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S02.E04: Chapter Twelve


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Saw the content warning for nudity this go around but I was still surprised that it was Juliet Rylance who was apparently down with the nakedness this go around.  Good old HBO!

So, the case certainly took a sizable turn as now the Gallardos are actually claiming they did kill Brooks after-all.  Saying that it was basically a mugging gone wrong.  Hmm... we shall see because I agree with Drake that something isn't adding up.  And now one of their wives was directed by one of them to get a lot of money.  Where they paid off?  The other idea I head is that we know Brooks was already a philander and into violence of some kind, so I wonder if he tried something with one of the wives and thats why they took him out.  Either way, I just don't see them making the Gallardos villains here, although it would be kind of interesting seeing Perry defend a client who was guilty but continued to do what he could to give them the best defense possible.

Between that revelation and all of the hate he is getting thanks to Lydell's smear campaign, Perry is certainly flying off the handle a bit.  Enough that Pete Fucking Strickland of all people is like "Dude, chill!" about it.  But, hey, at least it ends with the spark igniting between him and Miss Aimes at last.  Hey, for the 30s, who wouldn't be turned on by watching a guy punch the crap out of a mouthy asshole and scare all of the children.  Stupid, sexy, slightly problematic Perry (I'm sure the Matthew Rhys factor also accounts for that!)

Still seems like Drake isn't getting any respect from his brother in-law or the rest of the community.  Have to imagine this is going to factor in at some point.  At least his wife is still supportive.

Definitely think Camilla/Hope Davis is trying to work some kind of angle with Della.

He might be a dirty, rotten cop, but Holcomb is capable of solid police work when the time calls for it.  And by solid police work, I mean threatening witnesses.  Classic Holcomb!

Edited by thuganomics85
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This felt like a filler episode.  There was a little bit about the case and too much about the personal lives of Della and Perry which isn't something I'm all that interested in on a show called Perry Mason.  

I did laugh at the scene where the prostitute offers to give him a blow job and he told her he'd pay her double not to. 

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37 minutes ago, Door County Cherry said:

This felt like a filler episode.  There was a little bit about the case and too much about the personal lives of Della and Perry which isn't something I'm all that interested in on a show called Perry Mason.  

I did laugh at the scene where the prostitute offers to give him a blow job and he told her he'd pay her double not to. 

People's mileage will vary. I like seeing more about the personal lives of Perry and Della. All three of our leads got it on separately, which is more action in one episode than the same characters had in all of the Raymond Burr series.

But I also think that there were a lot of both character moments and subtle plot developments that were noteworthy.

1. Apparently Lydell needs to spend some more effort on his intimidation techniques, because the guy he tried to bully into shutting up about Brooks' business dealings gave up the ghost about some of those dirty dealings.

So Brooks and Goldstein were involve something that are most definitely NOT fruits and vegetables, as Holcomb deduced. My first thoughts are drugs or counterfeit money. I tend to like the counterfeit money explanation better, given 1. the development of the fat wad of cash in the car hiding place 2. the credits showing those dolla bills, yo 3.  the notion that between a casino and a massive building project. Brooks had at least a couple mechanisms that are pretty deece for money laundering/swapping real bills and fake ones (if Ozark has taught me anything besides how hot Julia Garner is)

2. We again get to see the ongoing development/contrast between this Perry and Raymond Burr Perry. Although Raymond Burr Perry was lucky enough to represent only a handful of factual guilty people, he also would never just give up on a client like HBO Perry does, nor attempt to make a plea deal without consulting with his clients or being authorized by them to seek one. I am very curious if the idea is that this Perry will evolve to be the kind of Perry we see in the Raymond Burr show set in the 50s. 

3. I do like the ways that the discovery of the gun has put everyone in an ethical bind and seeing how they try to maneuver through it. The right thing is to turn over the gun and I expect that is what will happen next episode.

