“Part Three” – Aired on December 20, 2020
Writer: Alison McDonald
Director: Edward Berger
Grade: 4 out 5
Notice: All episode reviews contain spoilers
There is a riveting moment toward the end of the episode where Cutler (Sam Malone), a member of the Desire Crew charged with looking out for Kofi while in prison, educates him on the power of “Baxter juice.” In a grim tone, he advises him not to mess with it:
“There is all different kinds of juice in this world. There is the juice we got in here for getting small shit done. There’s the juice you need out on the streets. And then, there is Baxter juice. That shit plays everywhere. Inside, outside. And it plays on both sides of the law. You can’t go up against that juice and win. Not you, not me, not Desire.”
Grasping the gravity of his situation (more on that below), Kofi responds, “So, what do I do?”
Cutler silently stares at him and turns his head the other way. It is a potent scene, enhanced by Malone’s first-rate line deliveries as Cutler. It also shines the spotlight on the main objective of this hour.
After two intense episodes focusing on the heightening crisis surrounding the Desiatos and the consequences of their decision to hide Adam’s (unintentional) hit-and-run killing of Rocco Baxter, “Part Three” squarely puts the Baxter family in the center of the narrative, by mainly putting on display the significant influence they exert on figures in positions of authority and, by extension, on the law-enforcement machinations of New Orleans. It also casts doubt on the reflexive assumption (based on the first two episodes) that Jimmy is the one in full charge of the mob family’s operations. Gina may have something – a lot – to say in the decision-making process of the most dangerous crime family in the city. Frankly, this is the most positive change coming out of this outing! As I noted in my review of “Part One,” Hope Davis is too talented an actor to be sidelined or reduced to the role of the grieving mother/wife of a crime family who stays in the background — remember that moment outside the courtroom at the end of the pilot episode when Frankie nods to Gina and she moves away obediently, or so it seems, so he can talk privately to her husband Jimmy? This episode is a noble attempt at correcting what sorely lacked in the first two with regard to Gina, although I prefer to wait at least one more episode before I can conclusively say that she plays a major role in the central plot of Your Honor.
Putting aside the observations above, “Part Three” does not amount to a top-notch hour of serial television. Don’t get me wrong, it still manages to entertain and the wonderful performances of regular cast members engage viewers in the story. It lacks, however, the dramatic tension of the previous two episodes. I also wonder if some of the character growth reserved for the Baxters in this episode could have already been sprinkled in modest amounts to the first two parts – perhaps a glimpse into Carlo’s incarcerated life, or a short scene of Gina’s proactive persona manifesting itself, etc.
The plot moved forward at such a brisk pace in “Part One” and “Part Two” that one could almost sense the need for a push on the brakes at some point. It is a ten-episode season after all, and the showrunners cannot race to the finish line with the celerity of a four-episode miniseries. Does this mean, in a strange way, that the first two episodes set the bar too high? To be determined…
“Part Three” begins with a montage of Michael drinking at a bar, Kofi being brought to jail, and Adam filming himself.
At the bar, Michael introduces himself as Dylan Thomas to another dude named Leland Munroe (John Bishop). What appears like a random meet of two half-drunk dudes is indeed a planned one by Michael, because Leland is none other than the owner of the gas station where Adam stopped to fill the tank following his hit-and-run of Rocco Baxter.
Michael feeds some elaborate lie to Leland in which he paints “Dylan” as the insecure husband who suspects his wife of having an affair. The only way he can be sure of the identity of the “bastard” who is having sex with her, is to see the footage from the gas station on the evening of October 9th because, according to “Dylan,” her credit card charges show her buying gas at Leland’s station and paying for a night at a nearby hotel. She was in the “bastard”‘s car so Dylan could note the tag number and learn who he is. Get it?
The almost-shitfaced Leland, who is emitting misogynist signals, will happily help his grief-stricken male pal by taking him to the station and providing him with the recording of that time frame. Michael locates Adam filling up the tank in the footage and notes the tag number of the vehicle belonging to the angry guy (seen in “Part One”) who was yelling at Adam to hurry up. Michael then deletes the footage from Leland’s hard drive. Mission accomplished.
