S01.E08: Bad Deals

[CooperTV]

Quote

 

CIU revisits the case of Sierra Macy, a teenage girl who was kidnapped ten years ago and assumed dead—until she manages to escape her captor’s home after he suffers a heart attack and dies. Sam, one of the original prosecutors, steadfastly believes that the right man was convicted: Sierra’s former teacher Josh Fleck. Sam’s undeniable conflict of interest has Hayes second-guessing her decision to keep him on the CIU review of the case. Meanwhile, Hayes is determined to intercede on Wallace’s behalf – and against his wishes – in an investigation into his professional misconduct. Her stunning discoveries about quid pro quos that Wallace brokered in her cocaine bust and an earlier case they worked back in Chicago force the two to re-examine their personal and professional relationships

 

 

 

Promos

[Sandman]

So, rather than being a "sexy nemesis," Wallace is just kind of a manipulative dick.

[Free]

40 minutes ago, Sandman said:

So, rather than being a "sexy nemesis," Wallace is just kind of a manipulative dick.

Pretty much, he's by far the weakest character.

[Sandman]

He's certainly the most inconsistent. They're all a little bit one-note, other than Hayes, and she's not that fully developed -- much as it pains me to say it, given my admiration for Atwell.

[Free]

6 minutes ago, Sandman said:

He's certainly the most inconsistent. They're all a little bit one-note, other than Hayes, and she's not that fully developed -- much as it pains me to say it, given my admiration for Atwell.

They're all shallow but Wallace is just plain annoying.

[mansonlamps]

I find Hayes annoying.  She's just over the top bitchy sometimes.

[vibeology]

Look, another innocent person. NYC is really bad at catching and convicting actual bad guys. This show is running out of episodes so it would be nice if, for once, the person in jail was actually guilty. I get that its probably harder to write that storyline and make it interesting but if you can't come up with that plot, maybe this wasn't the best idea for a TV show?

This one was especially bad. Hayes was okay and so were Tess and Frankie but Sam, Wallace and Maxine all bugged. Actually, Tess as more than okay. She was one of the few really bight spots here in her few small moments. I like how she called Sam out but still made a point of reaching out to him.

Sam was especially over the top. I get that this was more personal but there were moments where he was so out of line and then at the end, he was just too dumb for words. Why, when you're alone, tip off to the crazy abductor that you might be suspicious? Just wait, leave and call for help as soon as you're outside.

[Tiger]

Aside from the wrongly convicted guy telling Sam he had stolen his life this was not good.

I have zero fucks to give about Tag and the ex girlfriend, Iceman is a drama queen who apparantly was practicing law at 15, Beth is pointless, Merrin looks bored out of her mind and Im bored watching her pop pills . . . 

If ABC does try to re-tool, they need to dump everyone, including the entire writing staff, except for Merrin and Hayley.

[Netfoot]

15 hours ago, Free said:

16 hours ago, Sandman said:

So, rather than being a "sexy nemesis," Wallace is just kind of a manipulative dick.

Pretty much, he's by far the weakest character.

Wallisssss is a ssssnake!

6 hours ago, vibeology said:

Look, another innocent person.

What a surprise!

[Bobcatkitten]

And while getting one man out of prison Hayes throws an innocent dead man under the boss to cover up for her and her ridiculous ex-boyfriend. Nice.

[Sandman]

Heh. "Under the boss," -- if you meant to pun on that, nice one! If it's a typo: Best typo ever.

[Free]

17 hours ago, scribe95 said:

And while getting one man out of prison Hayes throws an innocent dead man under the boss to cover up for her and her ridiculous ex-boyfriend. Nice.

Pretty much the exact opposite of her job.

[Sandman]

I was pretty convinced that, following the scene where the guy Sam wrongly convicted told him that Sam had stolen his life, we'd get a scene showing some wretched or hollow aspect to Sam's existence, to reveal an "ironic contrast" with how easy the guy assumed Sam had it. I can't tell you how glad I am that the show avoided at least that pitfall.

Not loving the randomness of how and when Maxine is shown popping pills. Come on, Cop Francie, you can do better than this!

[DeathQuaker]

Sam frustrated me, and I'm not sure the writers know what to do with him. That said, it was interesting to me that what was important for him was being right, not finding the right perp. One could argue he was trying to defend his integrity as the prosecuting lawyer... but he at the same time undermines his professional integrity by effectively sabotaging his current work. A person of his ambitions should be more concerned about preserving his current state with his job, not undermining it to back his actions in an old case (especially when other lawyers understand that your job as prosecuting attorney is to prove guilt and he was just originally doing his job--but NOW he looks like a jerk). There COULD have been an interesting story here about the moral/ethical complexities lawyers have to face depending on the position they're in but it didn't come off well.