4. Another interesting contrast between this and the TV show: in the show Perry is famous and basically universally respected and even loved. Despite being beaten like a drum pretty much every week, Hamilton actually considers Perry a friend. Our Perry is being made infamous

5. The scene of Emily's suicide was haunting. It should have had a trigger warning.

6. Anyone else get the vibe that there was more going on between Camille (Rich Lady) and her student than a purely professional relationship? 

7. We now have a potential connection between a City Councilman, the woman who was institutionalized, Brooks and the baseball stadium.

8. It's pretty clear that the Gallardos didn't really kill Brooks and that they are falsely confessing to Perry. But why? I'm assuming that someone told them that if they did, their family would be taken care of, which is how they found all that hidden cash. But who made that offer, and how did they do it, and who were they working for?

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1 hour ago, Door County Cherry said:

I did laugh at the scene where the prostitute offers to give him a blow job and he told her he'd pay her double not to

Not a LOL line for me, but possibly the greatest line of all time.

 

 

2 hours ago, thuganomics85 said:

agree with Drake that something isn't adding up.  And now one of their wives was directed by one of them to get a lot of money.  Where they paid off? 

Definitely. With no work and a hungry child the Gallardos were paid more money than they could refuse to kill Brooks McCutcheon. They used some of it to rent the gun for practice. 
They would’ve probably gotten away with it if the younger brother hadn’t pawned the identifiable coin.


I’m still looking at the sadistic Lydell as the person who paid to have profligate son Brooks offed, but…

11 minutes ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

7. We now have a potential connection between a City Councilman, the woman who was institutionalized, Brooks

…maybe Councilman V. Taylor did pay to have Brooks killed as an act of revenge for his sister being institutionalized by Brooks choking her long enough to cause brain damage.

But there’s also the delivery of contraband under cover of darkness, potatoes, and cauliflower, all apparently from McCutcheon ships.🤔

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9 hours ago, Starchild said:

Meh, Perry's existential angst is getting on my nerves. Enough already, grow up and be a lawyer.

So he steals a ride with a prized horse, generally drinking himself into misery.

Even before he punched that other father at the school, he was agitated about something, short-tempered with his own kid.  What was that about, guess he didn’t want to have to pick up the kid?  Wasn’t looking to find an excuse to chat up Ginny Ames again?

Instead punching out that loudmouth guy seems to have been an aphrodisiac for Ginny, who apparently isn’t worried that she could get in trouble at her job for dating a parent.

The Gallardos’ alternate story, about a mugging going bad and them having to kill Brooks after a struggle, isn’t improving their prospects to avoid the noose.

So they’re willing to die to provide for their family?

It's one thing for Perry to find another plausible suspect but they’re hinting at some grand conspiracy.  Are Perry and Drake going to have to uncover everything and put it in a nice tidy packaGe with a bow for the prosecutors to keep his clients from capital punishment?

 

The case and Perry became too much for Della that she had to get away to the mountains, just the two of them out there.  Vaguely recall Juliet Rylance may have done a nude scene on The Knick as well.

So Della is willing to put up with Perry for now with the ultimate goal of becoming a lawyer and having her own practice.  But she faces long odds just to get through law school and passing a bar to join a profession at a time when women who worked face biases.  She can hang a shingle but will clients hire one of the few female lawyers back then?

 

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3 hours ago, aghst said:

Even before he punched that other father at the school, he was agitated about something, short-tempered with his own kid.  What was that about, guess he didn’t want to have to pick up the kid?  Wasn’t looking to find an excuse to chat up Ginny Ames again?

12 hours ago, Starchild said:

Meh, Perry's existential angst is getting on my nerves. Enough already, grow up and be a lawyer.

I didn't recall his PTSD until I read this comment👆.
They really should have shown a flashback to his WWI trauma at the beginning of this season, given that it's been 3 years and countless other series viewers have since watched.
My high school boyfriend killed himself 16 years after he returned from Vietnam, which is close to the amount of time between the show's setting and Perry's return from the the European Front.
As with many Vietnam Veterans, I doubt WWI Vet Perry can even admit he suffers from "shell shock."
Or am I wrong, and the writers have decided to forget about that first season reveal and are going with Perry just being sad that his first defendant killed herself, his civil case client is evil, and his current defendants are guilty liars?

