So last time the future caught up to the present. Or should that be the other way around?
Anyway, we're live and in technicolour. What will happen to our hero next?
Chapter 8
Mitch is in his cell and the detective comes and tells him that he's free to go. His lawyer has been working hard to get him out. Lawyer? Mitch has a lawyer? what now?
When Mitch's belongings are returned, his briefcase (left behind at the hotel) is also given back to him. The Document is still in the pocket of the bag... hmmmm.
Exiting to the lobby we see Andrew and know that he was Mitch's lawyer. Andrew is brought home with the McDeere's to brainstorm about the case. They don't let him in on the document though.
Sniffle's boss is meeting with Tricia Helfer and Andrew enters to advise on the McDeere situation and what they know. After Andrew leaves, the bossman and bosslady discuss how to deal with our hero Mitch. They know he has the document, how to spin it and what line of BS to feed him is the question.
The McDeere's are talking about what to do next, stay or run. Mitch thinks it all comes back to Sarah Holt. Abby wants him to confront her, but Mitch wants more puzzle pieces first.
The case of the week cannot be put off. Mitch has to go in person to request a delay. On his way out the door he is blocked in by his friendly neighbourhood witsec agent. He found out that Mitch was in jail and is checking in to be sure the girls are alright and see if he can help in anyway. Mitch says no, he can handle it himself.
Case of the Week: The power of an idea
The judge won't delay the hearing for Mitch's personal issues. Everyone is dealing with issues and the judge proceeds to make everyone uncomfortable talking about his personal problems and potential need for adult diapers.
Mitch is on one side of an intellectual property dispute. His scientist is claiming that his girlfriend's company stole his research and she dated him to get to the info.
Mitch wins the case and Madam Pharma is ordered to cease all trials surrounding the doctor's research. After the verdict, she announces that she'll just have to buy his company and make the research hers.
Mitch takes his doctor to meet with one of the large stakeholders (Blake) in his little company and convinces him to stick it out. That the principal and the future prospects are better than the money coming from the sale. There is a TTC bus in the background before Mitch and Client enter the building. It's blurred out so I can't tell what route it is, but it's probably a Bay St bus based on where this show films and that all other routes in the core are streetcars.
Mitch's client loses his company the next day. Mitch confronts Blake when their paths magically cross on the street after hearing this news. Mitch berates Blake for selling out and Blake leaves Mitch with some paperwork and a parting shot about "eat that". Turns out Blake voted "no" to the sale. How did Pharma Lady get the company then?
Mitch shows up at Dr. Client's house to confront about selling his company and lying to Mitch about it. Pharma Lady comes in and tells him to just tell it all, it's confidential since Mitch is his lawyer. Doctor's tests were not working well. He needed more time to develop his drug therapy but his shareholders wanted results. Pharma Lady started running tests to help him find the answer, with her resources they could figure it out. Client's shareholders found out about Pharma Lady's tests and wanted justice. They never expected Mitch to win the case. The only answer was for her to buy the company and help him save his research.
Why would she do this at such a great cost to her company? Love!!!! Awwwww.....
Conspiracy Case
The family is reviewing all the Holt case info trying to discover what is so important about this case to land Mitch in jail and have Sniffles leap to his death.
Mitch confronts Sarah in an interrogation-ish room and shows her the shredder puzzle. Her response is to clam up and try to run. "I'm sorry I got you into this" is all she gives him.
Ray visits the hotel to try and get the security footage from the incident and try to identify the players. He can't access the computers in a timely manner (Tammy seems to be a little more computer savvy than Ray) so we see him enter a service elevator with the entire PC tower in tow like a large briefcase.
We see the exterior of Mitch's office. It's at Yonge and College in Toronto, right above the W Burger Bar (good food). Inside Abby and Tammy are poking at the numbers again and when Tammy needs access to something and can't remember the password, Abby says it's their tax ID# and then it dawns on her, all the numbers on The Document are tax IDs. All of them are Nobel subsidiary companies. Finally a break!!!!!! Now if only we knew why.
Ray contacts and old buddy from prison and calls in a favour to get access to the security footage. The hacker finds that all the images that would be important have been erased. All he can find is a sliver of a guys back on the side of a frame. We know it's the right guy because there is a suspicious bulge at his lower back that is probably a guy. Hacker boy is able to zoom in impossibly close to a reflection on an SUV's window and isolate a tiny tatoo from the guy's neck.
