S02.E14: Keep Your Friends Close

[MyAimIsTrue]

Bull is brought on to help the FBI’s case against a hacker whom they believe breached air traffic control at LaGuardia Airport. But when Cable learns that the accused is her friend’s husband, she risks breaking the law – and defying Bull – to try and prove his innocence.

[JES004]

Is Annabelle Attanasio leaving the show? I really like her character. 

[JackONeill]

I saw her in the clip for next week. But she didn’t look happy.

[aradia22]

Did they legit just call Martin Luther King Jr. just a "contrarian"? During Black History Month? Seriously? Not only does that discount the entire civil rights movement (I get treating Steve Jobs like a disruptive genius though that's also problematic) but the man was in a leadership position in an organized religion. How does that say fringe thinker who rejects common doctrine?

[JessDVD]

That storyline had potential but the execution was lacking. Needs another episode. They should have stretched out everything before Cable being handcuffed and then next week, done part two where they figure out the Janet stuff, as well as show the new trial and Cable confronting the roommate and confirm that the guy actually did it. When we got to the ten minutes, I felt like there was way too much to wrap up in ten minutes, which was true, it was not suitably wrapped up in ten minutes.

I also think Cable is way too smart than to put a flash drive she's never looked at before, into a computer at the freaking FBI.

If FBI guy was just going to arrest Cable, it might have been polite to tell Danny that he couldn't do her that favor, since he was the one who flipping asked her what she needed. 

Are we supposed to feel bad for Cable when Bull tells her he has to fire her for a load of completely legitimate reasons and she storms off?

[terxav]

So the show wants the audience to believe that a thumb drive could wipeout all evidence.  Like there wound not be backups in multiple locations for information that critical.  I would think that shutting down flights by the FAA would have a cyber trail all over the government.  All the letters of the alphabet would be involved, DOJ, DHS, FBI-Cyber, FAA,  CIA (the possiblity of threats to the airline structure by entities outside of the US would bring them onboard, Pentagon, would all be in on this case.  And given the security and red warnings flashing across the computer screen , Cable was able to exit that facility and spend the night in Bull’s office worrying.  And using JANET as a bargaining chip would have landed Bull into jail, and probably most of hi# firm working on the case.

[JackONeill]

It’s always kind of nice for a show that features something unique, like how to pick a jury, shows us a little something about, well, how to pick a jury. We got a whole two minutes of it in this show.

[JudgeyMcJudgyPants]

Cable getting fired was the only realist thing that happened the entire episode.  So I’m actually surprised it happened given the horrible writing for this show.

[adhoc]

terxav - I may not be savvy about the dark web and internet signatures, but yeah, the idea that there were not multiple backups of sensitive government info, not only onsite but also offsite (you know, that little thing called "disaster recovery"?)? Totally not believable. The government's IT processes and procedures may have their failings, but not backing up info? I don't think so.

I did enjoy the episode insofar as the friend turns out to be no friend at all. But I agree that it could have been a two-parter, since it felt super rushed at the end. I mean, they packed what could easily have been a 25-minute aha moment and resolution into just a few minutes.

[Netfoot]

19 minutes ago, JudgeyMcJudgyPants said:

Cable getting fired was the only realist thing that happened the entire episode.

Strange how it came as such a huge surprise to her, how she seemed to think it was undeserved.  

[Bobbin]

Hasn't Bull fired self-righteous Cable before? Or did she quit?

Bull regularly accepts jobs where he stacks a jury with peers most likely to find a defendant not guilty whether he is or not. While the same process logically can used to get a guilty verdict, it seems out of character for him to willingly assemble a jury most likely to convict on an unAmerican presumption of guilt, especially as ordained by government officials itching for a quick show trial.

This ep had some intriguing twists, but to my mind it was poorly researched and paced. Talk about a rush to judgment.

[sinkwriter]

Quote

Strange how it came as such a huge surprise to her, how she seemed to think it was undeserved.  

I think she thought that he understood it was a terrible mistake (her trusting her former roommate to not betray her) and that she never would have intentionally tried to destroy evidence or hurt Bull and his company. His picking her up from prison, hugging her when she came out, driving her home... I think she thought things were going to be okay, that he would have to have a serious talk with her about protocol and trust but that they'd work through it. Perhaps a tiny part of her sees him as a father figure - for him to cast her away as irredeemable would feel devastating.

Personally, I thought the writing for Bull in the end of that scene was pretty lacking. She gets out of the car and storms off, and he says something like "Well, I just got her out of prison, I thought she'd be more grateful"? How clueless of a supposedly well-trained and brilliant psychologist. 1) She already thanked him for getting her out; she even said that she was more grateful than she could ever express. and 2) OF COURSE she's upset! She just got fired after she thought you might have her back. Bull, you really don't understand, or think she's being ungrateful because she's feeling upset and alone?? Come ON. Surely the brilliant Dr. Bull can figure that out and not be so pissy. He's supposed to have great instincts, but sometimes I think the writers forget who he's supposed to be and they write ridiculous reactions like this.

