S01E04: Corduroy Briefs

[The Crazed Spruce]

Quote

Margaret and Todd work to bring justice to an Olympic athlete who lost his leg in a plane crash resulting from a defective aircraft.

[AnimeMania]

Clayton James (Chuck Grant)
Thomas Cadrot (Chet Venables)
Sommer Carbuccia (Sean Phillips)
Jeffrey Nordling (Gus Easton)
Simon Arblaster (Dirk Dobkin)
Tasha Simms (Judge Sauceda)
TJ Riley (Konner Preston)
Raphael Kepinski (Nathan Shaw)
Alvina August (Tyesha Johnson)
Akeem Hoyte-Charles (Justin Mobley)
Regan Ross (Bailiff)
David Epstein (Chad)
Justin Lacey (Passerby)
June B. Wilde (Marjorie)

This one was a little to frantic as well, but not as bad as episode 2. Borrowing the sister's car was not as funny or realistic as I thought it should have been. The story was also a little predictable.

[shapeshifter]

No script editors have ever owned cars? 
If your car is in the shop due to an insurable event, your insurance covers a rental car, which in turn is covered by insurance——especially if you are a car insurance buyer of Todd’s mother’s means. 
If it had been a one-off gag, I could have overlooked it, but it went on throughout the entire episode.

Edited October 21, 2022 by shapeshifter

[iMonrey]

Quote

If your car is in the shop due to an insurable event, your insurance covers a rental car, which in turn is covered by insurance——especially if you are a car insurance buyer of Todd’s mother’s means.

You must not have State Farm. It's extra for rental insurance. (Although I would assume Margaret would pay for it.)

I thought this was a more coherent plot and easier to follow than some of the previous ones. Overall, the show is sort of a mindless hour of fluff. I can pretty much just turn my brain off and watch it, it's pretty innocuous and an easy watch.

[shapeshifter]

11 hours ago, iMonrey said:

You must not have State Farm. It's extra for rental insurance. (Although I would assume Margaret would pay for it.)

Yes, I should have reworded that a bit. 
But even if Margaret had inadvertently purchased the car insurance plan that did not include a "free" rental, surely she would have rented a car rather than let Todd destroy his sister's?

About damage to the sister's car: 

• The grass from the mower was not worth anyone getting all in a tizzy about. Just hose it off before taking it back.
• The bird crap is a bigger deal.  
• But the bat to the window is a felony. It seems Margaret would have not let that go. I don't know. Do they impound cars involved in felonies of this nature?
• Regardless, I am very sure the ER doctor sister would have full coverage on her own car, including a rental. 
  • Todd's punishment should have been restitution of car insurance deductibles and whatever increases in insurance rates his sister incurred.
  • And since Todd seems incapable of making such restitution (primarily because he is adverse to accepting responsibility) then the sister should never again lend him anything.
    • or their mom
       

11 hours ago, iMonrey said:

I thought this was a more coherent plot and easier to follow than some of the previous ones. Overall, the show is sort of a mindless hour of fluff. I can pretty much just turn my brain off and watch it, it's pretty innocuous and an easy watch.

All I can recall is the car stuff, which is really too bad because I was looking forward to a dramedy with these 2 leads.

ETA: 
I did like the frenemy chemistry between Marcia Gay Harden and guest start  Jeffrey Nordling.

Edited October 22, 2022 by shapeshifter
apostrophe

[kirinan]

Other than the ongoing car gag, which overstayed its welcome (IMO), this was my favorite of the episodes so far. Todd seemed toned down just slightly, and I'm starting to enjoy watching him work with Margaret more, although I want to smack them when they start arguing. But at the same time, I think what I enjoy it about them working together is that they're so much alike. (Oh, and I liked that Dr. Sister finally stood up to both of them.) I loved them working with Lyle—and as a Marvel/Star Trek nerd, I LOVE that Lyle's a nerd! It was fun to watch them all collaborate.

I also, despite his slight skeeviness, liked the lawyer on the other side (Gus?). He and MGH had some chemistry, I thought. I kind of hope he'll be back. 

Edited October 21, 2022 by kirinan

[eel21788]

3 hours ago, iMonrey said:

You must not have State Farm. It's extra for rental insurance. (Although I would assume Margaret would pay for it.)

My dad had State Farm (also in Portland, OR). When his car was in the shop, he didn't use a rental. State Farm sent him a check for what they would have paid for it if he had used the rental. That was a total surprise.

[I Want My MBTV]

5 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

And since Todd seems incapable of making such restitution (primarily because he is adverse to accepting responsibility) then the sister should never again lend him anything.

but she didn't lend it to Todd - she lent it to her mother who guilt tripped her and promised that she would be the one driving the car not Todd. So clearly neither the mother or Todd are to be trusted.   If I was the sister I'd move to another town and change my number and maybe my name instead of letting those two constantly take advantage of me. 

[shapeshifter]

9 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

And since Todd seems incapable of making such restitution (primarily because he is adverse to accepting responsibility) then the sister should never again lend him anything.

