S05.E14: Under the Influence

[thewhiteowl]

Chunk does his daughter, Anna, a favor and convinces Bull to represent a teenager on trial robbery, a defendant who faces an uphill battle in court when he refuses to name his accomplice. Also, Chunk is suspicious of Anna’s older boyfriend who’s a writer with the financial resources to pay the legal fees for TAC’s teen client, and Taylor’s forced to lean on her ex-husband’s girlfriend as childcare for her son when the trial has her working around the clock.

[HurricaneVal]

That was a weird dynamic between Taylor and the girlfriend.  I like that they're becoming friends, and that Taylor can look past her own bitterness and jealousy to find a way to make it easy for her kid.  But........that one hug made it almost look like Taylor was thinking "friends with benefits" might be an option.  THEN when she kissed her ex there at the end?  Oh man.  Not good.

The case of the week was interesting, but once again, why is TAC doing the work that the police department detectives should be doing, especially since this is part of an ongoing string of robberies?  If they're trying to make a socio-political point of "hey, they caught the black kid, no need to look any further, case closed" then they should have made that point.  THAT should have been part of the defense.  If there was no larger investigation, no attempt to figure out where or who the accomplice was, no follow-up on the drunk guy who obviously drove home that way, then a good attorney like Chunk could develop so much reasonable doubt in the jury that a conviction would be unlikely.   I like this show, but they are way off kilter this season.  I blame the creepy Renesmee baby CGI, though I do not know if that was a cause or an effect.

I absolutely loved everyone cheerfully wearing Colon campaign t-shirts all while denying to Benny that his boxes were delivered, and his delighted reaction to that.  Seriously, spin off Benny, new!Cable (Taylor), Chunk, and Danny to a new firm and ditch the whole parallel jury thing and Weatherly phoning it in.  Let Bull truly follow the Dr. Phil model and have him guest on some daytime talk show and then spin off to his own Dr. Bull talk show.  That would....that's not a bad idea.  Especially if they do the whole "Dr. Bull Show" with the tacky guests with sensationalistic problems and do a show within a show.  I doubt Dr. Phil would sign on for that sort of spin-off, since it is not likely to be flattering to him......

[Sake614]

I’m glad I was wrong about Brooks. Almost from the start I was fairly convinced he was involved, so it was nice that he wasn’t.

taylor trusting Rachel with Mauricio and then hugging her while agreeing that yes, they are friends, was nice. But I didn’t like her kissing her ex at the end. I get why he kissed her. He seems like a sleaze. And when she pulled back I thought she was going to smack him, or at least tell him to get out. Instead she went in for a longer kiss. Yeah that’s not the way you treat friends.

Why wasn’t the ‘victim’ charged with perjury? He flat out lied that the kid attacked him repeatedly.and yet there were no consequences. Did everyone just take pity on him because his wife decided to leave?
 

[Sarah 103]

1 hour ago, HurricaneVal said:

Seriously, spin off Benny, new!Cable (Taylor), Chunk, and Danny to a new firm and ditch the whole parallel jury thing and Weatherly phoning it in. 

I am trying to understand your idea for a possible hypothetical spin-off/reimagining. Is your idea more like a standard legal drama where it's case of the week and you have Benny and Chunk representing clients, while Taylor and Danny use thier investigative skills and contacts to help? If that's the show you are picturing, I would watch that. Bull and Marissa haven't been doing much lately anyway.    

[HurricaneVal]

That's exactly the show I'm picturing.  Like Boston Legal.  Except with Benny and Chunk and their ace team of investigators with Taylor and Danny.  Give up the whole "trial science" pretense that they haven't even paid any attention to for most of this season.  Marissa literally has nothing to do with no parallel jury.  Bull barely has anything to do with jury selection, except to suggest leading questions that might root out personality aspects that might be favorable to their client.

[Dowel Jones]

2 hours ago, HurricaneVal said:

Let Bull truly follow the Dr. Phil model and have him guest on some daytime talk show and then spin off to his own Dr. Bull talk show. 

And then, to complete the circle, Bull could fantasize about producing a TV series based on TAC...

[LuvMyShows]

 

22 minutes ago, HurricaneVal said:

Marissa literally has nothing to do with no parallel jury. 