Edited February 7, 2018 by sinkwriter

[Bobbin]

28 minutes ago, sinkwriter said:

Surely the brilliant Dr. Bull can figure that out and not be so pissy. He's supposed to have great instincts, but sometimes I think the writers forget who he's supposed to be and they write ridiculous reactions like this.

So Jason Bull is flawed. We all have feet of clay, and our blind spots, no matter how brilliant and educated. Besides, if people didn't behave irrationally sometimes, there would be no drama.

Bull reminds me of a line from Peanuts' young Linus:  "I love mankind. It's people I can't stand."

[JessDVD]

I thought Cable's reaction was realistic, I just couldn't figure out if the writers wanted us to feel bad for her or not. I think it might have been better for Bull to have the taxi drop her off at her place, tell her to get a good night's sleep, and then come to his office in the morning to talk about what's next. I assume like all good TV dramas, they will all somehow figure out how to get her back onto the TAC staff.

What I really don't understand about all of this is that this is a new show, these writers by no means have plumbed the depths of crime plotlines, and yet here they are writing these thinly cobbled together plots with holes large enough to drive a train through. Like it never once occurred to any of the writers or editors that surely the FBI has a smidgen more security on their evidence than what could be erased by a virus on a flash drive?

[Netfoot]

She allowed herself to be played by a character who I knew was a baddie as soon as we heard her voice, and before we actually saw her face -- and she should have too.  She knowingly smuggled the stick into the secure space, and allowed it to contaminate a secure government server, thereby deleting all evidence from the server.  She was instrumental in destroying the case against a terrorist.  

What?  Is she a Millennial?  Did she get medals for just showing up?  Did she think she would get a warm cuddle from the guy whose career and business she just screwed over?

She was betrayed and it wasn't intentional and many people before her have been in the same sort of circumstances and got hung for it.  But I suppose she thought daddy should have spoken to the mean government people and arrange for her not to get even a slapped wrist?

She lost her job over something that she should have lost her job over.  She should have been thankful she didn't spend the rest of her days welded into a 55 gallon drum in a CIA basement!

[LuvMyShows]

I totally agree that Cable would never, ever have loaded from an unknown flash drive (I said that to myself out loud at the time!), and that something would have been detected about the wiped out data before she even had a chance to leave the room where she was.

I also agree that Bull should have waited until the next day to talk to/fire Cable and that his reaction after she got out of the car showed a surprising lack of emotional awareness.  I think the writers wanted us to feel sympathy for Cable, but dang, gurl should have expected some serious consequences.

The part I thought was ridiculous, though, was Bull self-righteously saying that Cable broke the law.  Bull has had his employees do that SO many times.  This was different because of the naive stupidity of what she did, but still, pot meet kettle.

[terxav]

In the past Bull and his company have been spied upon, I seriously doubt an intelligence agency would not be following every person in Bull’s company.  As far as Cable’s feelings being hurt, she just walked out of prison where the optimistic results where 5 years in prison.  Job loss was a given, regardless of intentions what she did could be considered treason.  A slap on the hand would have been a sad outcome.  Hey destroy a case, disregard warnings by your employer and the government , what did she expect?   

 

Of course working for Bull you would think they all would be wary of being too arrogant.  

 

It would have worked out better if Cable set up her college roommate as well as helping with JANET.  And if they dud not want Bull to be the disciplinarian they could have them counter, yeah the flash drive and the new charges , we will release Cable but will now have to work for us.  Lol.  Bull to Cable ‘this is hard for me to say but you are no longer employed by my company, you need to show up at this address, or you will be arrested and return to prison.’  ‘Before you think about leaving, during your exit examination you were chipped in various locations on your body.  The government now knows where you are at all times.’

 

Cable ‘so I am still a prisoner.?’

 

Bull ‘no you were released under those restrictions, but if you find this arrangement too restrictive i can have the car return you to your previous residence oh and my firm was spared charges of obstruction of justice.  So everything considered  this was the best deal I could work out. This was not a game, your mistakes have consequences .’

Edited February 8, 2018 by terxav

[Dowel Jones]

I have to confess that as soon as I saw the line of code that said "Janet", I thought Good Janet or Bad Janet?  Team Cockroach to the rescue!

The government's nearly blind desire to contract with TAC for this trial, although a necessary plot device, seemed really superfluous to me.  The edge is always to the prosecution in felony cases, simply because the prosecution doesn't bring a case to court unless it has enough evidence to convict.  They don't risk it, albeit certain celebrity cases to the contrary, but using the excuse that the jury won't understand the evidence is just not real.  

I'd like to see Cable go to work for one of TAC's competitors, maybe even Bull's former flame. 

[sinkwriter]

"Damn it, Janet!"