4 hours ago, I Want My MBTV said:

but she didn't lend it to Todd - she lent it to her mother who guilt tripped her and promised that she would be the one driving the car not Todd. So clearly neither the mother or Todd are to be trusted.   If I was the sister I'd move to another town and change my number and maybe my name instead of letting those two constantly take advantage of me. 

Right!
I am now amending my conclusion to include that the sister should never again lend anything to her mother either, and probably not to any family member. 
This is probably why my mom often quoted: "Neither a borrower nor a lender be."

——especially if you are a character in a dramedy!
 

Edited October 22, 2022 by shapeshifter

[iMonrey]

Quote

I did like the frenemy chemistry between Marcia Gay Harden and guest star Jeffrey Nordling.

I got the feeling they intend to make Easton a potential romantic interest for Margaret, if they intend to make him recurring. Nordling is definitely one of those HITG actors. Agree about the chemistry. Although I also expect ex-husband Harry to turn up again at some point, since it would be strange if they'd hired Mark Moses for a one-off. He'll probably show up begging for forgiveness just as Margaret is getting serious with someone else.

Edited October 22, 2022 by iMonrey

[Daff]

On 10/20/2022 at 11:16 PM, shapeshifter said:

No script editors have ever owned cars? 
If your car is in the shop due to an insurable event, your insurance covers a rental car, which in turn is covered by insurance——especially if you are a car insurance buyer of Todd’s mother’s means. 
If it had been a one-off gag, I could have overlooked it, but it went on throughout the entire episode.

That’s a point, if you have included “rental” on your policy (although it rarely pays unless there’s been an accident-mechanical failure is on you, as is routine maintenance). However, shops often have loaners available for routine customers. Others provide a shuttle service to get you where you need to go. Last summer, in my travels, I saw “pick-up” and “delivery” available at a service center. So, you’re right, other options are available, but it drives (sorry) the point that she still drags Todd into daily affairs, even though he continues to disappoint. 

[Daff]

On 10/21/2022 at 1:06 PM, shapeshifter said:

then the sister should never again lend him anything.

She tried saying “NO!” They both just wheedled her into it. It’s the total dysfunction in the family dynamic that will make me drop this in the end. After several weeks, it’ll cease to play, no matter how many funny moments. I don’t watch slapstick anymore, either. It’s almost as bad as this. 

[AnimeMania]

14 hours ago, Daff said:

I don’t watch slapstick anymore, either. It’s almost as bad as this. 

I will watch anything over a Reality Show.

[Bookworm13]

Looks like I’m alone in this, but I found the ongoing car bit funny. Mostly because I saw it coming from the start and wanted to see how far they’d go with it. Plus I found the case kinda boring. I kept waiting for a big twist that never came. 
 

The sister is still awful, IMO. When she got mad at dinner, all I could think was that I’ve gotten more attitude from my dog before 😂

I hope we see Easton again. He and MGH played the frenemy part well. 
 

Margaret confuses me. Sometimes she has her shit together and sometimes she comes across as really clueless. But that may just come down to who wrote the episode. I looked and some of the writers (2 of 5), only have this show on their resume. 
 

At this point, I’m most curious about the brother and why we haven’t seen him yet. 

[shapeshifter]

52 minutes ago, Bookworm13 said:

I looked and some of the writers (2 of 5), only have this show on their resume. 

Ah. That explains a lot.

53 minutes ago, Bookworm13 said:

Looks like I’m alone in this, but I found the ongoing car bit funny. Mostly because I saw it coming from the start and wanted to see how far they’d go with it. Plus I found the case kinda boring. I kept waiting for a big twist that never came. 
 

I'm sure New Yorkers (City) who don't drive, and car owners who live in a household where there's a second or third car, and some others might have found it funny. 

As a single person with an unimpressive salary who needed a car for work etc., the ludicrousness of the insurance premise made it impossible for me to suspend disbelief and instead just triggered PTSD about the times when each of my 3 children went through the Rite of Passage in the Shapeshifter Household of wrecking the car, and then later when I got stuck in a flash flood.

Now I wonder if I'm an outlier with regards to this reaction, and maybe most viewers thought it was funny, or at least not troubling.
You may not be alone in finding the car bit funny, @Bookworm13; it might just be like Yelp and Amazon and other reviews where the negative ones are more numerous because those who don't have a problem with the product don't bother to post.

[AnimeMania]

The car bit, there is Uber and a Taxi, anything is more believable then them riding the bus.

[shapeshifter]

1 hour ago, AnimeMania said:

The car bit, there is Uber and a Taxi, anything is more believable then them riding the bus.

Right! I didn't even consider those in my rant!

[Bookworm13]

On 10/23/2022 at 2:49 PM, shapeshifter said:

I'm sure New Yorkers (City) who don't drive, and car owners who live in a household where there's a second or third car, and some others might have found it funny. 

As a single person with an unimpressive salary who needed a car for work etc., the ludicrousness of the insurance premise made it impossible for me to suspend disbelief and instead just triggered PTSD about the times when each of my 3 children went through the Rite of Passage in the Shapeshifter Household of wrecking the car, and then later when I got stuck in a flash flood.