Andrew tries to be a good guy. He tells Tricia that he wants no one to get hurt. He doesn't want to be a part of this anymore. She goes alpha on him and indicates that her control of the situation is slipping and if he want's it to stay with no one getting hurt, Andrew needs to tow the line as she sets out for him. Bring in Mitch!
Mitch is introduced again to Mr. Sniffles' boss and he, with Tricia at his side, spin a load of BS toward Mitch about Sniffles being a coke head and embezzling funds from Nobel subsidiaries. He claims that the guys chasing Mitch were investigators and that they have been talked to about their inappropriate actions with regards to Mitch. He apologizes and calls the whole thing closed.
Mitch and family discuss the load of crap from Nobel Boss and in looking up one of the numbers again they realize that The Document has been switched and that's why it came back to him. We also see Nobel Boss and Tricia playing back a portion of the conversation that they got because the briefcase was also bugged. The Boss' are not impressed.
Time Jump: 5 weeks later
We're now introduced to a new future scape. A new climax if you will. It seems we'll be working the story in chunks and playing catch up to the future only to have the future bar set further forward each time we reach the finish without actually solving anything.
Mitch is woken up by a phone call in the middle of the night. Andrew tells him he has 90seconds to get out of the house and to look outside his window. There is a black SUV on the street and a couple of thug-ish looking guys in black are headed from the car to the house. Andrew's voice ends the episode:
"You just couldn't let it go, could you?"
I don't plan on letting it go. I'm having fun on this roller coaster ride. Until next time....
Toronto Skyline
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Brothers shouldn't have to turn on each other.
Chapter 7 of The Firm has been much anticipated over the last few weeks as I wait with baited breath to see how the 2 time frames will be handled as we get closer and closer to the events I call "climax".
Chapter 7:
We start in the future with the detective interrogating our hero Mitch and in the end throwing him in a cell under what I like to call the "24 hour rule". Many criminal dramas remind us of the fact that a suspect can be held without charge for 24 hours before they are either charged or released. The detective is banking on some evidence that is more solid than a hotel room and Mitch running away from said hotel room.
Case of the Week: Brother vs. Brother
Mitch is called to help a young man who works as a delivery boy for the deli down the street from the office. They are the only law firm he knows and calls them when he's arrested for armed robbery and felony murder (all conspirators in the felony act are equally accountable for the murder if they pull the trigger or not).
The kid, Nate, has a learning disability and seems to be developmentally challenged. His brother (Shawn) was the brains behind this operation.
The US Attorney wants one of the brothers to testify against Ed, who pulled the trigger and killed the shop owner. There is only one golden ticket and the lawyers are told it's first come first serve. Nate is honourable and says that he won't go against his brother. He is convinced that his brother won't take the deal and that it should be both of them or neither of them. Shawn is selfish and thinks that a way out is worth his brother going to prison.
The US Attorney wants each lawyer to highlight the value of each one for the witness stand. Who deserves the 2nd chance more, and they have 48 hours to get ready to pitch.
The McDeere clan start researching Nate. They find that Shawn has used him to get away from an official record before. Nate has taken the fall for Shawn before and is the reason he's in this position in the first place.
When the pitch off happens, Mitch puts down his cue cards and tells a very compelling story about a young boy who needed someone to believe in him and help him to be his own man rather than follow his brother into mischief. The brother went to jail and the boy (Mitch) went to Harvard... awwww! The point is, Mitch wants the US Attorney to be the one that believes in Nate and gives him the chance to be the man he can be. If Shawn is given the deal, he'll end up in jail beside Nate eventually.
The US Attorney chooses Shawn because he'll be more reliable on the stand, not because he deserves the 2nd chance more. Mitch talks to Nate about the crime, to build the fact that he can testify, that Nate could be a good witness. When talking, Nate reveals details that incriminate Shawn in other nefarious acts. The nature of the testimony agreement means that Shawn has to reveal everything. If these extra crimes are not disclosed, Shawn's agreement can be revoked. Mitch starts plotting.
Mitch and Ray go looking for Shawn's car (the switch car) and the guns that are supposed to be inside. They end up at an impound yard, where the car was towed, only to find that they are moments too late as the car was claimed and it driving off the lot as they speak. They give chase (why not?). When they catch up to the car, they find Shawn's lawyer behind the wheel (naughty, naughty).