 

 

Edited by shapeshifter
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1 hour ago, shapeshifter said:

I didn't recall his PTSD until I read this comment👆.
They really should have shown a flashback to his WWI trauma at the beginning of this season, given that it's been 3 years and countless other series viewers have since watched.
My high school boyfriend killed himself 16 years after he returned from Vietnam, which is close to the amount of time between the show's setting and Perry's return from the the European Front.
As with many Vietnam Veterans, I doubt WWI Vet Perry can even admit he suffers from "shell shock."
Or am I wrong, and the writers have decided to forget about that first season reveal and are going with Perry just being sad that his first defendant killed herself and his current defendants are guilty liars?

 

Oh, that's awful.  I just heard of another vet who committed suicide.  He was a Middle East vet.

I think they keep referencing Perry's trauma.  Hope Davis actually said to Della "it must be hard to be in the trenches with someone like that," not realizing, I think, that he was in the real trenches.

I liked the episode and the exploration of the personal lives.  Not only did we have Chekhov's gun, we had Chekhov's horses!  They had to set Perry up as someone who rode horses to get to that amazing Santa Anita racetrack scene.

I was taken out of that scene, though, by the obviously CGI riding by Matthew Rhys.

Question:  What did Paul Drake have in the bag that was so interesting to the gun guy?  Beer, or was there also some kind of food?

Edited by EtheltoTillie
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Perry is feeling the pressure of media bullying and lashing out at old man McCutcheon while feeling sorry for himself...

Surprised that gun dealer waited until now to drop the N-word on Paul... figured the first time they drew on each other would have been when it happened...

If this is going to be Penny Dreadful: City Of Angels then the Stadium Plan is also a way to evict 7th District LatinX residents by expropriation

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2 hours ago, aghst said:

The Gallardos’ alternate story, about a mugging going bad and them having to kill Brooks after a struggle, isn’t improving their prospects to avoid the noose.

So they’re willing to die to provide for their family?

It's one thing for Perry to find another plausible suspect but they’re hinting at some grand conspiracy.  Are Perry and Drake going to have to uncover everything and put it in a nice tidy packaGe with a bow for the prosecutors to keep his clients from capital punishment?

The case and Perry became too much for Della that she had to get away to the mountains, just the two of them out there.  Vaguely recall Juliet Rylance may have done a nude scene on The Knick as well.

So Della is willing to put up with Perry for now with the ultimate goal of becoming a lawyer and having her own practice.  But she faces long odds just to get through law school and passing a bar to join a profession at a time when women who worked face biases.  She can hang a shingle but will clients hire one of the few female lawyers back then?

 

The Gallardos probably figure that they are goners with the circumstantial evidence, publicity branding them as subhuman scum, and a powerful father wanting vengeance, a DA who is campaigning against them, and at least one attempt to hurt/kill them while behind bars. So if taking a dive gets the rest of the family out of Hooverville, it might be worth it.

Yes, Perry and Drake are going to have to uncover everything and put it in a nice tidy package to prove their clients' innocence. That's the brand.

The idea Della seems to be going for is that after she passes the bar, the firm would be Mason & Street, attorneys at law. So she wouldn't have to be a solo practitioner at first, if at all. After some point, if she wanted, she could split off from Perry. Being Hamilton's friend/beard, I would tend to say that she is in a better place than the average woman to start her own firm.

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1 hour ago, shapeshifter said:

Or am I wrong, and the writers have decided to forget about that first season reveal and are going with Perry just being sad that his first defendant killed herself and his current defendants are guilty liars?

