S03.E08: Whipping Post

[aghst]

Quote

As Decourcy prepares to take Sinclair Dryden to trial, despite pushback from the Suffolk County DA, Jackie tracks down a key witness. Siobhan reaches a settlement on behalf of the Mendoza family, but her moment in the spotlight is cut short. Caysen is offered a second chance by a loved one. Reckoning with the rifts in her own family, Jenny meets her long-lost half-brother. Season finale.

OK this didn't feel exactly like a season finale, not too many big cliffhangers.

DeCourcy bats away Guy Dan and Dryden trying to gaslight him on his guilt.

Then Dryden drops the bomb about Jackie sleeping with Leticia.

DeCourcy visits Jackie to bitch him out but Jackie swears he wants to see Dryden prosecuted for the right reasons, not to get him out of the way so he could have his wife.

They march ahead and they get not only one of the victims to come forward but Dryden's daughter Victoria to come forward.  Strange, the victim says Quaaludes knock out people for 70 hours, make them hazy in their memories.  Wouldn't that make her less reliable as a witness?  But if they could prove Dryden drugged her, maybe her testimony will be accepted.  No rape kit evidence though.

DeCourcy's opening statement is so persuasive that Leticia leaves Dryden, leaves him a short note but it's in glorious cursive penmanship!  Like she hired a calligrapher to write up maybe a half dozen words.  Dryden drinks and drugs himself into a coma, which suspends the trial.  Was it his legal troubles, or Letitia leaving him?  Or the fancy way Letitia conveyed her departure?

Siobhan wins a key decision and to celebrate, she wants to take DeCourcy for a shrimp dinner but he wants lo mein with shrimp at this dingy Chinese place in a dodgy neighborhood.  Wouldn't you know it, union goon comes at her with a tire iron but DeCourcy is packing and chases him away, but pissed at Siobhan for hiding the fact that the union tried to intimidate her.

Jen visits her half brother in some institution.  He's lucid and tells her that their father actually took care of him over the years.  So Jen apologizes to her father but no hugs or anything.

Jackie returns home, to find Letitia and Jen talking.  So he's busted and his excuse is that he's a terrible guy and shrugs.  So Jen tells him she cheated, she's a terrible person too.

But instead of shrugging, she says she'd going to move out.

With what money?

Jackie seems gleeful about putting away a very generous employer.  He was bemoaning all his huge bills, especially footing the Bill for Benedetta at a fancy NY university.

Guy Dan chooses DeCourcy as interim DA after winning the race for the state AG.  But DeCourcy says he plans to investigate why the DA's office was trying to cover up for Dryden.  John Doman isn't as good on City on a Hill as he was in Homicide or The Affair, usually playing the smug, rich or powerful asshole.  But Guy Dan is still an entertaining character, though this may be it for him, since he's now a state AG and DeCourcy won't have to deal with him on a daily basis.

[DoctorAtomic]

7 hours ago, aghst said:

But if they could prove Dryden drugged her, maybe her testimony will be accepted.  No rape kit evidence though.

It also means if she was drugged then she couldn't give consent. 

I had to laugh at Chris - "What's Jackie doing to move the ball?" Oh, just getting a key witness and the daughter to testify. 

I didn't see Dryden drugging himself. I think it was because of the wife, who also made the decision to leave when she heard that the daughter was a witness. 

I have to agree with Decourcy though; sure there's some things Sib needs to do for herself. This isn't one of them by a mile. 

 I don't have much to say about Jackie and Jenny splitting up. She's going to go nuts with all the piece and quiet. Jackie is right; they're perfect for each other. 

Chris, on the other hand, made the right call. So his wife can just come and go if she gets scared? How is that fair to him?

I wonder if Decourcey is in charge now that he'll hire Jackie as another investigator with Chris. 

Edited September 26, 2022 by DoctorAtomic

[limestation]

So Jen - discovering that she had a secret half-brother, thanks to her douche of a Dad - not only goes and sees him but wants to take on being his legal guardian?!!!!! A stranger, who she didn't grow up with or even know existed?!!! This is shit writing and I expected better. 

I really hope Dryden recovers to stand trial. What scum!!!

Leticia reminds me so much of Cruella de Ville. <Shudder>

[Orbert]

This was the season finale?  I had no idea.  I thought the Dryden trial was wrapped up pretty quickly, considering the build-up to it, but I guess they had to wrap it up somehow.  I kinda hoped he'd managed to OD, which would have been poetic considering we started the season with Dominque.

No big cliffhangers.  It seemed like the normal amount of stuff that happens, and then we see what happens next week.  Except we have to wait until next season, and half the storylines will be dropped anyway.  I'm sure that's it for the Drydens, and probably Guy Dan as well, just like the first season and even part of the second season focused so much on the Ryans, then this season there was a completely different story to focus on.  I guess that's how television is done these days.  Not really an anthology, but each season is essentially one story.

Oh well.  I'll keep watching if/when it comes back.  This season was interesting enough, but it's still a hard watch.

[DoctorAtomic]

I'm still not clear on why Dryden needed to be present in the courtroom for the trial to continue. I thought 'in absentia' was actually a thing. Decourcey could put together a compelling argument that Dryden was smug as all get out until he saw his daughter on the witness list, so this was an effective admission of guilt and a way to avoid jail. 

I thought the pace was brisk, but once they finally found someone to testify, it was a done deal. 

[LoveLeigh]

Wait a minute! Episode 8 was the season finale? Huh?