“Part Nine” – Aired on February 7, 2021
Writer: Jennifer Cacicio
Director: Eva Sørhaug
Grade: 4 out of 5

Notice: All episode reviews contain spoilers

Alright!! I have a question. How on earth will the show wrap up in the season finale a plethora of open-ended plotlines that accumulated faster than the number of governmental crises in a pandemic? It almost feels like the writing room backed itself into a corner here.

There is the central court case of Carlo that needs resolution. There is the issue of Michael trying to concoct a way to save Adam from charges of murder or from being assassinated in the hands of Jimmy Baxter, not to mention Michael himself being in that same danger zone. There is the growing mystery surrounding the death of Robin a year prior to the show’s debut. Gina, for her part, manifests signs of being on the verge of going postal on just about everyone, including Jimmy, depending on how much she learns once the shit hits the fan. How will Lee proceed with her discovery of Kofi not being the murderer of Rocco? How will Charlie do the same with his of Adam murdering Rocco? Can the budding romance between Adam and Fia survive the foreboding storm coming their way? There is also the quasi-mathematical question of how Big & Little Mo, and the Desire Crew, figure into the various intricate equations. What will poor Eugene do? Detective Costello? Frannie?

My goodness! The finale has one hour to unpack a load heavier than an elephant.

The first half of “Part Nine” is largely preoccupied with the fate of Joey, Carlo’s ex-buddy and drug addict, who has been running for his life in order to steer clear of Jimmy’s cronies. His solution is to run into the arms of the police, eager to spill the beans on Carlo’s killing of Kofi and on how Gina orchestrated her son’s transfer to the OPP, as long as Nancy Costello and Fiona McKee, who are questioning him at the station, guarantee him some type of immunity.

The news drops like a bomb on Michael whose duress is visible thanks to the wonderful camera work of director Eva Sørhaug in the scene in his chambers, as Fiona tells him about how Joey’s testimony must be allowed to shine the conclusive light on the case. Michael will allow it, but he has a plan that undoubtedly comes as a surprise to Jimmy (delightful little twist here) who was initially told by the judge that he would give a day-long recess for the defense to prepare their case, thus allowing Jimmy enough time to eliminate Joey.

His plan works to perfection, although from a narrative point of view, it pushes the boundaries of plausibility. I mean, they laid it on thick to say the least with Joey guzzling down the drugged water while he was testifying, and the timing of his collapse could not have been more conveniently perfect. One notable detail is Nancy’s close observation of Jimmy’s reactions to Joey’s passing out on the stand followed by his relieved glance toward Michael.

Outside the courtroom, the vaping Nancy crosses Jimmy and Frankie and warns them to stay away from “Michael, Adam.” Upon hearing the name, Jimmy and Frankie put two and two together, with an assist from social media, to realize that Fia’s boyfriend is indeed Michael’s son. In what way could that serve Jimmy, I am at a loss. Knowing how much he dotes on Fia, I sense that he will be reluctant to hurt Adam, especially after seeing Fia defy the priest and her mother at the house as she declares her undying love for the boy.

Speaking of Gina… The fact that Joey confirms what viewers learned back in “Part Four,” that Gina is the one holding the reins when it comes to the intimate Baxter-family-related matters, is yet another reminder of one of Your Honor‘s major shortcomings, which is how underutilized the talented Hope Davis and her character Gina remain. Five episodes later, and with only the season finale to go, we have seen nothing more than an occasional camera focus on her face, or a brief sentence or two coming out of her mouth. After seeing “Part Three” and “Part Four” back in December, I thought my concerns that I had expressed in my review of the pilot episode about Gina’s character getting shortchanged – consequently stifling Hope Davis’s ability to showcase her talent – were just paranoia on my part. Almost two months later, it turns out that they were not misplaced after all. We have only gotten snippets of an otherwise fascinating character that could be fleshed out in so many riveting ways.

With Joey promptly discredited as a witness and dismissed by Michael, the last half of the outing focuses on other matters such as, for example, Eugene’s place in the Desire crew. He is a clever boy and gets Big Mo’s attention when he suggests a way for them to launder the gang’s illegal money.

Meanwhile, the punctilious detective that she is, Nancy has uncovered some disturbing details about Robin’s death. She was cheating on Michael – and Michael admits to having knowledge of the affair, but not the details, or so he says – and Nancy needs the secret to come out in the open in order to properly search for the murder suspect in Robin’s death. Michael wants no part of it, claiming that he cannot “cope now” and that it would devastate Adam to learn of his mother’s cheating nature. Nancy turns to Elizabeth, basically putting the Senator in charge of informing Adam of his mother’s salacious escapades in a hotel room paid with cash under a fake name. Imagine revealing that to your grandson, “dear son, my daughter who is also your mother is not exactly the marvelous individual that we deemed her to be.”

Adam, behaving as a trial about a murder that he committed did not exist, is busy grappling with the triangle consisting of the bitter Frannie and his lover Fia. Frannie attempts to convince him to let Fia go, to no avail. Frannie is about to face problems of her own when Charlie catches up with her at a bar and basically threatens her to leave Adam alone or she may be headed to jail herself for having sex with a minor. Charlie comes across as the pompous older male bullying a young woman, until the moment when he discovers from Frannie no less that Adam is Rocco’s killer. She seems to be the last of his worries.

In perhaps the most engrossing scene of the hour, Zander fails miserably, under the concerned eyes of Jimmy, to get into Carlo’s thick skull the concept that he must appear remorseful on the stand about killing Kofi in “self-defense.” Carlo’s essence has traveled so far into the land of deplorability that his conscious is no longer capable of recognizing the issue at hand, unable to even feign any penitence.