 

 

1 hour ago, EtheltoTillie said:

I think they keep referencing Perry's trauma.  Hope Davis actually said to Della "it must be hard to be in the trenches with someone like that," not realizing, I think, that he was in the real trenches.

Yeah, I think that's definitely still the idea. I feel bad that I never feel as sympathetic as I should for his kid. I mean, I get it--not only is Perry dealing with PTSD that makes him unstable, but he keeps treating his son as if Teddy is him instead of treating him like the kid that he actually is. But I still just get annoyed by the whole storyline. Though I guess the teacher's going to make that better. She still reminds me a bit of Don Draper's teacher (Oh, I just thought I'd bring over some dinner for you at home...no, I don't want to come in. Whyever would I?) but also if you watched last season of Grantchester, the love interest for the lead there. Especially when we find out she's divorced to show she's got a sex life too.

I wonder if Hazel's wondering where Della always is these days!

1 hour ago, EtheltoTillie said:

I was taken out of that scene, though, by the obviously CGI riding by Matthew Rhys.

The close ups looked so fake! Though I know MR was probably riding at some points, as he does ride. I saw a funny clip of him where they were looking at what must have been a rehearsal because he was in a helmet and regular clothes. He was riding the horse as it was rearing. The host commented on how in the picture MR was not using a saddle, but did have on a mask, like that was some interesting safety choices. And MR, without missing a beat, said, "Well, the horse was an anti-vaxxer." 

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4 hours ago, EtheltoTillie said:

They had to set Perry up as someone who rode horses to get to that amazing Santa Anita racetrack scene.

Now that horse will never win again...  then gets killed for the insurance... Good job Mason!!!!

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That certainly took a turn, things are not looking good for the Gallardos, but I still tend to think that they didn't really do it. My guess is that they've been paid off to take the heat to provide for their family after they get executed, its like Paul said, the story just doesn't add up. I can get Perry being really pissed off, having been pulled into this case out of his sense of wanting to do right after what happened to Emily only to find out that his clients might have actually done it, but he is going to have to deal with having to work for guilty clients. Maybe clients who are guilty but still sympathetic? 

It looks like a conspiracy is brewing behind the scenes, something about the sketchy business Brooks was involved in, but there is definitely more to this story than a robbery gone wrong. There are so many disparate parts to the story, I am waiting for everything to tie in together. 

Perry seems like he's losing it a little bit, flying off the handle even more than usual, he has a whole lot going on with this new trail, memories of Emily coming back, his clients confessing, trying to connect with his son, his usual ever present issues, the media going after him, no wonder he's been extra snappy. At least now he has a new love interest!

Does Hazel wonder where Della is all of the time now? If Della wants to be with Camilla she should go ahead and dump Hazel instead of sneaking around with this other women, a woman who I am pretty sure isn't all that she seems to be. 

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10 minutes ago, tennisgurl said:

but he is going to have to deal with having to work for guilty clients. Maybe clients who are guilty but still sympathetic? 

Next season could be the prequel to Primal Fear

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3 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

Perry seems like he's losing it a little bit, flying off the handle even more than usual, he has a whole lot going on with this new trail, memories of Emily coming back, his clients confessing, trying to connect with his son, his usual ever present issues, the media going after him, no wonder he's been extra snappy. At least now he has a new love interest!

Plus Perry's war PTSD.
Interesting that both Perry and Della are hooking up with exciting new love interests because there's no Prozac.
(Apparently Lithium wasn't generally available until 1970 either, ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3712976/).

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I was half expecting a race horse’s head to show up on somebody's pillow, so Perry just taking him for a joy ride was a relief. I thought that there was some strategic reason for taking the horse, but I guess Perry was just acting out. Why were there no guards on a valuable race horse? 
 

I wish that Della had broken up with Hazel before carrying on with Camilla. I like Della and this kind of tarnishes her character for me. Is the actress that plays Hazel not available this season? She doesn’t need to be present to be a dumper/dumpee. 
 

