S03.E11: Separate Together

[thewhiteowl]

Bull and a romantic rival join forces when her niece and husband are charged with armed robbery.

[jerseyflower]

I liked this episode but I thought there would be some kind of twist in the end.

[HurricaneVal]

Interesting that they totally gave away whodunit right at the beginning with the sketchy airline passenger, the password, ballcap, and missing phone.  I thought it was interesting how the episode highlights how people can get caught up in the process, and they're so wigged out by being arrested and jailed that they can't think to come up with their own defense--even when they're clearly innocent.  It also shows how very naive and uninformed the defendants can be regarding their own cases--they're innocent, after all, that fact should just automatically shine forth and exonerate them!  But it doesn't.  They're all so caught up in their own woe and pity that they can't think to put on their own defense--even though all the information is there in front of them in their own memories.  And the mostly well-intentioned auntie attorney was so focused on saving her niece that she was more than willing to pin the whole thing on her niece's new husband to the extent that she didn't examine anything as closely as she should. 

I think the case of the week last night illustrated how very easily cases can go wrong in court, and how helpless defendants really can be in the face of prosecution.  Can you imagine how that would have gone if they'd had a overworked and underpaid public defender without the resources of Bull's company?

I see the producers are working on the Michael Weatherly/Bull redemption tour.  He was pretty low-key with the lady lawyer with whom he had such an obvious history.  Have we seen her before?

Loved Chunk's undercover work.  He was also having a ball too!

Edited January 15, 2019 by HurricaneVal
Chunk, not Chum. Sheesh...

[jerseyflower]

Good points, though I'm guessing it may have already been filmed.  It must be a nightmare to be swept up in the system like that and be completely innocent, you'd probably be in too much shock to really help yourself.

[Aliconehead]

2 hours ago, HurricaneVal said:

 

I see the producers are working on the Michael Weatherly/Bull redemption tour.  He was pretty low-key with the lady lawyer with whom he had such an obvious history.  Have we seen her before?

Loved Chum's undercover work.  He was also having a ball too!

We have seen her multiple times, 3 or 4 episode.  She was the lawyer in Texas 

[Ellee]

Loved Chunk sidling up to the bar, ordering coffee and getting the bad guy.  :D

Where was Dani though? 

[HurricaneVal]

Chunk!  Not Chum....  Off to edit...

[MerBearHou]

4 hours ago, Aliconehead said:

We have seen her multiple times, 3 or 4 episode.  She was the lawyer in Texas 

With a horrible, appearing and disappearing, Texas accent.  Really, really do not care for that actress (never have) and certainly don't like her in this Texas lawyer / Bull periodic-fling character so it's hard for me to even watch an episode when she's on.  Last night was especially tough when it took forever for anyone to think clearly about a private code being said out loud on the plane and the too-friendly passenger, lost phone, baseball cap in overhead bin stuff.  Michael Weatherly still does not look healthy.

[Tony Dickson]

I was several years younger than Michael Weatherly is now when I first realized that bars and clubs with loud music weren't for me any more.  I was no longer able to separate speech from the loud music, and literally couldn't hear myself think.

I've never had a heart attack, but an elevated heart rate, even if it's for a perfectly natural reason, can be scary as heck.

I guess 50 is the new 50 after all. ;) 

[Dowel Jones]

I think the niece should at least be charged with felony stupid for giving the combination out loud.  That, and apparently not having a password protected phone.

I was also hoping for a twist or two.  Maybe they did do it and used the Agatha Christie plot to get away with it.  Or maybe either one of them was selling the other down the road.  Or the owner had some hare-brained scheme to loot his store and it went bad from the start. 

I liked the question Benny used to stir up the jury pool, causing most of them to reach for their wallet/purse, and outing one juror they definitely didn't want.  Cool trick.

Can the prosecution really bring a surprise witness into court, claiming they didn't know about them until the previous night?  Even with a good cross, the idea of guilt is implanted in the mind of the jury.

7 hours ago, HurricaneVal said:

Loved Chunk's undercover work.  He was also having a ball too!

"Finish your drink.  It's the last one you'll have for a long time."  Mic drop.

On a side note, I'd be worried about those shoulder belts in Bull's car.  They sit way to high, and look like they could snap a neck in a collision.

[Kleav]

2 hours ago, MerBearHou said:

appearing and disappearing, Texas accent

I thought maybe it was intentionally strong when she was relaxing with Bull and toned down when she was in the courtroom. I might be giving the actress too much credit, though.

[Netfoot]

23 hours ago, HurricaneVal said:

Have we seen her before?

Yes, we have.  But she seems to be much more... needy.  Than before.

[JessDVD]

I thought for this show, that was a surprisingly well-written episode. No obviously shoddy police work, the only one that came close was Auntie Attorney willing to throw the husband under the bus rather than investigate further - which while wrong, was at least understandable. I thought the "Oh, that moment that I never thought about at the time and am just now remembering" came off as actually realistic, rather than ridiculously convenient. I don't like it when people who should obviously know better make idiotic decisions, but a young couple who's like, I don't even know how I ended up in this situation and I don't know how to defend myself, is realistic.

Could not be bothered to remember or care what the history with Diana was, or about how things are now...

[sinkwriter]

I tried to give her a chance, but... Diana still bugs me.

[LuvMyShows]

On 1/15/2019 at 6:15 PM, MerBearHou said:

Michael Weatherly still does not look healthy.

Did he gain all his weight back?  I seem to remember that when MW first came back after his character's absence, he was noticeably thinner.  But this is what he looked like last season.

[mythoughtis]

I don’t remember Diana  previously needing a bar and a dance floor the night before a trial. 

We went from an arraignment two days after the armed robbery, to jury selection the next day to the trial the day after that. So surely Diana would have wanted to prepare for the trial rather than get drunk, dance and have sex.  You know, maybe ask questions like ‘have you recently given anyone your combination? And was anyone else around to hear you?  

Maybe wonder why the store alarm went off, if it was an inside job- since they were perfectly happy to use a combination to open the safe. 

Maybe MW wouldn’t look so bad if he wasn’t in every scene. He has lots of fellow actors. 

Edited January 18, 2019 by mythoughtis

[secnarf]

I was so frustrated the whole time waiting for all the characters to catch up. I don't do well with stories set up like this.

I could see how it was realistic, but it was driving me nuts since as it was happening in the intro, I knew exactly where they were going with it, and had to wait 40 mins for everyone else to get there.

[Netfoot]

10 hours ago, secnarf said:

I knew exactly where they were going with it, and had to wait 40 mins for everyone else to get there.

Agree.  They were maddeningly slow to ask the obvious questions.  Still, that's better than the Hero figuring it out immediately thanks to his expert sense of smell, or something!

[sinkwriter]

I'm kind of disappointed that they cut away before Bull told Diana about his heart attack. After all the build-up throughout the episode, especially with Bull understandably freaking out about his heart rate, then he tells her that he'll talk with her about it later? I can't stand her character, but at least seeing her reaction to that might have given her a little bit more depth. (Eh, who am I kidding... I probably still wouldn't like her.)