The penultimate episode re-introduces the character of Rudy Cunningham (ha! I forgot to include his name in my paragraph on top about the plethora of plotlines) who was first seen in “Part Two.” Remember when Charlie got the phone-call chain going to handle the matter of getting someone to conveniently steal Michael’s car that Adam was driving on the day he killed Rocco? Yes, Rudy was an integral part of that ill-fated scheme.

Lee unloads on Eugene the reality of his brother not only being innocent in Rocco’s murder, but also of him taking the fall as a loyal soldier to Desire. She urges him to tell her if he has any knowledge of who may have been driving the car on that day because she is convinced that someone from Desire is the culprit. This is when Eugene drops the name Rudy that he heard Little Mo mention in an earlier scene. That is all the motivated lawyer needs to further pursue the matter and following a meticulous search on the database, she discovers that Rudy Cunningham was the cop who arrested Little Mo many times and yet none of the arrests led to charges. Talk about entering someone’s radar at warp speed.

The hour ends with Adam informing his dad that he is headed to meet up with his girlfriend. For all the energy Michael has invested into the nuts and bolts of Carlo’s case, he has not even cared to learn the identity of his son’s inamorata. Oh dear…

Last-minute thoughts:

— Joey tells Nancy and Fiona that he has been running for three months from “them,” as in Jimmy Baxter. Three months have passed since Carlo was arrested two episodes ago in “Part Seven”? It sure does not feel like it.

–We have yet another case of a man running – hobbling but still running – with a broken ankle and/or tibia bone (or something) in a TV show. I always want to know whenever I see this trope, but forget to ask. Can one run with a freshly broken ankle/bone? Is that even possible? My instinct says that it’s a load of codswallop.

— Michael still had time to get his daily jogging in during all this mess? I call codswallop on that too.

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“Part Eight” – Aired on January 31, 2021
Writer: Frank Baldwin
Director: Eva Sørhaug
Grade: 5 out of 5

Notice: All episode reviews contain spoilers

“Part Eight” is a standout episode that grounds the court case – that may as well be labeled unofficially at this point, the Desiato vs. Baxter case – as the central development, while draining out (and I mean that in a good way) the various plot distractions that seemed to hinder, to some small degree, the organic progress of the show’s main storylines over the last two episodes. It accomplished that in the most preferable manner, via first-rate performances by every actor, and by challenging the audience to carefully observe the ominous courtroom scenes. This is an hour of characters with a purpose, dialogues with meaning, and visceral reactions stemming from genuine emotions, the best one Your Honor had to offer since “Part Two.”

If you are fan of the show, you should probably invest enough time to view this episode at least twice, in order to discern many of the subtleties in the characters’ behavior, and why they make certain noteworthy remarks that may at first sound trivial to the casual ear. There is a lot of commendable attention to details here, an often-underrated aspect in this era of binging, for which writer Frank Baldwin and director Eva Sørhaug should be praised.

After Sarah’s disastrous evening in “Part Seven,” undoubtedly orchestrated by the Baxter family’s cronies with collaboration from Michael – or should he also be counted as a Baxter crony at this point? To be contemplated – “Part Eight” opens with Sarah confiding in Michael her thoughts on the options offered to her. She opposes settling for rehab in exchange for charges against her dropped and her arrest record expunged. Michael, feigning to be the ‘concerned’ best friend, warns her about the dire consequences of losing if she goes to trial, which would mean that she would have a felony on her record. He states, “that’s your judgeship.” In fact, Judge LeBlanc’s oh-so-worried colleague and friend pleads with her to take the settlement: “Sarah, please, you’ve got to be smart now.”

Sarah remains unconvinced, suspecting that she was set up, and wants revenge against the culprits. She doubts that the D.A. “has the balls” to convict a judge. This is when Michael resorts to Plan B and shows her a video on his phone. It is an edited clip of her arrest that shows her as the one being confrontational and using profanity to insult the cops (this is also a nice tie-in clarification to why the one cop, in the previous episode, leaned into the car, and with a firm tone, whispered to Sarah, “hands on the fucking wheel!”)

Let with no choice, Sarah will take the settlement. She tells Michael what he wanted to hear all along, that he should take the case because he is the “only one” in the courthouse who will choose justice over corruption (Your Honor’s writing room can probably integrate bitter irony into dialogues in their sleep by now).

So, begins the trial, with Judge Desiato informing the involved parties that neither the press nor the public will be allowed in the courtroom.

Prosecutor Fiona McKee (Maura Tierner) addresses the jury first. She argues that she has proof to show that Carlo has the “nature, motive, opportunity” to kill Kofi. Her deliveries are effective, if you can overlook the excessively dramatic six back-fist bangs to the wooden area behind the judge’s bench. She also claims that Jimmy Baxter was tipped off about the arrest, noting his frantic calls to Carlo’s phone on his way to the hotel. This is when Michael makes his “first move,” one of many to come in order to keep Fiona in check, I presume, and wants to know if she has the evidence necessary to prove her claim. She does not (yet) know who tipped Jimmy off and that is enough for Michael to instruct the jury to “unhear” what they heard. “Let me do the work on what should be the evidence,” he tells them, adding in a soothing tone that that they should trust him.

Carlo’s lawyer Zander takes center stage next. He begins by quoting Shakespeare, honing in on the writer’s use of the word “home,” to somehow draw a parallel to Carlo’s cell being his home on that night at the OPP. Because, you see, Zander continues, Kofi invaded Carlo’s “home” that night with the intention of killing him, thus forcing Carlo to defend himself. He reminds everyone that Kofi confessed only a few days earlier to the killing of Carlo’s brother. Of course, Carlo would defend himself against the man who “bribed” the prison guards so that he could walk “300 yards from his cell” on his way to killing him.