Mitch, Nate and the US Attorney meet for the re-pitch. The Attorney starts asking Nate questions really fast and a little bit meanly. Nate cracks a bit but Mitch gives him a pep talk. Nate then starts talking through the crime and we learn that Ed shot the owner because Shawn told him to do it or get shot himself (woah, shocker!).
This leads the US Attorney to announce to the judge in court that he'll be entering into an agreement with Nate. Shawn's lawyer starts spouting about "we had an agreement" and then the US Attorney tells the judge about the further charges regarding sale of guns and the lawyer's involvement in the activity and/or covering it up... "oooops" says the judge "agreements are such tenuous things".
Family Drama: Family Tree
The family drama is that Claire is working on a family tree for school. There is a very awkward conversation with Abby about her parents. Abby then talks to Tammy about it. She is considering contacting them again.
She talks to Mitch about it. Should she, shouldn't she.....
In the end, Tammy has found the address and phone number for Abby and then Ray comes over with the same information because Mitch had asked him to find it for her. Mitch loves Abby and only wants her to be happy.
Abby isn't ready and can't make the call. Maybe someday in the future. *yawn*
Conspiracy Case
Tammy takes on the task of getting Mr. Sniffles to talk to the McDeere clan about The Document.
She approaches Sniffles in a parking garage. She has a flat tire and needs a man to help her. Sniffles says he's not handy and then says it doesn't look flat. Tammy then tells him who she really is any what she wants. She wants Sniffles to meet Mitch at a hotel on Friday at 2pm (since he can't talk there or meet 'tomorrow').
Tammy then pops up behind Sniffles at a coffee cart (Stalker much?). She says she'll stop stalking if he agrees to the meeting.
Tammy tells Mitch she just got the call that Sniffles is waiting at the hotel. She said Mitch would only need 5 minutes so Mitch better hurry. As Mitch leaves the courthouse, we see he's being followed. Chase ensues through the recognizable landmarks of tourist Washington DC. Mitch stumbles down the steps in front of a monument and dashes through the reflecting pool (all from first episode). We get the fast tracked and flashing version of the future scape from all the episodes to date up to Mitch in the interrogation room and then the cell.
Mitch sits in the jail cell and says "here we go again"
what will happen in Chapter 8? we've caught up, the future is now, what's next? we'll have to wait for Chapter 9 to find out.
Chapter 7:
We start in the future with the detective interrogating our hero Mitch and in the end throwing him in a cell under what I like to call the "24 hour rule". Many criminal dramas remind us of the fact that a suspect can be held without charge for 24 hours before they are either charged or released. The detective is banking on some evidence that is more solid than a hotel room and Mitch running away from said hotel room.
Case of the Week: Brother vs. Brother
Mitch is called to help a young man who works as a delivery boy for the deli down the street from the office. They are the only law firm he knows and calls them when he's arrested for armed robbery and felony murder (all conspirators in the felony act are equally accountable for the murder if they pull the trigger or not).
The kid, Nate, has a learning disability and seems to be developmentally challenged. His brother (Shawn) was the brains behind this operation.
The US Attorney wants one of the brothers to testify against Ed, who pulled the trigger and killed the shop owner. There is only one golden ticket and the lawyers are told it's first come first serve. Nate is honourable and says that he won't go against his brother. He is convinced that his brother won't take the deal and that it should be both of them or neither of them. Shawn is selfish and thinks that a way out is worth his brother going to prison.
The US Attorney wants each lawyer to highlight the value of each one for the witness stand. Who deserves the 2nd chance more, and they have 48 hours to get ready to pitch.
The McDeere clan start researching Nate. They find that Shawn has used him to get away from an official record before. Nate has taken the fall for Shawn before and is the reason he's in this position in the first place.
When the pitch off happens, Mitch puts down his cue cards and tells a very compelling story about a young boy who needed someone to believe in him and help him to be his own man rather than follow his brother into mischief. The brother went to jail and the boy (Mitch) went to Harvard... awwww! The point is, Mitch wants the US Attorney to be the one that believes in Nate and gives him the chance to be the man he can be. If Shawn is given the deal, he'll end up in jail beside Nate eventually.
The US Attorney chooses Shawn because he'll be more reliable on the stand, not because he deserves the 2nd chance more. Mitch talks to Nate about the crime, to build the fact that he can testify, that Nate could be a good witness. When talking, Nate reveals details that incriminate Shawn in other nefarious acts. The nature of the testimony agreement means that Shawn has to reveal everything. If these extra crimes are not disclosed, Shawn's agreement can be revoked. Mitch starts plotting.
