S01.E04: Calisto

[MyAimIsTrue]

When Bull and Trial Analysis Corporation (TAC) help a young woman fight a drug patent lawsuit, they’re forced to travel to Callisto, the small Texan town where Bull suffered the only trial loss of his career.

[marina to]

It was nice to see Bull off balance and out of his element for a lot of the episode. It was a lot of fun even though it was obvious they weren't actually in Texas. I'm enjoying this series more each week. Probably because I'm tired of angst and this show has very little of it.

Edited October 19, 2016 by marina to

[JackONeill]

I liked this episode best of all. It wasn't as glitzy (obviously). 

One thing I'm noticing though: Weatherly seems to be one-note. He never gets annoyed or worried. I'm not sure why he's so cocky. In tonight's episode, I thought the local guy attorney they used did a good job and their own client basically won the case. Honestly, what did Bull do (except lose his pants)?

Another thing: I'm not picking up a warm-and-fuzzy feeling between Weatherly and his team. Weatherly seems to be awfully...distant.

Edited October 19, 2016 by JackONeill

[marina to]

I'm thinking that distance is to give them something to explore and develop as it goes on.

[JessDVD]

I thought it was a nice change-up to have Bull's team not actually win, but have the plaintiff drop the suit. Also not having it be specifically a crime/murder investigation type thing, but just a lawsuit. Although I think it would have been better if they hadn't had everyone overhear plaintiff/defendant discussing what she actually did to the ingredients to make the drug and the plaintiff admitting that he never would have gotten that, since obviously with that information, the jury would have more than likely gone on her side.

Our DVR randomly cut out about 30 seconds (I think?) or so in the middle. I saw Bull and Sexy Female Lawyer walking in a field, and then it cut to Marissa and Benny (don't be impressed by my using their names, I had long descriptors typed out and then when I got to the last paragraph below, decided to just look up their names) in the first few episodes pushing Down South Lawyer in a wheelbarrow and seeing that all their stuff had been stolen. Anything worth mentioning in the in between? Also, did they ever resolve who took all that stuff and if they got it back?

Hamilton fans - I think we may have gotten our reference in this ep, when Bull said something like "I am your general and I am in command" and the camera sloooowly pans across Chris Jackson's face.

I think I'm probably in through this season at least, which I notice has been picked up for a full season. I like the different focus as far as crime procedurals NCISverse etc go. All of the characters are likeable. I feel like the ensemble is a little heavy - I wouldn't mind more screen time for Chunk, and this is where I had to look up names... Danny and Cable? Interesting name choices....

[mbutterfly]

8 minutes ago, marina to said:

I'm thinking that distance is to give them something to explore and develop as it goes on.

Me too. I believe they want to build this show for the long-term like NCIS. They'll need to show relationships in more (and interesting) depths soon. 

[camussie]

Quote

Another thing: I'm not picking up a warm-and-fuzzy feeling between Weatherly and his team. Weatherly seems to be awfully...distant.

I feel just the opposite.  I feel like Bull and his team come across as having an easy camaraderie.  Their dynamic is built mutual respect (instead of that whole we are family conceit that NCIS beat to death) but it still comes across as warm to me.  Probably because the jibbing of each other has not once seem mean-spirited.  

Quote

 Honestly, what did Bull do (except lose his pants)?

He picked the attorney.   Threw the opposing attorney off by tricking her into thinking they were going to have a whole slate of experts and came up with the plan to get the plaintiff and the respondent in a room together to hash it out so the case wouldn't end up with a hung jury.

I loved that they addressed the bizarre wrinkle in our legal system where one quarter of all US patent cases are heard in a district court based in Marshall, TX (which Callisto was clearly a stand in for even though it was in west Texas and Marshall is in east Texas).  That weirdness has fascinated me since I read about it a few years back.  For anyone interested here are a couple of articles about it

Texas Monthly patent article

Vice: The Small Town Judge Who Sees a Quarter of the Nation's Patent Cases

Edited October 19, 2016 by camussie

[wales260]

I... I can't believe... wha...

So they somehow make a patent infringement case another case of a saintly client railroaded by an unjust jury, pitting a biomedical savant working out of her apartment(!) against a pharmaceutical company(!) that is suing her for developing an orphan drug. If the drug was so coveted by other hospitals and other clients after the fact, why didn't they (a) buy the drug from her and defend against the patent claim themselves, or (b) pay for her defense?

In rides in Bull & Co. to defend her (pro bono! again!) in "Callisto" (obviously either Marshall or Tyler in E.D.Tx) against a jury that is so biased that they always side for the (only!) local law firm, no matter any of the facts. Even though multi-national companies sue each other for patent infringement with such frequency in this district that most of the people sit on multiple juries for patent infringement claims. As suggested at the end of the episode, other law firms haven't seen this effect and put a satellite office there? No one points out that a jury verdict can be appealed to a circuit court, namely the Federal Circuit that completely ignores all of the jury's findings? They don't even mention that should Bull's sh*t actually work, the Pharma company will appeal immediately. They had to shoot for a settlement, or any result in the client's favor would have been moot.