During a recess, a member of the jury leaves a note to Michael that reads, “does the case law say NO self-defense in prison cells?” A problematic question for Michael who also faces the question of how he is going to manage the fact that everyone around him, from Sarah to the court clerk Betty (Geraldine Hughes, first appeared in “Part Two”), to the hostess (Rachel Whitman Groves) at the restaurant later, is cheering for him, assuming naturally that he will be motivated to take Carlo down, because he is “that judge” who stands tall behind the marginalized ones.

First witness is Justin James, the kid whose spine Carlo broke three years ago. Justin was also curb-checked – meaning that his jaw was placed on the sidewalk and head stomped from behind – six times. This is a damaging testimony against Carlo, and while Michael appears to be concerned for Justin, going as far as noting that surely Zander would not want to take up too much of the young man’s time so that he can back to the comfort of his home, he still finds a sneaky way to attract Zander’s attention to the tattoo of the letter “D” on Justin’s neck. Zander gets the subtle message and asks Justin to explain the meaning of the “D” so that the jury can know about him being a member of the Desire, the same gang to which Kofi belonged. Zander’s point goes unsaid. Carlo not being a popular figure among the Desire crew, it would behoove Kofi to kill him that night at the OPP.

During short break, Michael walks outside to get some air, which gets noticed by Nancy who is sitting in her car. She also spots Jimmy resolutely walking toward Michael, except that Michael, having seen Jimmy, quickly walks back into the building. Nancy gets out of her car to warn Jimmy that she has her eyes on him. This sequence is well-directed and shows in an harmonious way the contrasting intentions of all three characters. Nancy believes that she is protecting Michael, and Jimmy and Michael would probably prefer that she believes that. It would have been worse had Jimmy and Michael met outside the door and talked under the scrupulous detective’s suspicious eyes.

Later, Det. Cusack takes the stand and Zander asks him to describe Kofi on the day of Rocco’s death. Fiona objects because it calls for speculation, ironically unaware that she is the only one of consequence in that courtroom seeking justice for Kofi. Just to clarify how far the cards are stacked against her, she is essentially asking a corrupt judge, who is desperate to have Carlo exonerated, to sustain her objection against the corrupt opposing lawyer who is questioning the corrupt policeman working for Jimmy Baxter. Sadly, the only one who is unaware of how utterly lonely Fiona is in that courtroom, is Fiona herself.

Michael overrules the objection, naturally, and Cusack, feigning at first to be bothered by having to “speak ill of the dead,” states that Kofi “looked like nothing had happened” and that he had “just finished eating a bacon sandwich.” How could a man, wonders Cusack loudly, who just murdered a motorcyclist behave as if it were “just another Tuesday”?

Michael checks the notebooks of the jury members and figures out from the handwriting which one wrote the note about “NO self-defense in prison” (the camera frequently focusing on the woman during trial probably gave it away to the astute viewer long before this moment).

Elsewhere, Eugene is resisting Lee’s offer to help him, saying that Little Mo takes better care of him via weekly cash. He hands over Kofi’s baseball to Lee when she promises to sell it for him.

Frannie tells Adam that she is resigning from the high school and cheerfully announces that the two of them will not have to hide their love for each other anymore. They can live happily ever after in New York where she can find another teaching job and Adam will be 18 years old soon anyway. Adam grimly informs her that he did not get accepted to NYU. Little does Frannie know that Adam just lied through his teeth (he has yet to hear from NYU), that he is no longer in love with her, and that he’d now rather stay in New Orleans with Fia. The acceptance letter arrives but Michael opens it up first without Adam’s knowledge and decides to throw a surprise celebration for his son at a restaurant, with Elizabeth, Charlie, and Lee present.

Upon arriving at the restaurant, Michael notices Frankie at the bar, which means that Jimmy is waiting for him outside at the back. Jimmy scolds Michael for allowing Justin James to make his son look a racist killer. Cranston produces what I consider to be the season’s best Michael Desiato delivery thus far: “I am Gregory fucking Peck in there!”

According to Michael, the jury is looking for someone to be their dad, and Judge Desiato is “giving them that.” Once they start trusting him as such, he plans to use it to his advantage when it matters the most:

“I tell them what to think. They won’t know what’s happening. They won’t ever see it happening. But it will happen. Twelve of our peers will do exactly what I want them to do.”

Jimmy approves and places a burner phone in Michael’s pocket with only his number to dial. His message is clear. Judge Desiato has until 10 AM in two days to fulfill his promise, or else. Jimmy emphasizes that “deadline” has a literal meaning as he walks away. It’s easily the best Michael-Jimmy dialogue to date, certainly a step up from their trope-filled, cloying confrontations over the previous couple of episodes.

Elizabeth notices Jimmy and his “Celtic goon” (her quote) outside the establishment getting in their car when she arrives for the celebration. When she tells Michael later about it, he brushes it off as coincidence, imploring Elizabeth not to fall into the clutches of paranoia. At this point, I cannot tell who is the better “actor.” Bryan Cranston or Michael Desiato.

Once the secret revealed, Adam does not appear excited about getting accepted to NYU and mentions something about wanting to take a gap year in New Orleans. Everyone is stunned, except Charlie who suspects that a woman has something to do with his change of heart. As Charlie drives him home later, he gives the young man some godfatherly advice about not interrupting his life for someone else.

