S02.E07: Almost The Meteor

[WendyCR72]

Airing on January 25, 2021:

While Lola is on maternity leave after going into labor while on the bench, she attempts to participate remotely in Judge Brenner's special training about brain science and the law. Also, when Luke finds himself opposite Emily on an armed robbery case, he sees an ally in his experiment with restorative justice, and Mark hits another roadblock in his high profile case against a sheriff's deputy.

[hula-la]

I realize that it was done so that she could be a part of the plot on the show, but the woman just had a baby. Stop calling her every second! Also, we need more shots of said baby. She’s adorable. 

[greekmom]

I would imagine that Lola and Robin would have already found a nanny given their jobs.  Why isn't she there?  And agree with poster above that for someone on mat leave they are bothering her WAY too much.

Good use of Anne Heche show. I have not seen her on tv in years.

I didn't like the whole pow wow circle safe space thing.  I don't understand where Luke is going with this except to switch sides as a defender instead of a prosecutor. 

Glad the bad cop storyline is out of the way. I was surprised that the backpack gal was still alive.  I thought maybe she died.

[ECM1231]

1 hour ago, greekmom said:

Good use of Anne Heche show. I have not seen her on tv in years.

She has had a pretty big arc on Chicago PD the past 2 years or so.

[Madding crowd]

The restorative justice idea is interesting but it won’t be practical in most cases. People who have been  victimized may be too hurt and angry to want to participate and talking about your feelings isn’t a real deterrent.  Women in particular may not feel safe talking about how they felt with the perpetrator and strangers in the room.I felt a bit disappointed in Luke as it seems he was just using his girlfriend to be a different person while she actually cares about him.

[hula-la]

1 hour ago, Madding crowd said:

The restorative justice idea is interesting but it won’t be practical in most cases. People who have been  victimized may be too hurt and angry to want to participate and talking about your feelings isn’t a real deterrent.  Women in particular may not feel safe talking about how they felt with the perpetrator and strangers in the room.I felt a bit disappointed in Luke as it seems he was just using his girlfriend to be a different person while she actually cares about him.

Restorative Justice has been practiced by Indigenous peoples in Canada and the US for centuries. I can only speak to Canada, but it has been used in our criminal justice system for many years, and increasingly in other areas, like education. It has to be done properly, with intention, and proper training, and not simply allowing someone to say "sorry", but when done properly, is extremely powerful for both the victim and the perpetrator. https://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/cj-jp/rj-jr/index.html

Edited January 26, 2021 by hula-la
peoples, not people

[tennisgurl]

We really need more of Lola's baby, she is absolutely adorable. I know that we need to keep Lola on the show, but could everyone stop bugging her about work stuff? She has a dang baby, let her get some rest in the three seconds a day that the baby isn't screaming! The end with her and Mark on the phone was really cute though, I always enjoy their end of episode chats. 

Is Luke going to end up going into defense or otherwise change his career path? This just doesn't seem to be working for him, and while its admirable that he wants to do what he can to make things as fair for the people he prosecutes as possible and wants them to get a second chance, like his boss said, he cant forget about the victims of the crimes that he is prosecuting, he has to be fair to them too. Restorative justice can be a good thing, I have heard good things about it and that it can be very healing for victims and can be life changing for perpetrators, and I am all for rehabilitation over only punishment, but at the same time the victim (and everyone really) has to be in the right headspace to face someone who committed a crime against them, especially a violent crime like the one here, and it can unfair to basically tell a victim that they have to face or even forgive someone who did something bad to them if that's not something they're ready for, like it came off here a bit. In actual restorative justice, from what I understand, its something everyone decides on and works towards. Its something I would think needs to be in a very controlled environment and be handled by professionals, having the two of them just in the court talking seems like it was always going to go poorly. Its really just too bad that apparently Luke is only prosecuting hard luck teenagers or decent people being screwed by the system because of one bad choice or outdated laws, and not unrepentant murderers or abusers or petty criminals who I don't think he would feel so bad about sending to jail. 

I don't want Emily and Luke to get back together. I think its still too early for Emily to be serious about being in a relationship, and...I just don't like Emily much these days and I think Luke can do better. 

So we finished both the cop plot and the backpack girl plots, and both had pretty good endings, even if the cop plot didn't go the way Mark wanted. 

