S02.E07: No Good Deed

[MyAimIsTrue]

Bull is asked to help a teachers union represent a woman who is being prosecuted by the DA for helping an impoverished student pass an important test, but who may be the scapegoat for a larger cheating scandal.

[dttruman]

There were a lot of questions that went unanswered. Did anyone else have a problem with the intentions of this teacher that went to trial and the other teachers who hadn't gone to trial yet? I am still trying to figure out why she didn't want to testify against them. Is it because she didn't want to betray her associates of the teachers' union that did change the answers? 

[sinkwriter]

I'm guessing she didn't feel right about testifying against her associates when she herself changed an answer as well. Just because they changed more answers than she did doesn't meant they're more or less guilty than she is, technically speaking.

I was surprised they lost the case. I can't recall - is this the first case we've seen that Bull has lost?

I think Marisa's boyfriend is going to screw her over. To be going through her financial paperwork without her permission is WAY out of line. I don't care if his reasons are completely altruistic. She's a grown woman and entitled to have complete control over her finances, for better or for worse. He can volunteer to give her financial advice, he can offer concerned opinions on what he thinks might be beneficial to her, but he has NO right to dig through her papers like that. I have a bad feeling that he was really going through her paperwork to see exactly how much money she has, so he can offer to 'invest' it for her and instead run off with it, leaving her broke. I don't like this guy.

[JessDVD]

I thought this one would have been a lot more interesting if they'd tied it into the other teachers involved somehow. I'm going to choose to believe that this is totally fiction and teachers don't actually change answers in one big group with snacks and music, ever. And that it wouldn't be totally and completely obvious if they did.

Seeing the teacher lose, but still win, was good. I thought the assistant to the mayor or whoever that was had a good line in the end, something like, "those who love teaching always find a way to do it".

If the show is trying to send a message about how Bull and his team have a hard time trusting people and that's supposed to be a bad thing, that message is not reinforced by Marissa's boyfriend doing something that 99% of sane people would find very untrustworthy. Looking through her files in the middle of the night, seriously??? If she already struggles with trusting people, that's totally not going to creep her out more...

Edited November 8, 2017 by JessDVD
Grammar matters

[JackONeill]

Actually something similar happened in Atlanta, and it took more than over a year to reach a conclusion. Several teachers, including the Superintendent, was involved. It was a mess. And some people blamed “standardized testing.”

[Netfoot]

A couple weeks ago, some incredibly insightful poster said:

Quote

...when he was showing her the property and telling her what he was going to build, I was waiting for him to hit her up for money.

It's now pretty clear that that intelligent (and probably handsome) poster was correct!  

Now, I'm beginning to suspect some sort of Ponzi scheme is in the making.  Because legitimate investment people don't rifle through prospective client's papers in the dead of night, and coerce them to cough up their cash.    It only remains to be seen whether Marissa will somehow get blamed for being the mastermind behind the scam, thereby forcing Bull to arrange for her acquittal.

[Absurda]

Yeah, I have got to say that Marissa's initial instinct "get out of my house before I call the cops" was spot on and pretty reasonable. Going through her personal papers in the middle of the night is a HUGE red flag that any one (not just those with trust issues) would pick up on. She's ignoring her gut and it's not going to go well for her, sadly. I think Marissa deserves to be happy so this is going to suck for her.

It was appropriate for the teacher to be found guilty, she did do it. But I was glad sentencing went soft on her with no jail time. I think that was the right outcome. Just a huge shame that a poor, under served school would lose a teacher of her caliber.

Anyone else really wanting to know what the question she changed was? Or am I just getting caught up in useless details?

[LuvMyShows]

So much about this episode made no sense (beyond the usual for this show, with all the illegal snooping that the team does), in that actions taken were not in line with the character:

• We saw Marissa get indignant and immediately throw the boyfriend out, which actually her character would not have done without asking for an explanation first.  But further, once her "spidey sense" was up because of his middle-of-the-night shenanigans, she would have actually been MORE skeptical of whatever words came out of his mouth, so she would absolutely have caught that he was promising her a return of her money of almost 500% (invest $75K and net $350K is what I think he said). 
• When Marissa was taking such a big drink in Bull's office, and she mentioned that she threatened to call the police because of something nice her boyfriend tried to do (even if it was in her sort of self-deprecating manner about having over-reacted), he absolutely would have asked about the details. 
• Since the teacher's actions were so overwhelmingly motivated by her desire for the student to get into college, there is no way that she would have turned down that deal, and put the welfare of the blatant grade-fixers (who also knowingly threw her under the bus falsely, I think) ahead of achieving the goal of getting him into the prestigious school, while leaving her a clear record so that she could continue doing the thing she said on the witness stand was what she would most want to do in the world.  

Also, given that the teacher was able to convince that college to admit him, which she said took some personal intervention anyway, then she could presumably have explained to them that he got there late the day of the test and got a bad grade, and he could then take the test again the next time it was offered. 

[HurricaneVal]

Marissa's boyfriend is a sleazeball.  But she's going to stay in denial and invest in his fake development scheme and he's going to leave her holding the bag.