Also looking for ways to convince Adam to take the offer and leave for New York, Adam solicits Frannie’s help. He asks her to talk to him, but Frannie is stunned herself to learn that Adam lied to her about his non-acceptance to NYU, although she hides her surprise from Michael.

On the witness stand, Dr. Grether, the examiner from “Part Five” who, following his autopsy of Kofi’s brain, confirmed that the youngster was indeed beaten to death, manages to paint a gruesome picture of Kofi’s brain to the members of the jury by only using words because Michael did not allow graphic pictures to be shown in the courtroom. Grether punctiliously notes every detail of debris found in Kofi’s skull following the repeated bashing of his head against the cement wall, to the point where Michael probably wondered if he would have been better off allowing Fiona to use photos.

Remember Ms. Long (Deneen Tyler), the jury member with the note? Her phone got hacked and contains a message that violates Michael’s established rules in court. He informs her “regretfully” (wink) that she must be replaced. She is not convinced, so he advises her to put her daughter’s happiness first (a lot of subtext here) and assures her that Carlo Baxter will pay for his crime with or without her on the jury. Never has a jury member been this emotionally manipulated by a judge, I reckon.

The episode comes to a close with a montage sequence, a tradition by now for Your Honor, in which Frannie snoops on Adam and sees him holding hands with Fia, Jimmy gazes upon the streets of New Orleans from his balcony, and Michael stares at the empty jury chairs in his courtroom.

Last-minute thoughts:

— In another moment of irony, Sarah informs Michael that she was on her way to his surprise party when the police stopped her.

— I hope to see a close-up of the jury member sitting in the back corner so I can check out his authentic-looking, white, rolled mustache.

— Isn’t Michael worried one bit that the baseball somehow made the rounds from Adam’s car to Kofi, to Eugene, and now to Lee?

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“Part Seven” – Aired on January 17, 2021
Writer: Joey Hartstone
Director: Eva Sørhaug
Grade: (3 out of 5)

Notice: All episode reviews contain spoilers

After the game-changing “Part Five” and the shit-hitting-the-fan “Part Six,” the seventh installment happens to be that ill-luck episode that carries the burden of not only being the follow-up act to two weighty outings, but also having to restrain itself due to the three episodes still to follow. Some may call this one a fill-in episode. I would argue that it is stuck with the role of stalling the narrative. Not by choice, but by obligation.

I am wondering if this season of Your Honor would have been better served if it were limited to eight episodes rather than ten. The overall arc was already fairly predictable after the delightful pilot (I commented in depth on this predictability issue in my review of “Part One“) and it was evident that the show’s success was going to depend on how compellingly the writing room planned to depict the combination of the protagonist’s impending downfall and the measures he takes to avoid it, while striving to circumvent the roadblocks erected by the antagonist.

Seeing how a few promising subplots have yet to be explored in the show, or seemingly dropped, I am less and less convinced that there is enough content beyond the central story to produce ten riveting episodes. “Part Seven” is therefore an inescapable product of this impediment. It is the least engaging hour of Your Honor so far. It still carries notable moments, but its composition would have been enriched had some of the show’s available substrates been examined.

For instance, wouldn’t it be fascinating to learn more, via a flashback or two if necessary, of the formation of the Desire Crew? Or the succession of events that brought Big Mo to its leading role? Was Kofi’s mother a close friend? How about delving for a scene or two into the history of Little Mo’s allegiance to Big Mo?

Or how about putting aside a substantial amount of time covering the backstory of Lee and lifting the curtain behind her intriguing “this isn’t easy for me” reference to Michael in the garage, back in “Part Two”? The scene of her getting fired by the firm even provided, in my view, the perfect opportunity to explore her past in this episode. Would it not have been interesting to learn the root cause of her obsession with Kofi’s case? It obviously resonates deeply with her, to the point of willing to jeopardize her lucrative career.

Or, how about spending half an episode or so on how Gina – Hope Davis remains vastly underused – crept her way up to the position of holding the reins within the family? How did she become the dominant figure in the household?

Any of these options above would have been more engrossing to watch if it were incorporated into this episode, instead of spending half of it watching Michael and Frankie hang out in Trevor’s boat, with the former huffing and puffing, and the latter solemnly observing him. Well, they dumped Trevor’s corpse into the water and waited for Jimmy’s call. Err, yay?

Alas, the writing room decided, instead, to make use of Cranston and Stuhlbarg’s dexterity in saying thousand words with their faces. It felt like too many trips to the same well, too much blatant stalling for my taste, and I am speaking as an avid fan of both actors. There is an abundance of one-on-one scenes featuring either Michael and Jimmy together, or one of them with a third one, where they still remain the focal point. As a result, “Part Seven” largely leans on drawn-out, atmospheric scenes filled with slow dialogues featuring stares into the horizon, sedate one-line deliveries, raises of the frontalis muscles while nodding in exasperation, and frequent mid-sentence pauses with deep breaths or nasal suspirations. I shall also note the bonus (!) scene of Michael’s solo hose-splash shower scene in his suit in slow motion for your viewing pleasure.

The outing picks up a few minutes after “Part Six” ended, with Jimmy endangering the lives of a dozen New Orleanians per intersection as he zooms through them in his car, trying to get to their hotel before the police arrives there to arrest Carlo for Kofi’s murder. Speaking of Carlo the slimeball, he ignored his father’s calls earlier as he drove casually to the hotel with six-figure worth of cash collected from Little Mo for drugs, while rapping loudly with his sidekick Joey sitting strung-out in the passenger seat.

By the time Jimmy arrives, Det. Costello, accompanied by other officers, has already handcuffed Carlo whose bag of cash is also confiscated. Gina, in her only meaningful appearance of the hour, distracts Nancy and the officers just enough so that Joey, who holds another bag, can escape through the side door of the hotel.