Speaking of Adam, he continues to take more photos, though we do not know precisely why. He takes some at the intersection where he ran over Rocco in a motorcycle. Next, we see him taking pictures of the prison facility where guards scold him for doing so, but let him walk away once they realize he is Michael Desiato’s son. The Desiato privilege is a thing in the world of Your Honor in case you missed it.
As for Kofi, well, his life continues to rapidly deteriorate. Lee meets him at the prison and ascertains from his red eyes that he had been tortured by the NOPD (apparently, carbon-monoxide poisoning in a car is their trademark). Kofi is determined not to change his plea though. During this well-directed sequence, the point of view switches back and forth between that of Lee and Kofi, each looking into the camera as they speak. Next, we cut to Gina putting make up on her face at her home looking into the mirror, using the same point-of-view technique. This isn’t a groundbreaking method by any means (M. Night Shyamalan and Paul McGuigan are only two examples among dozens of other directors who make efficient use of it), but it requires camera dexterity to make it work and sound directorial judgment so that it only gets used to create a certain character-related impression on the viewer. After watching three episodes with director Edward Berger at the helm, I feel comfortable in saying that he possesses both qualities in abundance.
In the meantime, there is a motion to allow the currently incarcerated Carlo Baxter (Jimi Stanton) to attend his brother’s funeral. The warden (Frank Deal, who also plays Capt. Daly, the pilot of Flight 828 in Manifest) is listening to both Mr. Zander (Wayne Pere), Carlo’s lawyer, and Judge Sarah LeBlanc (Lorraine Toussaint) prior to making his decision to grant the motion, or not. In a brief scene later, Gina is seen making a generous “donation” to the warden’s “beautiful chapel,” in an envelope in some back corridor at the prison. Carlo will indeed be attending Rocco’s funeral, courtesy of “Baxter juice.”
The motion hearing also concretizes the backstory of Carlo’s imprisonment, previously mentioned in “Part One” when Jimmy Baxter was talking to Frankie outside the courtroom. Jimmy believed that the Desire Crew used Kofi to kill Rocco in retaliation against his brother Carlo beating up one of their gang members. It turns out that the “beating up” in question consisted of Carlo snapping the spine of a 15-year-old gang member named Justin James and confining him to a wheelchair for the rest of his life, “for no other reason than he doesn’t like the color of his skin.” Did Carlo even know Justin James belonged to the Desire Crew? Not sure. Do the Baxters even know that the Desire Crew had nothing to do with Rocco’s death? Definitely not. Not yet.
One character visibly fuming as the result of the latest developments is Michael’s long-time buddy and mayoral candidate Charlie Figaro. It probably never crossed his mind that doing a favor for a friend could turn into such a nightmare. He lashes out at Michael for the mess in which they find themselves. He is furious about Michael getting a tenacious attorney like Lee Delamare to represent Kofi although Michael insists that he has a plan: “She’ll get the case tossed, and the whole thing dies, Charlie.”
Charlie is not buying any of it to say the least: “She’s a Michael Desiato protégée, for God’s sake. Her next move? She gets the kid to open up on this, explore his goddamn options. He starts feeling loquacious. She starts digging up shit.”
I doubt that Michael ever thought being a good mentor could be used as an argument against him. Regardless, his plan seems to work. Lee tells him later that she is counting on the DA to drop the charges because he does not want a “police brutality scandal” in his city. He would “prefer it went away,” in her opinion. She guessed correctly. Toward the end of the episode, she informs Michael, over a glass of wine, that the DA bought into her threats and agreed to drop the charges against Kofi Jones in the morning.
There is a somewhat kooky sequence with Adam in the dark room, developing the pictures he had taken earlier. It is unclear how much of it is real or imagined by Adam. We see shots of him in a dreamy state, engaged in a trippy solo dance, with the lights changing in brightness and colors. Correct me if I am wrong because I am not a professional photographer, but isn’t dark red the only light that should be used in the dark room, or else the photos get ruined?