Mitch and Ray go looking for Shawn's car (the switch car) and the guns that are supposed to be inside. They end up at an impound yard, where the car was towed, only to find that they are moments too late as the car was claimed and it driving off the lot as they speak. They give chase (why not?). When they catch up to the car, they find Shawn's lawyer behind the wheel (naughty, naughty).
Mitch, Nate and the US Attorney meet for the re-pitch. The Attorney starts asking Nate questions really fast and a little bit meanly. Nate cracks a bit but Mitch gives him a pep talk. Nate then starts talking through the crime and we learn that Ed shot the owner because Shawn told him to do it or get shot himself (woah, shocker!).
This leads the US Attorney to announce to the judge in court that he'll be entering into an agreement with Nate. Shawn's lawyer starts spouting about "we had an agreement" and then the US Attorney tells the judge about the further charges regarding sale of guns and the lawyer's involvement in the activity and/or covering it up... "oooops" says the judge "agreements are such tenuous things".
Family Drama: Family Tree
The family drama is that Claire is working on a family tree for school. There is a very awkward conversation with Abby about her parents. Abby then talks to Tammy about it. She is considering contacting them again.
She talks to Mitch about it. Should she, shouldn't she.....
In the end, Tammy has found the address and phone number for Abby and then Ray comes over with the same information because Mitch had asked him to find it for her. Mitch loves Abby and only wants her to be happy.
Abby isn't ready and can't make the call. Maybe someday in the future. *yawn*
Conspiracy Case
Tammy takes on the task of getting Mr. Sniffles to talk to the McDeere clan about The Document.
She approaches Sniffles in a parking garage. She has a flat tire and needs a man to help her. Sniffles says he's not handy and then says it doesn't look flat. Tammy then tells him who she really is any what she wants. She wants Sniffles to meet Mitch at a hotel on Friday at 2pm (since he can't talk there or meet 'tomorrow').
Tammy then pops up behind Sniffles at a coffee cart (Stalker much?). She says she'll stop stalking if he agrees to the meeting.
Tammy tells Mitch she just got the call that Sniffles is waiting at the hotel. She said Mitch would only need 5 minutes so Mitch better hurry. As Mitch leaves the courthouse, we see he's being followed. Chase ensues through the recognizable landmarks of tourist Washington DC. Mitch stumbles down the steps in front of a monument and dashes through the reflecting pool (all from first episode). We get the fast tracked and flashing version of the future scape from all the episodes to date up to Mitch in the interrogation room and then the cell.
Mitch sits in the jail cell and says "here we go again"
what will happen in Chapter 8? we've caught up, the future is now, what's next? we'll have to wait for Chapter 9 to find out.
Saturday, February 18, 2012
My Beloved Flashpoint
Flashpoint is back on set filming the 5th season of awesomeness.
I've got my eyes peeled for trucks in the city and am monitoring twitter feeds for the writers, actors and more. I'm looking forward to sharing some delicious tidbits of fun as we prepare for Season 5 to hit the air later this year.
We'll have Rookie Blue in the summer again, but nothing can compare to My Beloved Flashpoint.
I've got my eyes peeled for trucks in the city and am monitoring twitter feeds for the writers, actors and more. I'm looking forward to sharing some delicious tidbits of fun as we prepare for Season 5 to hit the air later this year.
We'll have Rookie Blue in the summer again, but nothing can compare to My Beloved Flashpoint.
Friday, February 17, 2012
Victor Garber guests on The Firm
I love Victor. He's done some wonderful things over the years and my heart goes thump when I know he's guesting on one of my favorites. He did an appearance in the first season of Glee and multiple episodes of my beloved Flashpoint. Not to mention the entirety of his existence on Alias. Victor Garber is amazing!
He was in the episode "Chapter 6" of The Firm and I'm sorry for the delay in posting this, but my life was kind of a mess for a couple of weeks and I didn't have the time to do proper justice to Victor.
Chapter 6:
After the opening reminders of all things past that are important to this episode, we see a man outside Mitch's interrogation room in the future climax time frame. Turns out that it's Mr. Sniffles' boss talking to the detective about Mitch and his association to Mr. Sniffles.
We then jump back to "2 weeks before" and find Tammy and Ray reviewing the shredder puzzle with our hero Mitch.
Note: it is in this scene that I see Victor's name on the bottom of my screen and I practically bounce on my couch.