Having just witnessed her brother get arrested again and learned of the murder he committed, Fia is profoundly shaken. She finds solace at the café in the arms of Adam who “dons the same fretful expression listening to her that he has had on his face pretty much any other time during the show.” I quoted myself from the last review, thus the quotation marks. The dialogue’s general content and tone are also in the same vein as the ones they’ve had before. It is safe to say that the irony of Fia unknowingly falling for Rocco’s murderer, and sharing with him her suffering from the ghastly consequences of her brother’s death, has by now lost its lure.

After a fruitless one-on-one with Carlo at the precinct, Nancy goes to the recording room to listen to voice mails left on Carlo’s phone. Jimmy’s frantic messages, urging Carlo to stay away from the hotel, alarm Nancy who realizes that the Baxters had prior knowledge of Carlo’s forthcoming arrest. She soon begins to suspect Cusack after learning from Officer Corrigan (Christopher B. Duncan, first appearance in “Part Two”) that Cusack met with Carlo’s lawyer in the parking lot outside.

“Go fuck yourself” is the theme of the day when Michael oversees Carlo’s arraignment in his courtroom, but much to Michael’s dismay, the actual trial goes to Judge Sarah Leblanc – Lorraine Toussaint made an ultra-brief appearance in “Part Three,” but more screen time in this hour allows her talent to shine.

Michael sinks further down the web of compromises by offering the angry Jimmy another solution because, simply put, breaking his promise to Jimmy of having Carlo tried at his court means certain death for him and Adam. Michael’s plan consists of taking Sarah out to the local bar with the sole intention of making sure she has alcohol in her system when she gets stopped later on her way home by Jimmy’s corrupt officers. They not only pull her over for no apparent reason, but also provoke her in any way possible to escalate the situation toward an arrest. Sarah is soon handcuffed, taken to the precinct, and will not be available for Carlo’s trial after all.

Sarah’s sequence is intertwined (Your Honor’s favorite method to underline disparity) with scenes of Lee driving Michael to his house where Charlie, Adam, Nancy, Lee, and his Senator mother-in-law await to surprise him for his birthday. Whether it’s Adam going to school mixed with Kofi going to prison back in “Part Two,” or it’s Michael going home to a party mixed with LeBlanc being taken to the precinct in this episode, such collage sequences of two similar individuals – Adam and Kofi are both teenagers, Michael and Sarah are both judges – put on display the grim reality of how their destinies can diverge merely because of the color of their skin.

I reiterate (see my reviews of “Part One” and “Part Five”) that Your Honor is bound to be blacklisted by some pet-lovers society if the show maintains its current rate of cringey scenes involving dogs. This time, Django (it’s his second such scene) smells a piece of Trevor’s organ that got stuck in Michael’s pants. Michael temporarily places the piece (morsel of the brain? Eww!) on the counter, which is when, of course, Adam walks in and notices it. Michael must lie again when his son asks about it. According to his dad, it’s offal from the local butcher for Django, which leads Adam to casually feed it to the dog. Oh dear! Poor Django throws up the piece and other food later during the dinner party. The episode ends on a shot of Michael feeling awful and staring at Django, while Django stares at his barf, confused and ashamed. Is the over-under on cringey dog scenes for Your Honor’s remaining three episodes posted on betting sites yet?

Here is a brief wrap-up of the current state of things:

Jimmy still believes that Michael killed Rocco. Michael prefers that Jimmy believes so. Nancy is slowly but surely figuring things out. The danger posed to the Baxters by Desire Crew looms large on the horizon. Lee is falling in love with Michael and haplessly bound for a soul-crushing lesson in betrayal, as is poor Fia with Adam.

I could have written the same paragraph above at the end of “Part Six.” Nice stalling indeed!

Last-minute thoughts:

— Just how far down the devil’s road has Michael traveled? And how calculated has he become? Let me summarize. He spits out, “I love you,” on the spot to Lee in the car, in order to distract her from momentarily noticing Judge LeBlanc’s arrest at a distance that he helped set up!

— While Michael and Frankie are on Trevor’s boat at the marina, waiting for Jimmy’s call, Trevor’s bloody corpse is on display, as well as Michael’s blood-soaked white shirt. It’s almost comical how the two men make no visible effort to hide any of it from the view of someone who may walk by.

— I have already mentioned Lee getting fired. The Orleans Parish Prison (OPP) is one of their clients, thus Lee representing Kofi is unacceptable. From a narrative standpoint, better sooner than later. Considering how Lee’s portrait is painted in the show in opposition to that of a conventional corporate lawyer, file this away under mundane plot developments.

— Charlie and Michael’s friendship apparently go back their childhood. Michael saved Charlie from drowning in Lake Pontchartrain when they were children.

— Still nothing on the SUV from “Part One.”

Until the next episode…

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“Part Six” – Aired on January 10, 2021
Writer: Jennifer Cacicio
Director: Clark Johnson
Grade: 4 out of 5

Notice: All episode reviews contain spoilers

In my review of “Part Five” (to which I will refer a few times below, so I recommend a read prior to continuing this one), I underlined the two game-changing moments signaling the inevitable, but expected, narrative shift with regard to the dynamics between the show’s two main families. Considering Your Honor kicked off a year after Robin Desiato’s tragic death, and during Carlo Baxter’s incarceration for murder, the halcyon days seemed to be distant memories for either family. And yet, wouldn’t they give anything for a chance to turn the clock back to that copacetic morning at the start of “Part One” when Jimmy surprised his son Rocco with a new motorcycle, and Adam woke up in the arms of his girlfriend while his father Michael enjoyed his usual jogging routine?