Michael arrives home to find detective Nancy Costello collecting Adam’s fingerprints and statement as part of the process. How convenient of Michael to arrive right then, allowing the good detective to also collect his. Nancy is essentially a thorn on Michael’s side at this point, in the same way that Lee is a thorn on the sides of Charlie, Rudy and the corrupt police force.
Another argument breaks out between Michael and Adam, with the latter lacking the ability to get past the guilt and his frustrated father sternly telling him that he needs to move on. I am starting to get the impression that a scene of these two arguing will become a weekly fixture for no other reason than the sake of reminding the viewer that the rapport between the two is crumbling. I hope I am wrong.
Carlo arrives to Rocco’s funeral, accompanied by prison guards. Michael watches the proceedings from a distance and notices that two other officers arrive at the cemetery to take over Carlo’s supervision. This points to a prison transfer and it dawns on Michael that Carlo is being moved to Orleans Parish Prison (OPP) where Kofi is located. He sprints to the courthouse with the intention to make a phone call to ensure Kofi’s safety. Sheriff Royce (John Pirruccello) at OPP is busy watching a football game, and Michael struggles to get his attention until he mentions the name Carlo Baxter. Royce agrees to keep Kofi in protective custody until Carlo is sent back to Angola prison where he had two weeks left until the end of his sentence.
Michael was not wrong to act with a sense of urgency, because we see Gina whispering something to Carlo’s ear at the funeral, surely a motherly order to exact revenge against Kofi for the death of Rocco.
A prison guard unexpectedly takes Kofi to the infirmary for an “intake physical,” whatever that means. Aware of Carlo’s arrival to OPP, Kofi is already on the edge, and anything ‘unexpected’ makes him nervous. He is not wrong, it is a set up to isolate him. The camera in the room at the infirmary magically switches off, the two guards in the corridor disappear, and a cleaning crew of two appear in their place, obviously coming to “clean” Kofi away. Unknowingly interrupting their plan is a prison guard named Chavez (Escalante Lundy) who happens to enter the room in the nick of time, much to Kofi’s relief.
In any case, alarm bells are ringing for Kofi. He turns to his buddy Cutler for advice, which brings us to the scene I described in detail at the beginning of this review.
Last scene shows Kofi willingly going to an isolated cell where Carlo is waiting for him. He says, “I’m Kofi Jones” as he enters the cell before the screen turns dark and credits roll. Quite the cliffhanger. What is Kofi’s endgame here? Is he hoping to avoid the Baxter juice by offering to assist them in finding the real culprit behind Rocco’s death? Is he aware of the fact that the DA agreed to drop charges against him? I dunno…
Oh, and did I even mention that the frantic idiot Adam spilled the beans about the accident to his girlfriend/teacher Frannie in the penultimate scene?
Last-minute thoughts:
— While taking pictures at the intersection, Adam notices an SUV resembling the one that followed him during the moments leading up to the accident on October 9th. He attempts to snap a photo of it, but it speeds past him and away. Did that mean anything?
— Leland patting “Dylan” on the back and telling him that he is an “honorable man” as Michael fake-cries for being cuckolded is quite ironic, and overly dramatic. Leland was already willing to help Dylan, with or without Michael’s tear-duct theatrics.
— Michael and Lee kiss after she tells him about the DA’s plans to drop the charges against Kofi. How this romance is supposed to play into the narrative remains to be seen. Hopefully, in a meaningful way that does not leave one asking, “was that really necessary?”
— During Carlo’s motion hearing, Judge Sarah portrays Gina Baxter in the same despicable light as Carlo himself, accusing both of being “proven liars.”
— Michael meets with Frannie and fishes for information about Adam’s activities, even asking her if he has a girlfriend (oh the irony). He gets nowhere, as opposed to Frannie who asks what happened to Adam’s shoulder and leads Michael to produce yet another lie about how they were wrestling for play and Adam landed awkwardly on his shoulder. The honorable judge seems well on his way to either becoming an expert in lies, or drowning in them.
— The phone conversation between the lackadaisical sheriff and Michael is another scene that serves to underline the judge’s vexed state of mind. Having a five-star character-actor like Bryan Cranston playing the part is an immeasurable asset for showrunners in terms of making the most out of secondary scenes such as this one.
Until next episode…
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