S05.E04: The Ex Factor

[thewhiteowl]

TAC braces for an un-jolly Christmas when Bull and Benny represent Marissa and her estranged husband, Greg, in federal court after they’re charged with money laundering and fraud connected to Greg’s restaurant. As Bull and Benny defend the divorcing couple together so the prosecution can’t use them against each other, they search for jurors who will believe Marissa had no knowledge of Greg’s business dealings. Also, as Bull and Izzy prepare to baptize Astrid before the Christmas holiday, they reach an impasse regarding what they want from their renewed relationship.

[TVForever]

I keep thinking Show wants us to see Marissa's husband as the bad guy in their relationship. I just don't. That could be because I just dislike Marissa so much that I'm just biased.

And: Bull and Izzy are engaged! Yay, I guess. I'm just not that interested in their relationship. The baby's a cutie, though.

[Sake614]

I basically liked the episode but I’m with the DA. For an otherwise smart woman, Marissa is really stupId! Who just blindly signs legal documents without reading them??? ‘Blind trust?’ Are we back in the 1950s?

[Roxie]

2 hours ago, Sake614 said:

I basically liked the episode but I’m with the DA. For an otherwise smart woman, Marissa is really stupId! Who just blindly signs legal documents without reading them??? ‘Blind trust?’ Are we back in the 1950s?

Totally agree. She really doesn’t appear all that intelligent to me. 

[HurricaneVal]

I'm not an Izzy fan.  Wasn't she supposed to be some sort of Martha Stewart-esque home-style guru?  All that seems to have been completely dropped so that now she's basically just a shell--Benny's sister, Bull's whatever, Baby Renesmee!Astrid's mom--used for whatever plot purpose they need her for.  Last night they needed her to be commitment shy and angry at Bull.  So she was commitment shy and angry at Bull.

The baptism rehearsal scene at the church cracked me up though.  I was expecting the priest to finally catch on and refuse to baptize Renesmee!Astrid into the Catholic church because she was born out of wedlock to divorced parents.

[Netfoot]

5 hours ago, Roxie said:

She really doesn’t appear all that intelligent to me.

Well, as the end of the episode shows, she's stupid enough to want to play footsie with the damned husband for a third time...

[mythoughtis]

9 hours ago, Sake614 said:

I basically liked the episode but I’m with the DA. For an otherwise smart woman, Marissa is really stupId! Who just blindly signs legal documents without reading them??? ‘Blind trust?’ Are we back in the 1950s?

She asked the question I’ve wanted to ask for a long time- how did Marissa  ever qualify to work for Homeland Security.  She was much brighter than this in season 1.  Way more savvy and much less trusting due to her own background. 
 

Astrid should  be much older than she appears.  Izzy was pregnant at  the end of last  season and this season opened early in Covid season and Astrid was already born.  It’s now Christmas. 

Edited December 16, 2020 by mythoughtis

[Grrarrggh]

The writers must hate either the character Marissa or the actress who plays her. She's gotten stupider and stupider as the programme has gone on. And how can she claim to trust her husband so much when she wasn't willing to trust him with not wanting a baby? What does she do at TAC anyway? She had a real job early on but it turned into being Bull's assistant/mother. 

[LuvMyShows]

Random comments about this episode;

• When Danny and new-Cable were doing their research, I think it was Danny who said that the signatures of both Marissa and her husband were on every deposit and withdrawal.  Then when the restaurant employee was on the witness stand, she was talking about the nightly deposits that were prepared, and how once Mr. Scott came on board, he did them himself.  So there is no way that he would give the deposit slip to Marissa's husband to take home every night for her to sign, which would mean that every.single.day Mr. Scott would have to go track down wherever Marissa was, and get her signature on the nightly deposit.  Yeah right. 
• When the witness restaurant employee was on the stand, Benny objected when the prosecution asked if she thought Marissa's husband did drugs.  But then when Benny questioned her, and that subject came up, and she started answering in a way that was favorable to their case, the prosecutor didn't raise the same objection that Benny had just raised.
• No way on earth would any baptism rehearsal have proceeded with that mix-up with their names.  There would have been multiple meetings and paperwork already, and not only the names would have been known, but also exactly what everyone's relationship was to each other.
• I did not understand what was going on during that conversation in the kitchen.  What occurred at the baptism rehearsal that embarrassed Izzy, and what made Bull feel like a stranger at the rehearsal?  Also, it seemed like she felt entitled to her opinion, and then as soon as Bull expressed his, she invalidated his right to do that.
• Why did Bull and Izzy get divorced, and why did Marissa get divorced the first time?
• Considering that they were newly engaged, that was one of the most passionless kisses that I have ever seen!

[Grrarrggh]

On 12/17/2020 at 7:37 PM, LuvMyShows said:

Why did Bull and Izzy get divorced, and why did Marissa get divorced the first time?

Considering that they were newly engaged, that was one of the most passionless kisses that I have ever seen!

Izzy had a miscarriage that apparently neither handled very well. As for Marissa, I don't remember why the first time, but the second was because Marissa stupidly lied about wanting then not wanting a baby.