The descent into madness in the aftermath of the hit-and-run tying the fates of the two families has been macabre to say the least, and “Part Six” brings us to the juncture where the father dyad of Jimmy and Michael find themselves face-to-face, with the former enraged and pointing a gun to the head of the latter who, for his part, has been in survival mode and plagued by compunction since the accident.

Call me nit-picky, but I cannot help but feel like the transition from Jimmy learning that Kofi did not kill his son to the point where he conclusively connects the dots to the Desiatos has been handled too hastily. I feel a bit shortchanged as a viewer in that I had hoped to see the emergence of an intricate cat-and-mouse game between the two fathers, one that never materialized. Nearly five episodes had been dedicated to Michael tediously laboring to eliminate any evidence that could connect Rocco’s death to Adam. That timeline would have been more intriguing, in my opinion, had Michael’s efforts also been motivated by the need to stay one step ahead of Jimmy’s investigation of who killed Rocco. Instead, the showrunners opted to have Jimmy already assuming that the killer was caught, which allowed Michael to operate for nearly five episodes without the additional menace of Jimmy actively suspecting him or Adam. It’s only late in the previous outing that the reality of the actual killer being at large dawned on the crime boss, and then, it took a mere third of the same episode for him to rapidly connect the dots to the Desiatos (granted, he has Michael, not Adam, pegged as the killer for now).

“Part Six” begins with Michael trying to track down the blackmailer, whom he believes to be the driver of the green Toyota that pulled up behind Adam in the gas station footage that he obtained from Leland back in “Part Three.” Only three digits of the tag are visible on the blurry photo, meaning that he will need access to police database in order to obtain a list of green Toyota owners with matching tags.

So, he meets Nancy for coffee and fabricates a tale (at best, a partial one) about a woman who got the short end of the stick in the courtroom against her abusive husband who happens to own one such car. Lo and behold, he carries the woman’s notes in his pocket, which conveniently means that Nancy could do the search on her computer right then and there, thanks to her access to the database. Why did Michael opt to use that particular tale? Because he figures that the poor woman’s plight will resonate with Nancy who apparently had a similar experience and can identify with her “better than anyone.” He is not wrong!

Michael even offers a fake apology to Nancy – grabbing her hand affectionately, mind you? – for bringing the woman’s case up without considering that it may bring back invidious memories for Nancy. Plus, he feels like “a hypocrite” for asking her to break the law by looking up the tag number for him. He is oh-so sorry; he didn’t mean to. Nancy consoles him: “Hypocrisy is probably the last thing anyone would ever accuse you of.” Michael stares. He is now officially a weasel, on top of being a manipulative liar.

Little does Michael know that, during that time, Jimmy is in his house snooping around. He touches and moves objects, looks at pictures, and pets Django. He even takes a picture with the polaroid camera that he finds on the spot, placing the photo on Michael’s pillow. Would it be too nit-picky if I asked why he does not seem concerned with leaving his fingerprints all over the house?

Jimmy also finds an inhaler in the bathroom which, combined with all the other clues, confirms to him that Rocco’s killer lives in this house. I must ask again, what of Adam’s inhaler recovered by Frankie on the accident site in “Part One”? Should we henceforth ignore the glaring narrative gap with regard to the “36-hour return” of the DNA results, as promised by Frankie? – For more details on this, see my review for “Part Five.”

The other main storyline of the hour is Adam’s day out Fia. Whether scenes involving this storyline work for you or not depends on your mileage with dialogues that bank on strumming the viewer’s emotional strings rather than advancing the plot. With Adam’s less-than-zero personality and Fia constantly doing the heavy lifting in order to keep the conversation lively, and cliché topics dominating the conversation, these sequences feel one-sided, played out too long, and riddled with topics that seem to be conjured from the local palm reader’s random tarot cards. For example, Fia delves into the devastating consequences of losing her brother, not realizing of course that she is talking to his killer; this was already done in the café in “Part Five” and feels cloying here. Adam, for his part, murmurs halfway sentences and dons the same fretful expression listening to her that he has had on his face pretty much any other time during the show, in the same way that Whitney Houston donned the same eyebrow-raised expression in The Bodyguard whether she was sad, happy, surprised, or mad.

One of the names on the list Michael got from Nancy’s computer is Edouard Lincoln (Jack Knight) a lonely old man suffering from dementia. He thinks Michael is one of his relatives named Danny visiting him from Tampa. He is delighted to have him stop by and Michael, feeling sorry for the old man and invaded by his own anguish from the “100,000 fucking pounds of steel pressing down on [his] shoulders,” decides to remain and chat with him. This dialogue takes several minutes and has genuine appeal thanks to the acting prowess of guest actor Knight and the cleverly scripted dialogue which eventually leads to Edouard mentioning his “ass-first motherfucker” son Trevor who stole his Camry! Michael, now alert, finds a letter sent to the old man by Trevor and notes his address down.

The next time we see Michael, he runs up to Trevor’s green Toyota and asks for a ride, claiming his phone died after he called Uber. He strikes up a conversation during which he learns that Trevor wants to buy his dream boat and that it would cost him “over 200 grand.” He even mentions where his dream boat is sitting at the marina. Michael calls Trevor later via the phone he left on purpose in his Uber to set up a meeting at the marina the next day to give him the money.

Allow me to go on a tangent for a second here.