In that flashback episode where Bull met Marissa, she had a thriving career and a respected professional profile.  In all the time at TAC, we have barely seen her do anything except be a coordinator, and I seem to remember one episode where Marissa disagreed with Bull's assessment, and he went with his own rather than trust hers.

1 hour ago, Sake614 said:

But I didn’t like her kissing her ex at the end. I get why he kissed her. He seems like a sleaze. And when she pulled back I thought she was going to smack him, or at least tell him to get out. Instead she went in for a longer kiss. Yeah that’s not the way you treat friends.

WTAF was that whole thing about?   Nothing about that was in character for Taylor, especially since we have not seen anything to suggest that she still has feelings for her ex nor that she would risk being seen in order to kiss him of her own volition.

On 5/2/2021 at 12:15 PM, thewhiteowl said:

Taylor’s forced to lean on her ex-husband’s girlfriend as childcare for her son when the trial has her working around the clock.

It was also odd at the very end when the ex and girlfriend came to pick up Mauricio.  When the girlfriend went to get him, it seemed like it was because he was asleep and needed to be roused, but what the hell was Taylor doing beforehand if she wasn't getting him ready?  And in your own house, letting someone else go get your kid, just seems totally bizarre...but hey, it was obviously all necessary plot-wise, for the future plot angle that none of us want to see.

[Sarah 103]

4 hours ago, HurricaneVal said:

That's exactly the show I'm picturing.  Like Boston Legal.  Except with Benny and Chunk and their ace team of investigators with Taylor and Danny.  Give up the whole "trial science" pretense that they haven't even paid any attention to for most of this season.  Marissa literally has nothing to do with no parallel jury.  Bull barely has anything to do with jury selection, except to suggest leading questions that might root out personality aspects that might be favorable to their client.

Since the show has pretty much dropped the whole "trial science" and it's rare that we get to see anything beyond a quick glimpse of jury selection, they should just accept the fact that the show has changed into something else and be okay with that. I like the character of Marissa but she has been underutilized and poorly written. I'd love to give her something important and significant in this new version of the series. I have no idea what that is, but there must be some way to incorporate her skill set. Something the actual show has not delved into that I would love to see explored are the differences between what Taylor can do and what Danny can do. Also, in this new hypothetical version of the show, could it be more like L.A Law where there's a serious case and a silly case every week? (I've never watched Boston Legal). 

Edited May 5, 2021 by Sarah 103

[Netfoot]

14 hours ago, LuvMyShows said:

...for the future plot angle that none of us want to see.

Too right!

[LuvMyShows]

18 hours ago, HurricaneVal said:

I blame the creepy Renesmee baby CGI, though I do not know if that was a cause or an effect.

I noticed that in this ep, Bull mentioned that the baby was teething, but they didn't show us...we haven't seen the baby since the CGI debacle.  How hard can it be to cast a baby?

[Sake614]

38 minutes ago, LuvMyShows said:

How hard can it be to cast a baby?

During  a pandemic? I imagine it’s quite difficult 

[Sarah 103]

1 hour ago, LuvMyShows said:

I noticed that in this ep, Bull mentioned that the baby was teething, but they didn't show us...we haven't seen the baby since the CGI debacle.  How hard can it be to cast a baby?

In the best of circumstances it is incredibly difficult to have a baby on set. They are only allowed on set and on camera for a very limited amount of time and you have to hope that during that limited time, the baby does want you want it to. Because the time they are allowed is so limited, ususally people cast twins, so when one baby's time is up, they can put in the next baby. I am pretty sure there are rules about a parent or guardian being on set as well. I imagine with COVID protocals and the need to limit the number of people on set, the last thing they want is another person around. 

[momo]

I thought that was weird about someone else getting your kid in your own house, too!  And kissing the ex?!! Oh, THAT'S what friends are for 🎵

I also didn't trust Brooks, I'm glad he turned out to be a good guy.

Edited May 5, 2021 by momo
I forgot a word

[Grrarrggh]

On 5/5/2021 at 12:30 PM, Sake614 said:

During  a pandemic? I imagine it’s quite difficult 

During a pandemic I'd HOPE it would be quite difficult.