S02.E18: Bad Medicine

[MyAimIsTrue]

Bull helps a doctor who crossed state lines to purchase a marijuana-derived oil to treat her patients in Virginia, where the oil is illegal. But the case is complicated when Assistant U.S. Attorney Sylvia Banner has the DEA arrest her for possession with intent to distribute.

[JessDVD]

Yeah, not really feeling this one. She did something illegal, even if she did it for the right reasons, regardless of whether we all think it should be legal. I understand not wanting to abandon your patients, but I guess I don't have a lot of patience for people who can change their situation (move to New York), but don't, break the law, and then we're supposed to side with them? 

That combined with her not showing up to court (lady, you're no help to your kid from prison), although I totally expected her to run away with the kid, I just didn't really root for her.

Also, maybe along with all the marijuana, she could have bought some orthodontia for that kid? His teeth were terrifying. And I hate long hair like that on boys, you can all judge me.

And, really didn't get the prosecutor. If she sided with the lady, then why did she up the charges to felony, call CPS, etc? And boy, were they lucky that the oncologist (who I expected to turn on them, not sure why) turned out to be in favor of medical marijuana, since there are surely many out there who aren't.

[JackONeill]

8 hours ago, JessDVD said:

Yeah, not really feeling this one. She did something illegal, even if she did it for the right reasons, regardless of whether we all think it should be legal. I understand not wanting to abandon your patients, but I guess I don't have a lot of patience for people who can change their situation (move to New York), but don't, break the law, and then we're supposed to side with them? 

That combined with her not showing up to court (lady, you're no help to your kid from prison), although I totally expected her to run away with the kid, I just didn't really root for her.

Also, maybe along with all the marijuana, she could have bought some orthodontia for that kid? His teeth were terrifying. And I hate long hair like that on boys, you can all judge me.

And, really didn't get the prosecutor. If she sided with the lady, then why did she up the charges to felony, call CPS, etc? And boy, were they lucky that the oncologist (who I expected to turn on them, not sure why) turned out to be in favor of medical marijuana, since there are surely many out there who aren't.

Yeah, everything you said right down to the long hair on the kid.

Putting aside the legal and moral issues (which is what this episode revolves around), it was IMO a little more tense than most of the episodes. One bad thing after another kept happening, and the judge was NOT going’s Bull’s way.

I’m curious. Dana Delany is a big star. I wonder if she’ll be back? Even though they seemed to dislike each other — a lot — there seems to be “something” going on with her and Bull.

Speaking of which: Did anyone else think there was something “going on” with Bull and the doctor? Or have I just come to expect Bull/Weatherly to be a flirt? One interesting thing, though. The doctor—it seemed—called Bull on drinking too much. Didn’t she? I thought that was interesting, having a non-recurring character point out a lead character’s bad trait.

[Dowel Jones]

Sometimes I think the entire purpose of these different cases is so Bull can sex his way through the legal system.  The actual particulars of the week are secondary.

[Netfoot]

3 hours ago, JackONeill said:

Dana Delany is a big star. I wonder if she’ll be back?

I hope so.  I love me some Lt. McMurphy!

[Sarah 103]

4 hours ago, JackONeill said:

The doctor—it seemed—called Bull on drinking too much. Didn’t she? I thought that was interesting, having a non-recurring character point out a lead character’s bad trait.

He drinks, but I don't know if I would call it a drinking problem. We have only seen him get drunk once. Aside from one slip up, he has never shown up to court, an big meeting, or something really important drunk or hungover. He likes to have a drink to relax, but it seems like he knows when to stop. That seems more like responsible drinking than a serious problem. Are there scenes/episodes I am forgetting? 

[JessDVD]

Also, I think the doctor lady might have been more compelling if she had looked more professional and/or more like a doctor. I kept forgetting she was a doctor until they mentioned it. I don't know why she didn't look the part to me - maybe it was that she looked really young and didn't dress super professionally? And, wouldn't someone who's routinely smuggling medical marijuana across three states perhaps have a better system in place for the moves so as to not be at such risk for being caught? Like bringing an adult with her and not having her son sleeping in the back of the van? I assume since nothing was said of the kid's dad that she was single so I get that she'd need to find someone to watch him, but she seemed to be a fairly successful doctor so it would stand to reason that she would have someone to keep him.

[Netfoot]

Just now, JessDVD said:

And, wouldn't someone who's routinely smuggling medical marijuana across three states perhaps have a better system in place for the moves so as to not be at such risk for being caught? Like bringing an adult with her and not having her son sleeping in the back of the van?

And maybe a secure container to put them in, with a lid that doesn't blow off at the first fart of a passing trooper?  

[HurricaneVal]

Yeah, that was my first thought when she unloaded and precariously stacked next to the bumper the flimsy styrofoam containers chock full of vials of an illegal substance that she knew she was smuggling across multiple state lines.  I get it, of course she had to unload them to get to the jack and the spare, but fer gawd's sake, stash 'em in the front passenger seat and at least out of your way while you change the tire!

Dana Delaney is 62 years old.  Wow.  Double wow.  Either she has preternaturally good genes for aging, or a very, very good surgeon/spa.  She doesn't look like an ingenue anymore--which is fine, she's not in her 20s--she properly looks like a woman with some years on her, but not like she's over 60!  I really haven't seen her in anything since her China Beach days when she was a young fresh face.

[Netfoot]

22 minutes ago, HurricaneVal said:

Dana Delaney is 62 years old.

No, she is not.  And she never will be.

[shrewd.buddha]

Frankly, I was shocked. This was exactly the type of case where Bull's specialty would be needed : a definitely guilty client who needs a jury to be swayed to an opinion that is not keeping with the laws of the land. The Bull team did not need to just prove their client was innocent. 
They were really piling on the blows to the doctor client, tho. But she and Bull sort of deserved some of it for not keeping the judge in the loop as to why she was not in court.  The doctor was breaking all types of laws - although the fact that the laws were different in different states did help make her seem not so felonious.  
Bull still can come off as arrogant.  

And I liked Benny's closing argument - our laws are basically opinions and not set in stone or handed down by god. Some laws need to be broken until they are seen as needing to be changed.  I think there have been cases where people have had their records cleared decades later because they were arrested during times when things like homosexuality and drinking at a whites-only water fountain were criminal offenses. 

[sinkwriter]

Ethically, I'm on the side of the doctor mom, taking care of her son and her patients with whatever medicines will help them most. But I was annoyed that they made her so irrational as to not see her behavior skipping out on court might make things worse for her case. I know her mom's not in physical shape to go looking for her grandson, but couldn't the mom have gotten someone to drive her and look with her? That doctor was really foolish.

[katalizt]

Nitpicking here, but in the scene in the church, everyone should've been standing during that part of the mass...

[Dowel Jones]

If they had shown that, Bull would have smiled and said "Really, folks, I appreciate the gesture, but I'm not all that important.  Please take your seats."

[Netfoot]

They never stand in TV Churches.