I noticed that in the credits that there was a puppeteer! I know that puppeteers are used a lot in movies and tv, and not for the obvious. It could be the baby, but I can’t imagine what else. Puppet horses?  

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On 3/28/2023 at 12:51 AM, Door County Cherry said:

I did laugh at the scene where the prostitute offers to give him a blow job and he told her he'd pay her double not to. 

I know it’s the Depression, but $0.25 is equivalent to $5 today. Doesn’t seem realistic.

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8 minutes ago, kay1864 said:

I know it’s the Depression, but $0.25 is equivalent to $5 today. Doesn’t seem realistic.

She could have bought 3 tomatoes at Sunny Market for 17 cents...

image.thumb.png.a5285543f0c9a9049df0a5bb94e205f6.png

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36 minutes ago, kay1864 said:

I know it’s the Depression, but $0.25 is equivalent to $5 today. Doesn’t seem realistic.

Too low? Too high? I haven’t been to the movies lately, so …

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15 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

Very interesting site. Thanks for posting. I’m envious.

10 hours ago, kay1864 said:

My very first question about this episode was, what the hell kind of car is Anita driving??

OK this is almost the answer, except this car came out in 1934:

https://silodrome.com/auburn-851-supercharged-boattail-speedster/

I want one in my garage.

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On 3/27/2023 at 11:03 PM, thuganomics85 said:

Either way, I just don't see them making the Gallardos villains here,

They're not.  The Gallardos were paid off to take the blame, they figured they would be found guilty anyway.

On 3/28/2023 at 2:09 AM, Chicago Redshirt said:

5. The scene of Emily's suicide was haunting. It should have had a trigger warning.

It gave me Virginia Woolf vibes.

On 3/28/2023 at 2:09 AM, Chicago Redshirt said:

6. Anyone else get the vibe that there was more going on between Camille (Rich Lady) and her student than a purely professional relationship? 

No, but Camille has to have some kind of involvement in this case.  Phipsy, played by Wallace Langham, who happens to be an excellent actor.  I doubt production would hire him just to follow Hope Davis around.

I'm quite puzzled by the teacher's attraction to Perry, what the fuck does she see in him?

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1 hour ago, sugarbaker design said:

I'm quite puzzled by the teacher's attraction to Perry, what the fuck does she see in him?

Putting aside the fact that Perry is a handsome enough guy:

A. Some people like the wounded/bad boy types and think that they could fix them.

B. Teacher is divorced and in the 30s among her class that might well have been the social kiss of death except among other divorced people like Perry.

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2 hours ago, sugarbaker design said:

I'm quite puzzled by the teacher's attraction to Perry, what the fuck does she see in him?

My guess is compared to every other guy she's met, he's interesting and seems to have some life in him. He's trying and could be fun.

Also I wonder if now she knows all about his job and finds that attractive too. 

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I don't mind the delving a bit more into what goes on with Perry and Della when they're not working, but boy was Perry annoying and I just wanted to yell at him to get over himself. He's all wounded and tortured because his clients are "guilty" (I agree they're probably not) and how this affects him. But good lord. 

Wasn't he his former boss's investigator (the older attorney who died in season one)? As such wouldn't he have seen that attorney handle many cases where his clients weren't lily-pure? Likely as an investigator, he'd have been finding evidence to help the cases for the guilty. So how is this such a big shock to his system? 

And let's say, as Perry believes, that his clients did kill the guy - which he shouldn't because he did all that measuring of the shot and how it would take an expert marksmen and the Gallardos said they shot him after a struggle, etc. - but let's say they did do it. Even so, they are now facing being hung. So Perry's little pity party about how bad this makes him feel? Not a fan.

I did like the bit about the gun and them trying to figure out what to do with it now they've got it. That's vintage Perry Mason from the books. He was constantly skirting (not breaking) the law on things like that and wriggling out of "this is it, I've got you now!" moments from his adversaries. 

