S02.E02: The Wrong Stuff

[chitowngirl]

When a billionaire dies in a freak accident during a space training simulation, Elsbeth suspects a fellow magnate and wannabe astronaut with a grudge named Neal is responsible; Elsbeth is reunited with a former colleague from Chicago.

[AnimeMania]

Christian Borle as Carter Schmidt, a lawyer from "The Good Wife" and "The Good Fight" 

Robert Riggle as Neal Dorsey, Billionaire and Wannabe Astronaut 

Kedrik Merwin Jr. plays Randy Dorsey, Neal Dorsey's son

Terry Serpico as Doug Howe

John Behlmann as Jake Turning, Fire Marshal 

Director: Aisha Tyler

[EtheltoTillie]

This was not my favorite episode but I  liked the COTW well enough.  I do not understand the visit from the Chicago lawyer at all.  Why does he think she needs to be admonished not to speak about her old case?  That would be something baked into her DNA, as it were.  I suppose this will be a continuing story line. 

[kwnyc]

Rob Riggle always plays awful people. Maybe he's one of those guys who's absolutely delightful in real life, and channels all his nastiness into the character. He does get cast a lot.

Aisha Tyler directs? Cool!

Hot tall firefighter was adorable. They can bring him back!

And the captain getting to lean into his space nerd side was so much fun (AND he found the clue that nailed the murderer.)

No one seemed particularly perturbed by Gavin's death, because pretty much everyone agrees that billionaires are awful. 

[Irlandesa]

1 hour ago, EtheltoTillie said:

This was not my favorite episode but I  liked the COTW well enough.  I do not understand the visit from the Chicago lawyer at all.  Why does he think she needs to be admonished not to speak about her old case?  That would be something baked into her DNA, as it were.  I suppose this will be a continuing story line. 

I suspect we'll learn more about why it's such a big deal later.

 

I thought this was fun and loved the firefighters crush on Elsbeth. 

[PurpleTentacle]

This episode made all kinds of no sense.

First an NMC battery that small wouldn't do that much damage, yes you'd get your foot burned real bad, if you can't take the boot off fast enough, but that's about it.

Second such a battery wouldn't just spontanously combust because of a few G-forces. Otherwise electric cars wouldn't be a thing. Those things accelerate like crazy.

Third, there is no way these batteries are interchangeable between those completely different devices.

Fourth, I have never heard of a hoverboard that had a swapable battery in the first place.

Fifth, a hoverboard would have a much bigger battery, otherwise it would go two meters and then just stop.

I still love Elsbeth but the writing this episode was real rough... It's not like murder mystery shows are usually the height of realism, but usually they at least try to keep it somewhat plausible...

[PurpleTentacle]

1 hour ago, kwnyc said:

Hot tall firefighter was adorable. They can bring him back!

Elsbeth has more self control than I. If he'd flirted with me, I would have climbed that... well despite how he looked in comparison to elbeth, he probably would need to climb me (6'8"), but no matter, climbing would be happening!

[AD35]

1 hour ago, kwnyc said:

Rob Riggle always plays awful people. Maybe he's one of those guys who's absolutely delightful in real life, and channels all his nastiness into the character.

I had to laugh at that pic of Neal droning on and on with Angela Merkel sleeping. No wonder he got the unwanted name "Snoozer".

[EtheltoTillie]

Thanks, did not notice Aisha Tyler directing!  I liked Elsbeth flirting with the firefighter

[shapeshifter]

3 hours ago, kwnyc said:

Hot tall firefighter was adorable. They can bring him back!

Sure, but sadly, I suspect he's a spy plant of some sort.

[astrohip]

2 hours ago, PurpleTentacle said:

This episode made all kinds of no sense.

First an NMC battery that small wouldn't do that much damage, yes you'd get your foot burned real bad, if you can't take the boot off fast enough, but that's about it.

Second such a battery wouldn't just spontanously combust because of a few G-forces. Otherwise electric cars wouldn't be a thing. Those things accelerate like crazy.

Third, there is no way these batteries are interchangeable between those completely different devices.

Fourth, I have never heard of a hoverboard that had a swapable battery in the first place.

Fifth, a hoverboard would have a much bigger battery, otherwise it would go two meters and then just stop.