Although we have yet another innocence proved, I liked this case in that they chose it just because it was timely--the girl showed up, the time to reinvestigate was now. I don't like that a lot of cases have been chosen for high profile stuff or because of a random vendetta Hayes has.

If I were in charge of the retool (because ABC totally wants to put a random academic secretary/freelance editor in charge of a TV show), I'd keep the team as Hayes, Maxine, Frankie, and Tess. I like all of them and each have a clear, relatively consistent personality and role to play. Frankie's probably my favorite. I like his balance of street-smart and forensics-smart, he's interesting to watch. Wallace gets ousted for professional misconduct, and he and Naomi can run off together to happily do questionably legal things in another country, permanently offscreen. I'd promote Sam to DA but keep him largely the background just as providing oversight to the CIU, serving as a source of occasional ethics questions or antagonism based on the nature of the case or what Hayes wants to do vs the other legs of the law enforcement community.

If the powers-that-be want Hayes to have a "sexy nemesis," make it another high powered lawyer who is a relative equal power-wise to Hayes, someone in a similar position in another unit who perhaps competes with the CIU for funding/media attention/etc. I've realized one of the huge issues with Hayes and Wallace is that he's her boss and she owes him her freedom, let alone job, and that creates a massive power imbalance that becomes super-creepy when you bring the sexual tension into play (sorry to keep whining about Wallace--I don't want to become one of those people who just harps on one character all the time and I know that's what I'm doing). So ANYWAY: give her a new nemesis who is a relative equal; they can also have had a past (perhaps, for example) they frequently tried cases against one another and have developed a deep competitiveness with one another). Don't connect this character to Hayes' family (again, that creates weird imbalances and creepiness), but the character could be connected also to the political world in some ways which complicates and enriches their relationship and history. A million bonus points if this character gets played by Bridget Regan. (And now I am off to watch this fantasy version of this TV show in my mind. I'll be in my bunk.)

[Sandman]

Yeah, the constant threading in of Sexy (ehh) Nemesis (feh!) and his connection back to her family is off-putting, to say the least. The fact that Wallace appears to be simultaneously seeking her father's approval, her mother's political endorsement, her family's connections generally AND Hayes' romantic attention, while pursuing her ex-girlfriend and rival -- while holding authority over her employment AND her legal freedom? That's appalling. He's the DA, not the Emperor.

Edited December 1, 2016 by Sandman

[Free]

3 hours ago, DeathQuaker said:

Sam frustrated me, and I'm not sure the writers know what to do with him. That said, it was interesting to me that what was important for him was being right, not finding the right perp. One could argue he was trying to defend his integrity as the prosecuting lawyer... but he at the same time undermines his professional integrity by effectively sabotaging his current work. A person of his ambitions should be more concerned about preserving his current state with his job, not undermining it to back his actions in an old case (especially when other lawyers understand that your job as prosecuting attorney is to prove guilt and he was just originally doing his job--but NOW he looks like a jerk). There COULD have been an interesting story here about the moral/ethical complexities lawyers have to face depending on the position they're in but it didn't come off well.

Although we have yet another innocence proved, I liked this case in that they chose it just because it was timely--the girl showed up, the time to reinvestigate was now. I don't like that a lot of cases have been chosen for high profile stuff or because of a random vendetta Hayes has.

If I were in charge of the retool (because ABC totally wants to put a random academic secretary/freelance editor in charge of a TV show), I'd keep the team as Hayes, Maxine, Frankie, and Tess. I like all of them and each have a clear, relatively consistent personality and role to play. Frankie's probably my favorite. I like his balance of street-smart and forensics-smart, he's interesting to watch. Wallace gets ousted for professional misconduct, and he and Naomi can run off together to happily do questionably legal things in another country, permanently offscreen. I'd promote Sam to DA but keep him largely the background just as providing oversight to the CIU, serving as a source of occasional ethics questions or antagonism based on the nature of the case or what Hayes wants to do vs the other legs of the law enforcement community.