22 hours ago, Jodithgrace said:

I wish that Della had broken up with Hazel before carrying on with Camilla. I like Della and this kind of tarnishes her character for me. Is the actress that plays Hazel not available this season? She doesn’t need to be present to be a dumper/dumpee. 

Yeah, I'm guessing the actress was not available. And I don't understand why they didn't just have them broken up off screen? Della is a pretty straightforward person, so I have a hard time believing her acting this way. I actually like the new woman and their chemistry (liked Hazel with her too), just not sold on this as who Della is.

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Yeah I tend to agree.

I never sat down to watch the old Perry Mason show but I would never have guessed that character was an angsty, tortured soul.

Maybe he was like that on that show, though he was much older, more settled in his profession and work, maybe had perspective.

This Perry Mason is like Stanley Kowalski, baying at the moon.  If Ginny didn't show him interest, he'd have another thing to wail about.

He'd be listening to the blues all the time or some country music about heartbreak and unrequited love.  Unfortunately, I don't think there was a lot of recorded music or even live radio of these kinds of genres broadcast in the early to mid '30s.

 

 

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19 minutes ago, Pop Tart said:

And let's say, as Perry believes, that his clients did kill the guy - which he shouldn't because he did all that measuring of the shot and how it would take an expert marksmen and the Gallardos said they shot him after a struggle, etc. - but let's say they did do it. Even so, they are now facing being hung. So Perry's little pity party about how bad this makes him feel? Not a fan.

 

I have to hope that the show's just taking him the next step. Like in season 1 he let go of his farm and did something worthwhile. He got burned again with the suicide, but then got inspired to defend the boys because he thinks they're innocent, but that's why he takes it as a personal betrayal that they might not be.

But surely that's just a step on becoming a good defense lawyer. For so long TV's gone in the other direction (Dick Wolf etc.) in saying that defense lawyers are all sleazy and just like getting criminals off, so if the show's really trying to look at this intelligently it needs to have Perry the White Knight (even if it's a little stained) deal with what the job actually is. He keeps going at it like a child and needs to grow up, but at least he's got cases that seem laid out to help him do that, the way they keep specifically chipping away at the black/white worldview. (Plus, it helps drag the case out from one case per episode to one case per season!)

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3 hours ago, sugarbaker design said:

I'm quite puzzled by the teacher's attraction to Perry, what the fuck does she see in him?

In addition to the reasons mentioned upthread (they're both divorced, not bad looking, acts like a rescue puppy, etc.) Perry is educated and can keep up the philosophical end of a conversation. Probably most of the local single men the teacher's age don't have more than a 6th or 8th grade education, whereas she's probably more highly educated than anyone else at the school (being from back east and all).

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3 hours ago, sistermagpie said:

But surely that's just a step on becoming a good defense lawyer. For so long TV's gone in the other direction (Dick Wolf etc.) in saying that defense lawyers are all sleazy and just like getting criminals off, so if the show's really trying to look at this intelligently it needs to have Perry the White Knight (even if it's a little stained) deal with what the job actually is.

I agree that that's what the writers are going for, Perry having to give up some of his rigid ideas of right and wrong and grow from his cases. And I love truly honorable characters, not perfect people, but ones who fight for what they think is right and try to do so without harming others. That's how I do see Perry and that's what I think the writers are going for. 

It just felt like too much wallowing for his own "loss of innocence" when the accused are literally facing death.

Some of my response is colored by having been a big fan of the books when I was young. I still have that picture of PM in my head. That version was similarly honorable and willing to fight for what was right, no matter what. He was also a man who was always moving forward, no matter what he thought of his clients guilt or innocence. 

That said, the books were pulpy legal mysteries that didn't have much character development, something I've loving with this tv series.

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6 minutes ago, Pop Tart said:

It just felt like too much wallowing for his own "loss of innocence" when the accused are literally facing death.

 

Oh, I totally get it. There is something kind of silly watching this grown man--very grown man--with a pretty checkered past acting betrayed about potentially being lied to by two guys in a lot of trouble.

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