I still love Elsbeth but the writing this episode was real rough... It's not like murder mystery shows are usually the height of realism, but usually they at least try to keep it somewhat plausible...

You must be fun at a party.

It's a TV show, with a preposterous plot from the start. Killing noisy patrons, killing tennis players, yada yada. Nothing makes sense if you drill too deep. I'm sure all your points are valid.

But do we care?

[PurpleTentacle]

17 minutes ago, astrohip said:

You must be fun at a party.

I am, thanks for noticing!

19 minutes ago, astrohip said:

It's a TV show, with a preposterous plot from the start. Killing noisy patrons, killing tennis players, yada yada. Nothing makes sense if you drill too deep. I'm sure all your points are valid.

So far this was set in the real world with slightly over the top, cooky characters, who would sometimes murder because their fries didn't have enough salt.

But you are saying the premise is now that reality is completely out the window? Next episode Elsbeth is going to kill somebody with her mind powers, because they annoyed her too much and after she gets caught beam out of the prison cell onto the a romulan warbird, where she will be revealed as a Sith? While you might love that, that's not the show I signed up for.

23 minutes ago, astrohip said:

But do we care?

You seem to care a lot.

[babyrambo]

“You know, when I started, I had nothing. Nothing but the 4 million dollars that my father gave me.”

LOL

This case wasn’t my favourite but that line was great. Elsbeth’s firefighter shadow was fun too, I’m not into men but he’s easy on the eyes and she could do worse than an overeager himbo. 

[possibilities]

I thought the firefighter was sexually harrassing her. 

--

I thought it was notable that when they were signing the waiver to acknowledge they were possible going on the mission with a murderer on board that the perp showed a gleeful lack of hesitation and the  rest of the crew was very nervous about it. I thought that the nervousness of all the other people asked to sign would tip everybody off to who was guilty, even if they hadn't already solved it.

Edited October 26 by possibilities

[Yeah No]

11 hours ago, PurpleTentacle said:

I still love Elsbeth but the writing this episode was real rough... It's not like murder mystery shows are usually the height of realism, but usually they at least try to keep it somewhat plausible...

I hear you, but I haven't been finding a whole lot of realism in the details on recent shows lately. This one isn't even as bad as some others. I hand wave a lot of it if I like the characters and find it entertaining anyway. I am able to forgive more of it on this show than some others because of that. I didn't think batteries like that were so easily interchangeable but at least it's a minor thing unlike on some shows where it's like they live in an alternate universe.

9 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

Sure, but sadly, I suspect he's a spy plant of some sort.

Re: firefighter shadow guy: Yeah, he acted suspicious didn't he? I thought he was a little cringey and OTT like he's up to something.

And yes to this not being my favorite episode either.

[chediavolo]

I thought firefighter was overstepping and as far as looks, just meh. Not my type too skinny & gawky. 

[Yeah No]

3 hours ago, chediavolo said:

I thought firefighter was overstepping and as far as looks, just meh. Not my type too skinny & gawky. 

Yeah, not my type either, which didn't help, lol.

[Zaffy]

Realism on TV happens very rarely, even in shows that take themselves seriously and they are supposed to be realistic.
For example, I find "the Americans" completely unrealistic.
Or recent Law and Order court scenes where judges seem to decide whatever fits the writer's needs.
I am honestly not sure if there are any current TV scripted series that are realistic.
Sometimes it gets really annoying and end ups a dealbreaker. 
Personally, I do not watch Elsbeth for it's realism but for its interesting and usually eccentric universe. 
I find it entertaining, even if often over the top.
Still I can get it if someone gets frustrated from the lack of realism and the annoying plot devices.

Edited October 27 by Zaffy

[sugarbaker design]

Easily the worst episode, so far, of both seasons.

[AnimeMania]

2 hours ago, Zaffy said:

Still I can get it if someone gets frustrated from the lack of realism and the annoying plot devices.

Like, why did the ink stay in the ink pen, until he decided to write with it?

[shapeshifter]

8 hours ago, AnimeMania said:

Like, why did the ink stay in the ink pen, until he decided to write with it?

I think (not sure) the close up we see of the broken pen tip is just a tiny bit that is broken?
Regardless, the issue was that the pen wasn't able to write, not that the ink had leaked.
And, Googled:
“The ink is forced out by compressed nitrogen …” (wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Pen#Technology).