The Case of the Week is introduced in the courtroom. It's a pretrial hearing for a man accused of burning down a nightclub after getting into a fight while on a date with his wife. The most incriminating evidence is a fingerprint on a can of paint thinner in the men's bathroom.
The witness is Chief Arson Investigator and a forensic analyst. He launches into the details on the fingerprint. Mitch starts trying to poke holes in the print evidence. Partial (not a full print) Latent (invisible and needed to be found with scientific technique) Fingerprint. Matched to the accused with 7 points of comparison (you need much more in many places in the world including Italy). Mitch implicates that the investigator found comparison points because he already had a suspect and that he found what he expected to find. It's not impartial or objective.
The judge (our darling Victor) calls council to his chambers since the court is becoming a little chaotic in this line of argument. He then asks if Mitch has thought of waiving a jury. After the remainder of the conversation Mitch has the strongest feeling (as did I) that Victor was going to let the charges drop because the evidence isn't as solid as it could be. Juries all think the world is CSI and a print is gold, why not let your fate rest in the hands of a Judge who knows the technical aspects and the flaws of the system? Something to think about.
Mitch convinces his client that he's got the thumbs up from Victor and everything will be ok. Client signs waiver and the lawyers go into closing statements. Mitch finishes his statement and Victor is ready to pronounce judgement without deliberation. "Fast is good" says Mitch.
Victor rules as follows:
1st charge - Attempted murder: Not Guilty (yes!!!)
2nd charge - Arson in the first degree: Not Guilty (Woot!!!)
on the "lesser included charge of Assault": Guilty - 8 years in prison (OMG!! WTF!!)
What the hell happened to the "trust Victor" plan? The client is not happy and when Mitch says he'll appeal and fix it, he gets fired. Mitch then goes to see Victor, who says he did not "wink" as Mitch puts it and that his client should be thankful as a trial jury would have convicted of charges 1 and 2.
Mitch thinks there is more to this than meets the eye (no he's not a transformer). He gets Ray to help him look into the situation. Tammy obtains 2 boxes of files from the courthouse and starts going through them to find out what's up with Victor's convictions. Is there a pattern? Ray decides to take the easy route and go visit Victor's opponent in the upcoming election (Victor wants to stay a judge). The opponent tells Ray that Victor has a record for convicting blacks three times more than whites and for longer sentences. This makes no sense though, Mitch's client is white (dun dun dun...).
When Mitch hears this, he has Tammy pull mug shots from all the files for the last 6 months and separate by conviction. The result is that he's skewing his numbers to balance. He's purposefully convicting whites to offset this historical record.
Mitch needs to get him to admit his wrong doing and get justice for his client. This, of course, involves a complex plan.
- Tammy distracts Victor's secretary while waiting for her fiance to arrive so the judge can marry them
- Mitch distracts Victor
- Ray, once Mitch gives him the signal, slips into Victor's office to plant a bug
- Mitch and Tammy continue to distract so that Ray doesn't get caught
- Ray says something stupid to the secretary so that Tammy gets mad and they leave without meeting Victor officially or getting married.
- Mitch confronts Victor again, with the stats and the attitude to back it all up. Victor only incriminates himself after Mitch says that he's not wearing a wire and Victor pats him down. Then Mitch confesses that he wasn't wearing a wire, but Victor himself was! and then the FBI come and arrest him (woot!)
- Mitch is then waiting at the court when his client is released from custody. "I thought I fired you." says the client with a smile.
Family Drama - the 10 year-old wants a cell phone:
Claire is presenting her case to her mother about why she should get a cell phone.
Point 1: she's responsible. Not being argued or debated by mother, but counter argument is that she's still only 10.
Point 2: everyone she knows has one. Counter argument "if everyone jumped off a building?", rebuttal "I wouldn't because if you return to point 1!"
Mitch calls an end to the proceedings and informs Claire that it isn't going to happen.
Abby and Claire have a field trip to theROM World History Museum and the class has 15mins to choose a topic for a report. Question: what teacher takes a class that size to a museum that size and doesn't bring any other supervisor support? also, only 15mins to wander the museum and pick a topic? how far would you get before you have to turn around and come back?
When time comes for check in, Abby takes roll call and Claire is not present. She freaks out and approaches a security guard for help. Claire was in one of the exhibit rooms. What Abby doesn't find out is that Claire was approached by a mob guy while there and they had a little chat.