[shrewd.buddha]

At the end of the episode, there was a lot of talk about how the teacher would be "fine". There was no  jail time - but  a) she lost the case , b) has a felony conviction, c) cannot teach in NY and d) no mention of the kid getting into college.  How is that "fine"? 
The teacher's parents were wealthy donors to the NY mayor - who asked Bull to help on the case as a favor to them. Are the wealthy parents supposed to be happy with the results because their daughter would be forced to teach in a safe, affluent private school instead of a poor NY public school ? 

The sub-plot of Marissa's bad boyfriend has been going on for a while, but this week it went into the "how could she be that dumb?" category.  Rifling through someone's private financial papers in the middle of the night should have set off *all* the alarms.  But she is going to apologize instead? 

[Netfoot]

8 minutes ago, shrewd.buddha said:

But she is going to apologize instead? 

Let's face it -- she's none too smart.

[brgjoe]

Yeah, I think her BF is doing some sort of ponzi scheme.  He is just going to blow through her $$ and leave.  That's my guess anyway.

I thought Bull was going to hit up the mayor to use that influence to maybe ask the governor for a pardon of that teacher, so she wouldn't have that felony on her record.  And also arrange for that kid to go to a nice college as well.  So that part didn't turn out quite the way I expected.

I think it's good Bull occasionally loses a case.  This is why I am enjoying this season more than the last -- he's definitely less arrogant and god-like in season #2.  And I doubt if we would have seen him lose a case like this in season #1.

[dttruman]

13 hours ago, shrewd.buddha said:

At the end of the episode, there was a lot of talk about how the teacher would be "fine". There was no  jail time - but  a) she lost the case , b) has a felony conviction, c) cannot teach in NY and d) no mention of the kid getting into college.  How is that "fine"? 

This and a lot more were left unanswered. All they basically said was that a teacher can always find a job. I think that is too simple of a way to say that she is going to be alright. Bull made a deal with the Mayor's boy to get the kid into a college. I find that all to simplistic also.  Can a teacher actually find a teaching job w/ a felony conviction anywhere?

I think the story line for this episode was unrealistic and asked the viewers to take too much for granted

[dttruman]

17 hours ago, Absurda said:

Yeah, I have got to say that Marissa's initial instinct "get out of my house before I call the cops" was spot on and pretty reasonable. Going through her personal papers in the middle of the night is a HUGE red flag that any one (not just those with trust issues) would pick up on. She's ignoring her gut and it's not going to go well for her, sadly. I think Marissa deserves to be happy so this is going to suck for her.

Considering the questionable tactics that Bull and his team use, I thought it was very hypocritical of her to use the "how dare you" response.

[sinkwriter]

Quote

Can a teacher actually find a teaching job w/ a felony conviction anywhere?

I think that guy in the horse-drawn carriage was saying that her rich parents would find a way to help her get a job teaching in private school. 

Unfortunately, that result made me sad because that's not what the daughter wants. She wants to make a difference in a school like where she had been teaching, where kids don't get the perks and opportunities that private school kids might take for granted. So basically "she'll be fine," he said, and she probably will be if her parents have anything to say about it, but it won't make her happy or fulfilled in the way she would have been if she'd been able to return to teaching with a school like in her previous job. 

[Dowel Jones]

I'm not sure why the writers even put this episode out there, unless it was more to showcase the Marissa sideshow.  That was the worst defense closing ever.  When your client says "I did it" in open court, you can't really expect a not guilty verdict on the basis of "this is why I did it."  That was just poor writing.  She might be able to argue that before the Board of Education, but even so, to what end?  She is now branded as the teacher who changed a grade, and every test she supervises is now suspect.  She's not going to end up "fine".  And the lesson she just imparted to her students is that's it's okay to cheat if the outcome is good.  How many other students in that class will get to retake the test?  I just did not like the direction of this episode.

[Sarah 103]

On November 8, 2017 at 2:49 PM, shrewd.buddha said:

The sub-plot of Marissa's bad boyfriend has been going on for a while, but this week it went into the "how could she be that dumb?" category.  Rifling through someone's private financial papers in the middle of the night should have set off *all* the alarms.  But she is going to apologize instead? 

Because romantic love makes you stupid; it's the basis for many noir plots and a bunch of rom-coms too. 

[lh25]

On 11/8/2017 at 6:38 AM, Netfoot said:

Now, I'm beginning to suspect some sort of Ponzi scheme is in the making.  Because legitimate investment people don't rifle through prospective client's papers in the dead of night, and coerce them to cough up their cash.    It only remains to be seen whether Marissa will somehow get blamed for being the mastermind behind the scam, thereby forcing Bull to arrange for her acquittal.

Interesting thought, her needing his help.

I agree, this won't end well.  I can't imagine how ticked off I'd be if someone I hadn't been dating long was going through my personal papers. 

[Notwisconsin]

The "i'm not going to rat on my pals" crap made me want to hope she wound up in jail for six months. I"m glad "perry mason" lost the case.