Edited October 27 by shapeshifter

[Yeah No]

10 hours ago, AnimeMania said:

Like, why did the ink stay in the ink pen, until he decided to write with it?

Because zero gravity pen ink is a solid until pressure is placed on it, which turns it into a liquid. Usually that's activated by the ball point but I guess the show is trying to make it plausible that the pressure from him pressing on the pad was enough to create the same effect.

[possibilities]

I have a space pen! Someone gave it to me years ago and to me it just seems like a regular ball point pen, but heavier. I had no idea there was actually anything different about it. All these years, I thought she had been scammed into paying more money for a generic pen.

Of course, I don't know where to get new ink cartridges, so I rarely use it.

 

[tv echo]

I thought this episode was mediocre in terms of the murder and catching the killer.  Also, while I don't mind Elsbeth getting a love interest, I found that fire marshal kinda creepy in the way he was always getting in her personal space and staring at her. Maybe they were playing it up for comedic effect, but I think it could've been handled better. 

[tinderbox]

I love and appreciate the quirkiness of the character and this show but I didn’t enjoy this episode.  Meh…

[ItCouldBeWorse]

On 10/26/2024 at 12:18 AM, possibilities said:

I thought the firefighter was sexually harrassing her. 

--

I thought it was notable that when they were signing the waiver to acknowledge they were possible going on the mission with a murderer on board that the perp showed a gleeful lack of hesitation and the  rest of the crew was very nervous about it. I thought that the nervousness of all the other people asked to sign would tip everybody off to who was guilty, even if they hadn't already solved it.

On 10/25/2024 at 1:15 PM, PurpleTentacle said:

I still love Elsbeth but the writing this episode was real rough... It's not like murder mystery shows are usually the height of realism, but usually they at least try to keep it somewhat plausible...

I thought that it didn't make sense that according to the flight manager who asked them to sign, the police had asked for the waiver.  The police weren't running the mission or encouraging anyone to go into space, so had no standing or reason to ask for a waiver.  It's the flight program that needs the waivers to diminish the likelihood of a successful lawsuit.  The writers had no reason to frame the request that way, even though it was a fake request.

Speaking of not making sense, I know we are not seeking perfect realism from this show, but it makes no sense that Elsbeth is the one removing batteries from hoverboards or otherwise getting personally involved in the chain of evidence.  She should be observing (and I suppose offering advice), not performing police duties, even simple ones.  Having worked in the NYC criminal justice system, I can easily imagine how a cross-examination of whoever is testifying about a piece of evidence by a defense attorney would go (assuming the defendant went to trial instead of taking a plea, and hadn't actually confessed.)  Let's take the hoverboard example:

"Officer so-and-so, please tell us about the battery in the hoverboard."

"Well, we took it out and found the point of a space pen...."

"We?"

"Actually, it was Ms. Tascioni who took it out."

"Who is Ms. Tascioni?"

"She's a lawyer sent by the Justice Department under a consent decree to observe the Police Department."

"Why did the Justice Department send Ms. Tascioni to observe the Police Department?"

"Well, there had been some corruption in the Department."

"Some corruption?"

And off to the races they'd go with questions that would raise the specter of massive police corruption in the eyes of the jury, possibly enough to cause at least one juror to have a reasonable doubt about the defendant's guilt.

Whereas, if Elsbeth was actually observing, instead of doing, her name and the previous finding of corruption might not come up at all.

This show is extremely unlike real life in that the arrestees all seem to confess to Elsbeth, which would make the corruption argument more difficult. It's a more satisfying ending for a show like this, but not realistic for educated people who have no doubt watched Law and Order and know they shouldn't say anything before speaking to a lawyer.

Have we seen an episode where the perpetrator maintained their innocence after Elsbeth solved the case instead of immediately confirming her conclusion?

Another little thing, but I don't even get why Neal was called "Snoozer."  Before it was explained, i thought that perhaps he had fallen asleep publicly at Davos.  But, no, Angela Merkel was the snoozer.  She should have been the one who was embarrassed.  I'm sure she's heard plenty of boring stuff before without falling asleep.  I guess Neal was so sensitive, Gavin's lame insult worked, but it really shouldn't have.

 

 

Edited November 8 by ItCouldBeWorse