I may end up making a fool out of myself, but I am not convinced that Trevor is the blackmailer. His comportment is kooky and he does not exude the intellectual wherewithal to pull it off.  The devil is often in the details, they say, and here, they do not add up. Firstly, did he not recognize Michael in the backseat of his car? He certainly did not get nervous and chatted with Michael like he would with any other customer. Secondly, Trevor never responds with any verbal communication of substance whenever Michael mentions the clip and refers to the blackmail. He comes across bewildered, as if he were wondering why on earth is this guy buying him the boat and what is he talking about, but chooses to remain silent instead because, well, he wants his dream boat for free! More importantly, there is the discrepancy of a few seconds between the clip’s content and the timing of Trevor’s car pulling up to the gas station seen in “Part One” – again, see my review of “Part Five” for a detailed explanation on this, but suffice it to say, Trevor could not have been recording that clip at that moment from that angle, unless it’s an oversight by the showrunners.

Tangent done, back to the episode…   

Michael returns home and notices the Robin’s photo turned around by the kitchen and the polaroid photo placed on the pillow upstairs. Someone had evidently entered the house. Adam arrives home right then, having just been dropped off by Fia. Frankie and Jimmy do not notice Fia driving off behind them (nor does she, them) because they are too busy stalking the Desiato household. In fact, Adam’s arrival saves Michael’s life without him realizing it because Frankie was on his way to the house with a gun when Adam showed up, making Jimmy think twice about killing both.

Four scenes of side stories, so to speak, follow in succession, cumulatively having more impact on the hour than the A story of Adam and Fia’s day-long escapade.

(1) Jimmy returns home and has a lovely father-daughter moment with Fia’s head on his shoulder. This scene showcases in an organic way their attachment to each other, whereas the part of her dialogue with Adam earlier when she claims that people tell “lies” about him and recites her dad’s life as if it were the emblematic success story of the American dream, rather serves to paint her as a naïve teenager in denial about her dad.

(2) Carlo visits Big Mo and proposes a deal for her to sell his drugs. After he leaves what appears to be a successful meeting (hard to tell), Big Mo says to Eugene and Little Mo, “Father and son. Divide and rule.” I am not sure Jimmy is paying enough attention to the danger the gang represents to his family.

(3) Michael meets Charlie at a diner. Charlie can immediately tell from Michael’s glum expression that something is not right. His instinct is confirmed when Michael asks Charlie to take care of Adam “if something should ever happen” to him.

(4) Lee is interviewing prisoners about Kofi’s death. They are reluctant to snitch, naturally, but she manages to squeeze out essential information, including Carlo’s name, from one named Danavian Lewis (Martin Bradford), following the promise of free counsel and years shaved off his sentence. Later, upon the advice of the examiner who did the autopsy on Kofi in “Part Five,” Lee obtains Carlo’s DNA on Kofi. “We got him” she says to Michael on the phone, but Michael is too busy. And I doubt any viewer could guess at that point how paramount that 10-second-long phone would later turn out to be (see below).

Trevor arrives at the marina where Michael takes him to his dream boat already brought down and ready to sail. He promises to pay the monthly installments, provided that Trevor never asks him for anything again — seeing how Trevor behaves in this tidbit, I reiterate what I avouched above, the dude has no clue what Michael is talking about when he extends his hand to Michael and says, “deal.”

In any case, Trevor will never get to enjoy the boat because he will not make it to the end of the hour. Jimmy and Frankie crash their party, drag them inside some warehouse where Jimmy gets ready to kill Michael. Frightened to the core, the judge pulls out one last desperate card, frantically telling Jimmy that Carlo is about to get arrested and stand trial for murder, and adding that he can have the case moved to his court and “make sure that he walks out a free man.” That is enough to stop the irate Jimmy from executing Michael just in time, but not enough to spare Trevor who, according to Michael, knows “everything.” Add accessory to murder to the “100,000 pounds of fucking steel pressing down.”

Last-minute thoughts:

— The last time I see Django is when he follows Jimmy into a room. I hope he is okay!

— I skipped two scenes where the topic revolves around Adam’s interview with NYU. I admit that I have trouble feeling any engagement to this topic. It ultimately matters little since the season cannot possibly end with Adam peacefully leaving New Orleans. There is some shit still left to hit the fan from Adam’s perspective, and it sure ain’t taking place in New York.

— Gina is seen once, welcoming Carlo and his sidekick Joey (Chet Hanks) to the basement where they can set up their drug operation without being disturbed. What is also implied here is that they are doing this behind Jimmy’s back. “Part Four” already emphasized that Gina may indeed be the cerebral driving force of the family.

— Another good use of point-of-view style camera work (see my review of “Part Three” for the previous mention) as Lee is conducting interviews with inmates. In order to generate the desired impact of such scenes, you need actors whose stare can penetrate your bones and transmit emotions across the screen with a mere spasm of a cheek or a twitch of an eyebrow. Carmen Ejogo as Lee and Martin Bradford as Danavian are certainly up to the task.

— I have already expressed my appreciation Your Honor’s score more than once, but I particularly enjoy the elevated tension of the string music during pivotal moments. Example: when the examiner mentions the possibility of DNA use to Lee as proof of Kofi’s killer, followed by Lee exiting his office as she phones the D. A.

— O Ye of the Writing Room! Please tell me about the SUV from “Part One.”

Until next episode…

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“Part Five” – Aired on January 3, 2021
Writer: Dewayne Darian Jones
Director: Clark Johnson
Grade: 4,5 out of 5

Notice: All episode reviews contain spoilers

“Part Five” is neatly divided into two segments. The first (and the longer) one mainly focuses on character growth and sets the stage for the second one where the narrative shifts to a higher gear. Two game changers occur in the hour, the first acting as the demarcation between the two segments, the second serving as the cliffhanger at the end.