Abby decides a cell isn't that bad of an idea now. She runs out early the next morning and picks one up. I have to ask, from where? School hasn't started yet, it's obviously early, what store is going to be open to sell her a pink phone for her daughter? and set it up on a plan? and install a phone book of contacts? *eye roll*
Claire is super happy about it though.
Conspiracy Case:
Ray and Tammy talk to Mitch about the shredder puzzle, they try to figure out how/why Sarah Holt had that list. Tammy then realizes that the puzzle isn't finished. The paper doesn't match the 8.5x11 dimensions so there must be some pieces missing. She gets them from Ray while he's calling the military to find out if Sarah served her country anywhere.
Once finished, she finds an ISP# on the paper and does a reverse look-up to find that the info came from Nobel Insurance which is a parent company to Holt's workplace. Turns out the Nobel mainframe was accessed by Holt's laptop and they had some of the browser history in the tiny bit of hard drive that was saved. She then sets up a meet for Mitch with their IT department to find out how the information got out. The group is now thinking that Sarah may not be innocent after all but they need to know.
At Nobel, Mitch is supposed to meet and IT department head but ends up in a conference room with 2 VPs. Mr Sniffles and his boss from the opening sequence. They are not very helpful. They don't know what's up or how this could have happened. They don't have record of any security issues and thank you for coming.
As Mitch is leaving, Mr Sniffles gives him a brochure with a paper inside (family McDeere calls it "the document") with numbers on it. While trying to decipher the document, Abby calls the insurance company claiming the rest of the group are paranoid. Mr Sniffles flips out on the phone and hangs up. Maybe not so paranoid after all.
We then jump forward to the interrogation room again and Mitch has a flash history moment and what I assume are key moments flash by before the episode end.
Next week: we get Chapter 7 which would be 1 week prior to climax. As we get closer I really want to see what they do. Will they drag it out? or will they hit climax and resolve nothing? I can't wait to find out.
Victor my darling: You played a jerk and a crook, but I loved the way you did it. See you next time you guest on one of my faves!!!
He was in the episode "Chapter 6" of The Firm and I'm sorry for the delay in posting this, but my life was kind of a mess for a couple of weeks and I didn't have the time to do proper justice to Victor.
Chapter 6:
After the opening reminders of all things past that are important to this episode, we see a man outside Mitch's interrogation room in the future climax time frame. Turns out that it's Mr. Sniffles' boss talking to the detective about Mitch and his association to Mr. Sniffles.
We then jump back to "2 weeks before" and find Tammy and Ray reviewing the shredder puzzle with our hero Mitch.
Note: it is in this scene that I see Victor's name on the bottom of my screen and I practically bounce on my couch.
The Case of the Week is introduced in the courtroom. It's a pretrial hearing for a man accused of burning down a nightclub after getting into a fight while on a date with his wife. The most incriminating evidence is a fingerprint on a can of paint thinner in the men's bathroom.
The witness is Chief Arson Investigator and a forensic analyst. He launches into the details on the fingerprint. Mitch starts trying to poke holes in the print evidence. Partial (not a full print) Latent (invisible and needed to be found with scientific technique) Fingerprint. Matched to the accused with 7 points of comparison (you need much more in many places in the world including Italy). Mitch implicates that the investigator found comparison points because he already had a suspect and that he found what he expected to find. It's not impartial or objective.
The judge (our darling Victor) calls council to his chambers since the court is becoming a little chaotic in this line of argument. He then asks if Mitch has thought of waiving a jury. After the remainder of the conversation Mitch has the strongest feeling (as did I) that Victor was going to let the charges drop because the evidence isn't as solid as it could be. Juries all think the world is CSI and a print is gold, why not let your fate rest in the hands of a Judge who knows the technical aspects and the flaws of the system? Something to think about.
Mitch convinces his client that he's got the thumbs up from Victor and everything will be ok. Client signs waiver and the lawyers go into closing statements. Mitch finishes his statement and Victor is ready to pronounce judgement without deliberation. "Fast is good" says Mitch.
Victor rules as follows:
1st charge - Attempted murder: Not Guilty (yes!!!)
2nd charge - Arson in the first degree: Not Guilty (Woot!!!)
on the "lesser included charge of Assault": Guilty - 8 years in prison (OMG!! WTF!!)
What the hell happened to the "trust Victor" plan? The client is not happy and when Mitch says he'll appeal and fix it, he gets fired. Mitch then goes to see Victor, who says he did not "wink" as Mitch puts it and that his client should be thankful as a trial jury would have convicted of charges 1 and 2.