Now I wonder if I'm an outlier with regards to this reaction, and maybe most viewers thought it was funny, or at least not troubling.
You may not be alone in finding the car bit funny, @Bookworm13; it might just be like Yelp and Amazon and other reviews where the negative ones are more numerous because those who don't have a problem with the product don't bother to post.

I hope I didn’t offend you by thinking the situation was funny. You’re right, context matters in these situations. I grew up in the country and we had multiple vehicles(dad’s work truck, mom’s truck, beat-up farm truck where it didn’t matter if it got scratched up), so my frame of reference and yours are completely different. 

[marionette]

We deleted the series.  Could not handle the stupidness anymore.

[chaifan]

I really want to like this show, but they're making it hard.  I think Todd is getting dumbed down a little each episode.  In the pilot, he exhibited real PI skills.  He had savvy, and thought of things others didn't.  He had intuition.  He was good at his job.  And by episode 4, his big break came by putting a glass on a wall to listen to someone in the bathroom.  ugh.  I liked him as the screw-up-in-most-of-life, but surprisingly good at his job type of guy.  Now he's 90% cartoon character. 

And what's with Margaret trying to mom-shame opposing counsel?  Again, she was a tough ass lawyer in the pilot, and now she's whining "it's not fair" to opposing counsel?  And feeding him an apple?  WTF?  And taking a bus instead of calling a taxi, Uber, or private car?  Pilot episode Margaret wouldn't have been caught dead in a bus.  She would have hopped into a private car, made Todd take the bus, then chastised him for being late when he finally got to work.  I'm ok with them loosening her up a bit, but again, they're dumbing down the character.

Also, they obviously don't have a single person with legal experience in the writer's room and are too cheap to hire a consultant.  Everything legal about this show was wrong.  Civil cases have judges assigned from the beginning - everyone knew which judge they were getting from the day the lawsuit was filed.  "motions to dismiss" and "motions for summary judgment" are two different things, yet they were both used to describe the hearing.  In civil trials the other side would have weeks, if not over a month, to respond to these types of motions.  Not 48 hours.  I could go on.  I don't mind absolute silliness in legal shows when silliness is the main premise (Ally McBeal, Boston Legal).  But if the lawyers are supposed to be serious lawyers, get the law stuff at least somewhat right.  A second year law student could have written the court stuff to make sense, and not changed anything with the main plot.

I like the premise of the show.  I like the cast.  I hate everyone's hair.  Except Margaret's secretary, she has fabulous hair.  I just want it to be smarter.  Or at least to pretend it's viewers are smarter.

[kitkat343]

On 10/27/2022 at 9:25 PM, chaifan said:

I really want to like this show, but they're making it hard.  I think Todd is getting dumbed down a little each episode.  In the pilot, he exhibited real PI skills.  He had savvy, and thought of things others didn't.  He had intuition.  He was good at his job.  And by episode 4, his big break came by putting a glass on a wall to listen to someone in the bathroom.  ugh.  I liked him as the screw-up-in-most-of-life, but surprisingly good at his job type of guy.  Now he's 90% cartoon character. 

And what's with Margaret trying to mom-shame opposing counsel?  Again, she was a tough ass lawyer in the pilot, and now she's whining "it's not fair" to opposing counsel?  And feeding him an apple?  WTF?  And taking a bus instead of calling a taxi, Uber, or private car?  Pilot episode Margaret wouldn't have been caught dead in a bus.  She would have hopped into a private car, made Todd take the bus, then chastised him for being late when he finally got to work.  I'm ok with them loosening her up a bit, but again, they're dumbing down the character.

Also, they obviously don't have a single person with legal experience in the writer's room and are too cheap to hire a consultant.  Everything legal about this show was wrong.  Civil cases have judges assigned from the beginning - everyone knew which judge they were getting from the day the lawsuit was filed.  "motions to dismiss" and "motions for summary judgment" are two different things, yet they were both used to describe the hearing.  In civil trials the other side would have weeks, if not over a month, to respond to these types of motions.  Not 48 hours.  I could go on.  I don't mind absolute silliness in legal shows when silliness is the main premise (Ally McBeal, Boston Legal).  But if the lawyers are supposed to be serious lawyers, get the law stuff at least somewhat right.  A second year law student could have written the court stuff to make sense, and not changed anything with the main plot.

I like the premise of the show.  I like the cast.  I hate everyone's hair.  Except Margaret's secretary, she has fabulous hair.  I just want it to be smarter.  Or at least to pretend it's viewers are smarter.

All of this.  The cast is really good.  The premise is interesting - a tough, successful mother and her son trying to turn his life around.  But the writing is a disaster.  All airplane crashes are investigated, and if a pattern of crashes are discovered, the type of aircraft will be grounded.  It's unbelievable that the victim would have to choose between getting a settlement and exposing the company.  

There's actually a lot of interesting plot that could be explored with this show.  Todd explained his mom wasn't there for him when his dad died because she was finishing up law school.  That's actually a really interesting conflict to navigate - the mom, who had to be tough to support her family as a single parent, and the kid who needed her to be there for him when she couldn't.  How do they view this conflict years later, and how can they work through it?  That's a whole lot more interesting than following a silly court case that doesn't make any sense.