[ShellSeeker]

I have liked this show more this season because it seems like they're at least trying to be more realistic -- like in the season premiere when Marissa was trying to get Bull to be more aware of expenses, and telling him how expensive his company is to operate. I think she also said something about how they'd blown through a $250K retainer from a client or something. Similarly, early in the episode where Cable told Bull her former roommate had reached out to her, I liked that they didn't go with the standard trope of Cable not coming clean and trying to prove the guy's innocence on her own. 

Then came that stupid flash drive twist. I also agree that there's no way that would have happened, that there wouldn't have been security alerts going off all over the place, and that there wouldn't have been backups available to restore the server. I did some contract work once years ago at a DoD facility in Alabama. I was not able to access their network with my own laptop, but I could plug in and get to get to my work emails and a few other basic things. One day I connected a network cable to my laptop, turned it on, and Yahoo Messenger fired up (this was a REALLY long time ago) and was running in the background -- I wasn't even using it. Their network detected an unauthorized application, and in about 5 minutes there was a swarm of security people at my desk, asking me what I was doing. And then they stood there and watched me uninstall Yahoo Messenger. That was in 2002 or 2003. So the idea that a virus on a thumb drive could completely wipe a server without anyone realizing what was going on is completely ridiculous.

[sinkwriter]

I was kind of hoping that it would turn out the guy was innocent, but that his wife (Cable's ex-roommate) would be the true guilty party. 

[Sarah 103]

23 hours ago, terxav said:

Bull ‘no you were released under those restrictions, but if you find this arrangement too restrictive i can have the car return you to your previous residence oh and my firm was spared charges of obstruction of justice.  So everything considered  this was the best deal I could work out. This was not a game, your mistakes have consequences .’

 

So your version is setting up a high-tech version of White Collar with a female lead. That could work. Who is her government handler? I'm thinking possible spin-off here. 

17 hours ago, sinkwriter said:

"Damn it, Janet!"

That was my thought too. (Also, let's go screw). 

Edited February 9, 2018 by Sarah 103

[zapper]

here's how one person sees it (ie: me)

Cable feels that Bull is being disloyal to her, a long term valued employee. more valued and dedicated than the 30 or so people we suddenly saw in the kitchen. - wait - when did they get a kitchen? and why did they not get a toaster with a "cancel" button to pop up that bagel for Chunk?  

 

lost focus. sorry.

 

So Cable is choked at Bull's disloyalty while forgetting she was equally disloyal to him and her coworkers when she followed her old friend and started working for the other side of the courtroom trying to prove the innocence of the boyfriend of a dorm mate she hadn't seen for years, and staged bumping into Cable just to get help that boyfriend.

 

Essentially - it's okay for me to be actively disloyal, but it is not okay for you to exact repercussions which I in turn see as disloyal.

feh - an interesting character - perhaps the most on the show - but written the way she is, TAC is better off without that loose cannon.

[Trey]

7 minutes ago, zapper said:

and why did they not get a toaster with a "cancel" button to pop up that bagel for Chunk?  

LOL I was wondering that too. 

[webruce]

Cables firing was a plan to bring out her friend Sarah from hiding.

[Destiny74]

Cable is an idiot.  You would think with all she has seen and done with computers in the past, she would have checked the flash drive before she opened it for the first time at the FBI.  

Why would you blindly accept that your old roommate just happened to run into you immediately after your firm was hired to help prosecute her boyfriend.  You haven’t seen or heard from this woman since graduation.  Gee, what a coinky dink.  I would have been a lot more suspicious.  I wouldn’t have talked to her again, I wouldn’t have taken the flash drive.  No one with any decent discernment would have.  Um, if the girlfriend couldn’t give said flash drive to hackers defense team and THEY could hire a computer genius to check it out, then you, as part of the prosecution, shouldn’t have done it.  That’s their damn job.

I understand Cabel being upset for being fired.  Anyone, even if they knew it was the right move for the company, would still be upset at the moment of the firing.  However, I would hope after a long walk home, a hot bath, and some dinner, Cable comes to the realization that she was totally wrong.  She risked not only Bull’s company but all of her friend’s livelihoods, and was stupid to not check the drive before taking it to the FBI.  She then can understand she had to be fired and would not hold a grudge.  However, I don’t see this happening.  When we see  Cable again she will be pouty and angry over the whole thing instead of apologetic, like she should be.

[mythoughtis]

Cable told Bull the guys girlfriend has reached  out to her.  Why didn’t she just accept the thumb drive and then hand it to the FBI?  That would have been above board. She could have been explained  the theory behind what she wanted them to compare. They could have backed stuff up and done it. But, no, Cable considers herself the only intelligent  IT person in the world- or she considers the FBI interested  convicting innocent people. And, until this episode, I loved Cable. 

FYI - Jason Bull has always been a flawed person. He’s always selfish, and spends money like it is water. He, however, is not wrong in firing Cable.  

Now- where is the actress going and whose idea was it for her to part ways with the show?