photo: cbs
Boom
Original Air Date: Apr 27, 2010
Patricia Morris Buckley — Staff Writer
pmb@thetwocentscorp.com
Did you see Alicia go all Tom Cruise on Jack Nicholson, er, her old boss Jonas Stern? I don’t know if it’s like this in real courthouses, but I sure had fun watching.
But the affects were certainly long term in ways I couldn’t have predicted.
First the bad news: Never thought I’d see the firm represent the “bad” guys. A woman is suing a newspaper where a bomb came through the window and killed her husband. The firm is representing the newspaper and offering $350,000 to settle the case, but the widow thinks her husband’s life is worth more — and I couldn’t agree with her more.
So Alicia and crew have to show that the newspaper didn’t provoke the bomb, which a Muslim extremist group has taken credit for. Seems that the editor published a controversial cartoon that could be interpreted to demean the prophet Muhammad, the kind responsible for bombings at other newspapers. So how responsible is the newspaper?
You know, this case doesn’t mean much to me until Jonas Stern comes on the case. It seems that Cary, who is sleeping with a Stern employee, let it slip that the widow fired her lawyer. So Stern, a former partner at the firm, swoops in for a little post-split revenge.
Right away, he’s nasty, demanding several times that Alicia get him coffee and he knows she ain’t the help. She threatens to tell everyone that he’s suffering the early form of dementia, but he says that’s covered under attorney-client privilege. Drats!
Meanwhile, Stern is trying to steal away lawyers from the firm. When Cary is poached, he tries a little misdirection to see if he’s in the lead for the job he and Alicia are competing for. Then he makes a hail mary by telling Will — not Diane, his mentor — that Stern is after partner Julius Cane, plus 11 other employees. Will and Diane meet with Julius and match Stern’s offer, but have to fire the others who were going to jump ship.
So when Alicia goes up against Stern, we are soooo ready for it. Kalinda advises her to use her info to get an advantage, but in a way where she doesn’t let anyone else know the info. That’s why Alicia keeps objecting to break his rhythm and each time he has more trouble remembering his train of thought. When this becomes apparent to everyone involved, he settles for $250,000. Got ya! (But I still feel bad for the widow.)
On the home front, there are several funny moments with Peter’s team. Jackie comes in the apartment to find Eli there, who claims to be the plumber — but they both see each other clearly, if you know what I mean. Also, Alicia walks in the kitchen during one of their meetings and insists on hearing what they’re talking about — because damn it, it is HER kitchen, after all. Wow, that Stern triumph has certainly empowered her.
And that empowerment is seen in greater scope when Alicia catches her hubby strong arming a witness against him in the retrial while in church and realizes why Peter has suddenly got religion — it’s the only time he can leave the house without going back to prison. She tells him she’s done with him, makes plans with Will for dinner and leaves. Peter is shocked and panics, making the decision to cross the doorway and set off the alarm.
This would be a huge cliffhanger, if they didn’t show in the previews that Alicia stops him in time. Talk about cutting the suspense folks!
Did you think that Peter had really gotten religion? Do you think Stern has given up the fight for real? Has Alicia turned a corner with her new found confidence? Give us your TwoCents…
Add to: Facebook | Digg | Del.icio.us | Stumbleupon | Reddit | Blinklist | Twitter | Technorati | Yahoo Buzz | Newsvine
TheTwoCents 
Ahh, a story ripped right out of the headlines! (not that I’m complaining-it was a good episode) 😉
Even though the extremist group took credit, I was under the impression that it was the former employee of the newspaper that set the bomb to make it look like it was from the extremist group, banking on the fact that they probably would take credit… I still feel bad for the widow, but I think she’s suing the wrong people…
This is one of those cases that really bug me. Personally, I feel anything poking fun at someone’s religion can be of poor taste. As a Catholic, I sometimes get offended over jokes and caricatures made at the expense of our religion (just to be clear, I mean Christianity in general-not just the denomination I belong to.) I’m all for freedom of the press, so I just try to ignore what offends-after all, if they can’t provoke me, they loose, I win.;) (I should also point out that I’m not perfect-I’ve laughed at a few religion jokes that were probably of questionable taste in my time.)
What bugs me is the censorship of cartoons, jokes, that would poke fun at Islam, yet jokes about Christianity, Judaism, and others are allowed. A friend pointed out that they allow it because there is more likely to be a violent backlash with Islam than there are with other religions. (another thing that bothers me-the assumption that that would be the case.)
Wow, I think that’s more than two cents-I’ll get off my soapbox now and comment on the episode again. 😉
I think Peter might actually be trying to change. Sure he might just be using the excuse to get out, but I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt for now. Yeah, I think that little cliffhanger would have been more effective if they have handled the promo for the next episode differently. I would have been questioning his motives more-wondering if he’s going out there to stop her, yell at her. Instead, he runs to stop her, but to say ‘I love you’ (I’ll admit, I said a quiet “awww.” when I saw that.)
I didn;t feel bad for the widow