So Bull & Co. send moles in the town and spy on the jury, but they don't even attempt to even consult with a patent attorney to mount a defense. While someone on the writing team seems to have Googled "obviousness," they didn't actually check to see how one would defend a patent case. They seem to be arguing that because her research was a non-obviousness improvement to the Pharma drug, she didn't infringe. What they missed however, is that her drug contained all the elements claimed by the plaintiff. It doesn't matter how much better it is! Are all the elements in the claim in the pharma company's patent included in her drug? Based on her defense, it seems so! 

While this isn't the main point, but seeing as they seemed to have dropped the whole premise of being consultants, are they going to show the other side trying to have a bench trials so that there is no jury? Are they just going to spy on the judge for the whole trial? Is there going to be a case where the person they're representing is actually wrong, or is this Perry Mason?

Edited October 19, 2016 by wales260
missing phrases and emphasis

[Primetimer]

It only took four episodes for Bull to abandon its setting and its premise.

View the full article

[beadgirl]

Wow, sounds like I made the right choice to watch an old episode of Knight Rider (don't judge!) rather than this.  Assuming the summary is correct, I'm out.  Speedy trials, witnesses who take just fifteen minutes to testify, discovery that doesn't take years, mild shenanigans with civil procedure and evidence rules, these I can accept in a fictional depiction of the legal system.  But Bull is taking the implausibilities too far.  (Of course he only ever lost one trial, and of course it wasn't because of anything he did.)

[Lizzing]

After 4 episodes, I'm out on this one.  Like with other legal procedurals, I can handwave a lot of stuff that I know isn't right, but this was absurd.  It seems like the show is wanting us root for Gene Hackman's character in Runaway Jury.

[thewhiteowl]

I like it more and more each week. This was fun to see them all out of their element. I did think that they must know each other well because they were saying that Bull was off his game and acting OOC and I couldn't tell. He seemed the same to me but then I don't know him well, yet. Sure, waking up in a field without his pants was different but part of his plan, I thought. Anyway I did not play a game or read while watching so it is a winner for me. 

[iluvobx]

50 minutes ago, Lizzing said:

After 4 episodes, I'm out on this one.  Like with other legal procedurals, I can handwave a lot of stuff that I know isn't right, but this was absurd.  It seems like the show is wanting us root for Gene Hackman's character in Runaway Jury.

 

I was not a big fan of this episode.  Guess I didn't like being insulted and that is exactly what the episode did.

[cam3150]

This is nit picky but it bothered me.  When TX lawyer lady was telling Bull not to worry about the tornado, she said something along the lines of "They never get above a category 2 anyway".  Ummmm.....Hello, Writers?  Hurricane severity is defined by "categories".  Tornado severity is defined by the Fujita scale, or F0, F1, F2, etc up to F6.   I live smack dab in the middle of Dixie Alley so tornadoes are a very common occurrence here.  Any tornado can cause significant damage. An F2 tornado is nothing to sneeze at.  But, it really bothered me that the writers got that wrong.  It's kind of a major mistake, in the weather world anyway.  Someone who lives in any area where tornadoes are common place, as was depicted during the episode, would know the difference between hurricane vs tornado categorizations.  

[Sake614]

I really liked this episode. There was an easy camaraderie among the cast and even I was fooled when the opposition counsel stole all Bull's 'evidence.' I thought he literally got caught with his pants down because he was hung up on the lawyer. Glad the show was picked up for a full season. It's fun :)

[Guest]

I thought this was pretty bad.  They pulled out of every redneck stereotype in the bag, pretty much.  A mechanical bull, pickups with flags, a steer, biscuits in the diner, longnecks and shots in the roadhouse, a judge more interested in getting back to his fishin hole than justice, everyone in boots and denim and flannel, even half of Bull's team.  

Using a mirror jury of 8-year-olds because the real jury was so unsophisticated?  

The blonde woman with the stringy hair is apparently there only to make faces at Bull's 'antics'.  In case the audience isn't clear that he's supposed to be devilishly mysterious and genius.  

[lh25]

We just watched this one, that says something right there.

I'm OK with handwaving a lot, but this was a bit much.  I don't know the science, but it seems that a clotting drug that could fix the sister so fast would kill her because it was so powerful.  And having one of their own spying on the jury seems illegal to say the least.

And like others, the whole "small town - dumb" thing.  I mean, the female lawyer changes their minds in that earlier case by singing in church?  Something I assume she does a lot given she lives there. 

[Voice of Joy]

On 10/30/2016 at 4:29 PM, Winston9-DT3 said:

I thought this was pretty bad.  They pulled out of every redneck stereotype in the bag, pretty much.  A mechanical bull, pickups with flags, a steer, biscuits in the diner, longnecks and shots in the roadhouse, a judge more interested in getting back to his fishin hole than justice, everyone in boots and denim and flannel, even half of Bull's team.  

Using a mirror jury of 8-year-olds because the real jury was so unsophisticated?  

The blonde woman with the stringy hair is apparently there only to make faces at Bull's 'antics'.  In case the audience isn't clear that he's supposed to be devilishly mysterious and genius.  

ITA on the redneck/small town stereotypes.