Mitch thinks there is more to this than meets the eye (no he's not a transformer). He gets Ray to help him look into the situation. Tammy obtains 2 boxes of files from the courthouse and starts going through them to find out what's up with Victor's convictions. Is there a pattern? Ray decides to take the easy route and go visit Victor's opponent in the upcoming election (Victor wants to stay a judge). The opponent tells Ray that Victor has a record for convicting blacks three times more than whites and for longer sentences. This makes no sense though, Mitch's client is white (dun dun dun...).
When Mitch hears this, he has Tammy pull mug shots from all the files for the last 6 months and separate by conviction. The result is that he's skewing his numbers to balance. He's purposefully convicting whites to offset this historical record.
Mitch needs to get him to admit his wrong doing and get justice for his client. This, of course, involves a complex plan.
- Tammy distracts Victor's secretary while waiting for her fiance to arrive so the judge can marry them
- Mitch distracts Victor
- Ray, once Mitch gives him the signal, slips into Victor's office to plant a bug
- Mitch and Tammy continue to distract so that Ray doesn't get caught
- Ray says something stupid to the secretary so that Tammy gets mad and they leave without meeting Victor officially or getting married.
- Mitch confronts Victor again, with the stats and the attitude to back it all up. Victor only incriminates himself after Mitch says that he's not wearing a wire and Victor pats him down. Then Mitch confesses that he wasn't wearing a wire, but Victor himself was! and then the FBI come and arrest him (woot!)
- Mitch is then waiting at the court when his client is released from custody. "I thought I fired you." says the client with a smile.
Family Drama - the 10 year-old wants a cell phone:
Claire is presenting her case to her mother about why she should get a cell phone.
Point 1: she's responsible. Not being argued or debated by mother, but counter argument is that she's still only 10.
Point 2: everyone she knows has one. Counter argument "if everyone jumped off a building?", rebuttal "I wouldn't because if you return to point 1!"
Mitch calls an end to the proceedings and informs Claire that it isn't going to happen.
Abby and Claire have a field trip to the
When time comes for check in, Abby takes roll call and Claire is not present. She freaks out and approaches a security guard for help. Claire was in one of the exhibit rooms. What Abby doesn't find out is that Claire was approached by a mob guy while there and they had a little chat.
Abby decides a cell isn't that bad of an idea now. She runs out early the next morning and picks one up. I have to ask, from where? School hasn't started yet, it's obviously early, what store is going to be open to sell her a pink phone for her daughter? and set it up on a plan? and install a phone book of contacts? *eye roll*
Claire is super happy about it though.
Conspiracy Case:
Ray and Tammy talk to Mitch about the shredder puzzle, they try to figure out how/why Sarah Holt had that list. Tammy then realizes that the puzzle isn't finished. The paper doesn't match the 8.5x11 dimensions so there must be some pieces missing. She gets them from Ray while he's calling the military to find out if Sarah served her country anywhere.
Once finished, she finds an ISP# on the paper and does a reverse look-up to find that the info came from Nobel Insurance which is a parent company to Holt's workplace. Turns out the Nobel mainframe was accessed by Holt's laptop and they had some of the browser history in the tiny bit of hard drive that was saved. She then sets up a meet for Mitch with their IT department to find out how the information got out. The group is now thinking that Sarah may not be innocent after all but they need to know.
At Nobel, Mitch is supposed to meet and IT department head but ends up in a conference room with 2 VPs. Mr Sniffles and his boss from the opening sequence. They are not very helpful. They don't know what's up or how this could have happened. They don't have record of any security issues and thank you for coming.
As Mitch is leaving, Mr Sniffles gives him a brochure with a paper inside (family McDeere calls it "the document") with numbers on it. While trying to decipher the document, Abby calls the insurance company claiming the rest of the group are paranoid. Mr Sniffles flips out on the phone and hangs up. Maybe not so paranoid after all.
We then jump forward to the interrogation room again and Mitch has a flash history moment and what I assume are key moments flash by before the episode end.
Next week: we get Chapter 7 which would be 1 week prior to climax. As we get closer I really want to see what they do. Will they drag it out? or will they hit climax and resolve nothing? I can't wait to find out.
Victor my darling: You played a jerk and a crook, but I loved the way you did it. See you next time you guest on one of my faves!!!
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