[Madding crowd]

18 minutes ago, hula-la said:

Restorative Justice has been practiced by Indigenous peoples in Canada and the US for centuries. I can only speak to Canada, but it has been used in our criminal justice system for many years, and increasingly in other areas, like education. It has to be done properly, with intention, and proper training, and not simply allowing someone to say "sorry", but when done properly, is extremely powerful for both the victim and the perpetrator. https://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/cj-jp/rj-jr/index.html

Yes this can work especially among people who are raised to think differently about the ideas of justice and rehabilitation. I am all for rehabilitation and for some victims I can see this working. As the idea was presented in the show, it was almost forced upon the victim and the offender did not appear to be contrite. Proper training and a population that is seeking this type of resolution is needed for this to be successful. And I still believe that victims of violent crimes would not always be able to or should participate in this process. 

[buckboard]

Is the baby real or just a doll?  Cute as she is, we've only seen the baby sleeping.  I would be surprised if they exposed a real infant during covid times.

[HurricaneVal]

Poor Lola.  I love how she's getting practical advice from Judge Benner.   I don't usually see Judge Benner as a empathic person.  Marg Helgenberger does play her with a rather harsh demeanor, but then we learn she's got some soft spots.  Like her soothing guidance for Lola as a new mom, and possibly arranging that poker game so Sara could get some extra money without it being a handout, and keeping "The Squad" together.

I thought the ending for the backpack girl was a little abrupt and not very compelling.  At any time, Lola could have engaged investigative resources and found the same information.  Hell, Robin could have done that at any time, especially since he knew how borderline unhealthily obsessed Lola was with the mystery.  I think Lola has to be a little let down by finding the girl, and learning she is just like herself--activist with an activist mother.  I think all this time she was building a mythos surrounding the backpack and the girl it reflected and in the end it is just a mirror.  I know I kind of feel let down, I wanted there to be more to the story than "I can't believe you kept it!"

[tvfanatic13]

This episode bored me to tears. 

[possibilities]

Restorative justice didn't get a good representation in this episode.

One thing I always understood about it was that it was BETTER for some victims. The way our current system works, there is nothing NOTHING to help victims of crime. At best, you get the perpetrator punished, but it doesn't restore what the victim lost in any way. SOME restorative justice programs have the perpetrators actually doing things to make amends. It's not just people talking about their feelings, it's about acknowledging what happened and trying to make it right. It's one of the only things even tried to assist victims. It also has a rehabilitation element for offenders, but lots of other things are also able to be targeted for that purpose.

The case this week was a terrible example, because the victim was pressured to appear in court to testify in the usual trial and also in the restorative justice exercise, and in both cases he was under duress. Neither Emily nor Luke seemed to really understand how the process was supposed to work or what the outcome was supposed to be, or how it would help the victim. The perpetrator was doing it to get a lighter sentence, not out of any kind of sincere interest or understanding of the process. Luke was more about his own feelings than his witnesses or anyone else's.

I also hate how they are not really telling us what the hell happened for him about Emily, and are just kind of stringing us along in that regard. Emily doesn't seem to know, either. It's becoming irritating that Luke, who was always a good guy, is now they guy who lets his emotions mess up everything both personal and professional, and he no longer talks to anyone directly, when in the past he was really open.

Also, in the restorative justice programs I've heard of, the victim needs to agree to the settlement. It's not something the judge approves without the victim also agreeing. Benner basically saying that if the dude agreed to talk she would reduce his sentence is just weird.

[Avabelle]

This is the first episode in forever where I didn’t hate Emily. It was weird not seeing her talk over a character.

the ending to the Mark storyline was kind of meh...

 

[SilverLake0315]

On 1/26/2021 at 3:31 PM, tennisgurl said:

and...I just don't like Emily much these days

I've gotten to a point where I detest her.

I'm starting to think I may be done with this show. I really liked the first season, but the second isn't holding my interest at all.

[Avabelle]

I think part of that is far too much focus on Emily.

 

[Jaded]

This week was a rerun from last season that I hadn't remembered seeing. It made me sad that I enjoyed it more compared to how episodes are going this season. Even though his season has covered some important issues it hasn't been as compelling at all.

[greyflannel]

I hope that since the Mark/bad cop story is done, we don't ever have to see the Anne Heche character again. I can not listen to that voice. We missed half of the story due to fast forwarding through all of her scenes.