If the powers-that-be want Hayes to have a "sexy nemesis," make it another high powered lawyer who is a relative equal power-wise to Hayes, someone in a similar position in another unit who perhaps competes with the CIU for funding/media attention/etc. I've realized one of the huge issues with Hayes and Wallace is that he's her boss and she owes him her freedom, let alone job, and that creates a massive power imbalance that becomes super-creepy when you bring the sexual tension into play (sorry to keep whining about Wallace--I don't want to become one of those people who just harps on one character all the time and I know that's what I'm doing). So ANYWAY: give her a new nemesis who is a relative equal; they can also have had a past (perhaps, for example) they frequently tried cases against one another and have developed a deep competitiveness with one another). Don't connect this character to Hayes' family (again, that creates weird imbalances and creepiness), but the character could be connected also to the political world in some ways which complicates and enriches their relationship and history. A million bonus points if this character gets played by Bridget Regan. (And now I am off to watch this fantasy version of this TV show in my mind. I'll be in my bunk.)

It would be better to trim the cast down

[Texasmom1970]

I like Haley thinking her ex, whats his name is a manipulative bastard. Because as a couple I did not like them together. I love Hayley Atwell but this show is just too much of the same case stuff each week.

[CheshireCat]

On ‎29‎.‎11‎.‎2016 at 8:49 AM, vibeology said:

Look, another innocent person.

This one I actually wanted to be innocent because Sam really needed to come off his high horse.

 

On ‎29‎.‎11‎.‎2016 at 8:49 AM, vibeology said:

This one was especially bad. Hayes was okay and so were Tess and Frankie

Funny, I thought that Tess was starting to annoy me halfway through. She just sounded so naive and mouse-like.

I think what this show needs to do and quickly is to actually start character growth. Except for Maxine who is in reverse, none of the characters is really going anywhere and I think they need to and I think they especially need to because of the characters that they are. They're all very flawed and I think their flaws are more likely to be annoying and off-putting the less they do with them. And they don't really do anything with them. The characters are in a holding pattern and that is not good.

 

On ‎29‎.‎11‎.‎2016 at 8:49 AM, vibeology said:

Sam was especially over the top. I get that this was more personal but there were moments where he was so out of line and then at the end, he was just too dumb for words. Why, when you're alone, tip off to the crazy abductor that you might be suspicious? Just wait, leave and call for help as soon as you're outside.

The end was typical Hollywood chliché. You could tell it was coming a mile away. Or maybe ten miles. Though, for once I hadn't figured out who was guilty in advance, I only figured it out when the waitress opened the door and invited him in and they showed this huge house.

[thuganomics85]

Oh, look.  An episode that not only puts Sam front and center, but makes him as obnoxious as possible, while doing so.  Sorry, Shawn Ashmore, but outside of Wallace, Sam is the most useless character on this show.  And, of course, the guy ends up being innocent, because the cops really, really suck on this show.

Maxine is still popping those pills.  Yawn.

The Hayes/Naomi/Wallace love triangle continues to be a dead weight, because they really did find the only two people on the planet that have no chemistry with Hayley Atwell.  I will continue to imagine how different things would be if Wallace and Naomi were played by Enver Gjokaj and Bridget Regan...

Also, what a waste of a perfectly good Kathryn Erbe.

This show is so disappointing.  The things I will watch for Hayley Atwell....

[romantic idiot]

On 11/29/2016 at 5:49 PM, vibeology said:

Look, another innocent person.

I don't get this point at all. They deliberately go after cases that look iffy / like there might have been injustice done. Tess looks like she's done her homework and she brings these up. Of course they are going to have a higher than average likelihood innocence. They are not going after average cases. And this world is a lot more corrupt than the real world. 

On 11/30/2016 at 6:18 PM, Free said:

Pretty much the exact opposite of her job.

Eh, he's dead. IMO it was a victimless crime. 

[DeathQuaker]

On 12/2/2016 at 1:22 PM, romantic idiot said:

I don't get this point at all. They deliberately go after cases that look iffy / like there might have been injustice done. Tess looks like she's done her homework and she brings these up. Of course they are going to have a higher than average likelihood innocence. They are not going after average cases. And this world is a lot more corrupt than the real world.

Although I'd disagree strongly on the last sentence (IMO TV tends to underplay the corruption that goes on in the real world), you make a fair point on the rest.

For me, the only reason I'd like to see a guilty case is for variety, but you're right most cases that look questionable are ones where it might seem like the wrong person got caught.

[Dowel Jones]

On 12/1/2016 at 10:30 AM, CheshireCat said:

Though, for once I hadn't figured out who was guilty in advance,

I guessed it as soon as the victim was recounting the night's events under the influence of Fentanyl (Really?) and she turned around to see the waitress.  the camera lingered on her just a bit too long.