't she counter pleas to get something better? I liked her last season, but she is super annoying this year. The woman needs a vacation or something.

Yes. She should be using the situation to press for better deals not refuse to cooperate. In real life Emily would be fired for what she is doing. 

Edited December 2, 2020 by Guest

[tvfanatic13]

Like one of the posters up thread, I too was very confused when Luke and Sam were in costume. Did anyone catch why?

[jah1986]

3 minutes ago, tvfanatic13 said:

Like one of the posters up thread, I too was very confused when Luke and Sam were in costume. Did anyone catch why?

Weren't they doing some type of re-enactment (maybe WWII) ? I thought Luke mentioned that a member of his family had fought in every war and Sam said something similar.

[UnoAgain]

3 hours ago, jah1986 said:

Weren't they doing some type of re-enactment (maybe WWII) ? I thought Luke mentioned that a member of his family had fought in every war and Sam said something similar.

Yeah him and his cousin were acting in a reenactment.. His cousin was going "full retail" as a tuakeegee airman

[HurricaneVal]

It just seemed so.......random.

 

That's a lot of set decoration, costuming, and props expense to go through for a scene which was just basically a conversation.  If it was done for the humorous reveal of Luke coming to Lola's rescue in his WWII medic costume, we didn't get that reveal scene.  It seemed an odd choice.  Maybe it will become relevant later.

[buckboard]

It seems like an odd time to be doing reenactments in the middle of a pandemic.

(Unless it was reenacting the Spanish Flu Epidemic of 1918/1919,)    🙂

[topanga]

On 12/1/2020 at 12:26 PM, HurricaneVal said:

I did like the juxtaposition of Luke's two cases, and how each defendant was treated in the two different courts by the two different DA teams and by the two different judges.  I knew Judge Benner was a harsher judge than Lola, but wow.  Not swayed one bit by the truncated Zoom call from the defendant's patient.  In fact, it seemed to anger her even more.  I hope they explore a little more of this "judge roulette" concept of how well or how poorly the defendant does is directly related to which judge they draw. 

I was terribly confused, though, when halfway through Luke and Sam are in WWII costumes doing some sort of reenactment thing.  Was Luke having a dream?  Is this sort of cosplay something he does?  I missed the whole start to that, and I was terribly confused when his facetime with Lola was real because I was firmly convinced it was a dream sequence, because I could not otherwise explain the costumes.

On 12/1/2020 at 10:41 PM, Driad said:

This show has too many characters. Sometimes I can't tell who someone is. The masks don't help.

I must admit that this entire season has me confused. I still like it—it’s a courtroom drama with a diverse cast, but the episodes seem to be all over the place. I understand having A, B, C, etc. plot lines, but I feel like the show keeps jumping from scene to scene without spending enough time on the emotional impact of the previous scenes. Or maybe I’m just slow, but I always feel like I’m playing mental catch-up trying to figure out what happened off-camera. 
 
Simone Missick probably has a reduced work schedule because of her pregnancy, but I think the show suffers when Lola has less screen time. 
 

And why is Amy jealous now about Mark and Lola’s friendship? That seemed to spring out of nowhere. 
 

I want to like Vanessa, but she’s annoying and doesn’t to take suggestions from people. 

[KaveDweller]

43 minutes ago, topanga said:

I must admit that this entire season has me confused. I still like it—it’s a courtroom drama with a diverse cast, but the episodes seem to be all over the place. I understand having A, B, C, etc. plot lines, but I feel like the show keeps jumping from scene to scene without spending enough time on the emotional impact of the previous scenes. Or maybe I’m just slow, but I always feel like I’m playing mental catch-up trying to figure out what happened off-camera. 
 
Simone Missick probably has a reduced work schedule because of her pregnancy, but I think the show suffers when Lola has less screen time. 

I think there were some shake ups in the writers room over the summer. I remember hearing about some drama around that. So perhaps they are finding their footing.

Last season had a lot of stories around Lola adjusting to being a judge and they need to come up with something to replace that. I agree the show suffers when she has less screen time.

[driver18]

On 12/3/2020 at 11:00 PM, topanga said:

And why is Amy jealous now about Mark and Lola’s friendship? That seemed to spring out of nowhere.

Amy has ALWAYS been jealous of Mark's friendship with Lola. That's been a contentious point. In fact, I think they almost broke up at one point last season because Amy made a comment and he said something along the lines of what Lola would have said. And he talked to Lola about it and was trying to understand why Amy was upset about it.

[topanga]

19 hours ago, driver18 said:

Amy has ALWAYS been jealous of Mark's friendship with Lola. That's been a contentious point. In fact, I think they almost broke up at one point last season because Amy made a comment and he said something along the lines of what Lola would have said. And he talked to Lola about it and was trying to understand why Amy was upset about it.

I’d forgotten about that. 

[Guest]

On 12/3/2020 at 8:46 PM, KaveDweller said:

I think there were some shake ups in the writers room over the summer. I remember hearing about some drama around that. So perhaps they are finding their footing.

5 of the 7 original writers have quit over how race and gender issues were written on the show. It didn’t happen all at once and started in the first season but just came to light over the summer. 

[juno]

9 minutes ago, Dani said:

5 of the 7 original writers have quit over how race and gender issues were written on the show. It didn’t happen all at once and started in the first season but just came to light over the summer. 

I don't know how the effect of the original writers leaving had on the show but this season has been absolute crap and it is really disappointing.

I have no idea what the teenager may have done or not done in the protest but it may have been a serious crime and the Judge basically interferred with an investigation and should have been prosecuted. They have turned Judge Lola into St. Lola and the police force into the bad guys and they have done this now in 2 of 3 episodes.

They have turned Mark into an idiot that is willing to put his entire career on the line due to a picture that has not been proven to be real. It also looks like this will be the big case this season.

They have turned Emily into Norma Rae who would be fired for holding up the criminal justice system because she needs to fight for every one of her clients. Funny how there was no mention that if she had taken the plea deal then her client would have had an easier sentence. Easy to blame the system when you are incompletent something she was not last year.

Luke who was sure about become a prosecuter is now bailing on that, is not happy for a win in his job, and not sure about what he wants.

The new law clerk who was not interviewed properly and was given a major job in the federal criminal system should have been fired the first day.

I am not sure why they took great characters and turned them into idiots and great storelines and turned them into crap, but sadly I am now out.

[Avabelle]

Shut up Emily. Just shut up. 

[Driad]

On 12/6/2020 at 11:05 PM, juno said:

The new law clerk who was not interviewed properly and was given a major job in the federal criminal system should have been fired the first day.

Or at least, wouldn't a new employee be on probation for a month or two, so either she or her boss could say "This isn't working out" at the end of that time?