It should be noted that both game changers were undeniably expected and highly anticipated. They are integral parts of what must happen so that the link between the Baxters and the Desiatos can crystallize and the show can advance appositely. Jimmy, in one way or another, needed to go through a whaaat moment to realize that the Desiatos are in one form or another involved in his son’s death.

In short, we knew the ‘what.’ We just did not know the ‘when.’
Now, we do.

Jimmy has a lot to digest here. Within a matter of hours, he realizes that he had the wrong person pegged as Rocco’s killer, gave the order to execute an innocent family for nothing, made his own family the target of an imminent retaliation by a formidable gang, and utterly failed in appeasing Gina — the last one carrying its own set of devastating consequences as we know by now. Michael Stuhlbarg’s first-rate portrayal of his character is something to behold throughout the hour, as Jimmy does his best to pose as the unruffled mobster boss in front of his family and cronies while he is getting relentlessly shattered to the core by one shocking revelation after another. I would argue that “Part Five” represents one the finest hours of Stuhlbarg’s résumé as an actor.

As for expectations for the second half of the season, the delightful promise of a cat-and-mouse game between the Baxters and the Desiatos is more than adequate to keep the viewers on the edge of their seats. Talk about potential for exciting layers of B and C storylines. The show can achieve stellar levels of drama depiction not only through the intricacies of how Michael will seek to protect Adam and himself from the wrath of the Baxters, but also through the depiction of the fluctuating dynamics among the characters surrounding the two families.

“Part Five” begins with Michael getting blackmailed through a burner phone surreptitiously left in his drawer at the courtroom. As he tries to wrap his head around the idea of someone knowing what truly occurred in the fatal accident that left Rocco dead, a second urgency pops up in the form of Django’s epileptic seizures. Michael arrives home in a hurry (picture of his house was also included in the blackmail messages sent to the burner phone) and finds the newspaper clipping of the accident attached to his front door, with the headline reading “Judge’s car used in a fatal hit and run” and displaying pictures of him and the deceased Kofi. The door is also left ajar, leading him to think that someone entered the house.

Django is lying in agony upstairs, leading Michael and everyone else, I presume, to conclude that the intruder hurt Django to send him a sinister message. Yet, this particular subplot turns out to be nothing more than a distraction when we learn that Adam simply forgot to give Django his medicine on that day. I am not sure what or whom the writers targeted here, but the idea of sending the viewers on the wrong path here misses its mark. Why choose to nullify that narrative instead of letting the sense of danger linger? I should also note that this subplot contains the hour’s cringiest moment when Michael trips and drops Django from his arms down the stairs. Couple that with the shot of the street dog licking Rocco’s blood in “Part One” and you probably have some global society of dog lovers holding an urgent meeting to blacklist the show.

Here is a bullet list of what takes place in the first segment before the first game changer takes place and brings about the high-octane second segment occupying the last 15 minutes:

– Nosy neighbor Amy (Becki Davis), who first appeared in “Part One,” informs Michael that a “white male” with a “green Toyota” that has a “horseshoe” (Uber sign, probably) on the window entered his house.

– Carlo is out of prison and welcomed back to the Baxter household, which begs a fundamental plot-hole question. Correct me if I am wrong, but if memory serves, Carlo was still two weeks away from release when he had the hearing back in “Part Three.” So, here we are in “Part Five,” where I assume two weeks (plus a few days) had passed since the accident. Now to my question: what happened to the DNA test on Adam’s inhaler found by Frankie at the accident site at the end of “Part One”? Frankie had stated that he would have the DNA results in “36 hours” and run them through the databases. Should he not know the identity of the inhaler’s owner by now? Unless I missed something, this gaping plot hole needs an explanation sooner than later.

– A memorial for the deceased Jones family members is held at the house of a woman who appears to be the leader of Desire Crew, named Big Mo**. One essential dialogue takes place between her, Little Mo, and Eugene, where she scolds Little Mo for not informing her of his scheme with Rudy, the corrupt cop, to steal a car. She basically tags Mo as the scapegoat for the death of the family members in front of Eugene and blames him for possibly going to war with “a mob boss motherfucker with a blowtorch” — Big Mo rules the hour in terms of memorable x-rated quotes. Eugene, for his part, wants revenge on the Baxters, but Big Mo advises him to play “the long game” if he wants to stay with the Desire, as if poor Eugene had the option to go on his own.

** Big Mo is played by Andrene Ward-Hammond, who knocks it out of the ballpark in this episode as the bad-ass leader (I reckon) of the Desire Crew, in the same way that she does as the bad-ass Captain Kate Bowers in the second season of Manifest. Her addition to the cast can only enhance the show.

— While Michael is tackling the blackmail and Django problems, Adam is at a café, supposedly working on his upcoming interview at NYU, ignoring his dad’s calls. Fia enters (as he apparently had hoped) and the two strike up a conversation that signals the beginning of a friendship, or possibly more. Although not essential to the main plot developments, there is some worthy dialogue here, with layered implications in the part where Fia opens up to Adam about losing Rocco, not realizing that her brother’s killer is the one sitting across from her.

— Lee seeks to find an older-than-18 relative of Kofi so that she can get a consent form signed in order for her to get a second autopsy done. This leads her to spot Eugene selling drugs under a bridge, followed by an unpleasant and unexpected chat with Little Mo. He thinks he can intimidate her into keeping a distance, but I reckon, along with every other viewer, that he knows very little of her. Thanks to Eugene (though he and Kofi had different dads), Lee eventually locates Kofi’s father (Nicoye Banks) who has cut all contact with his son once he got involved “in the game.” She convinces him nevertheless to sign off on the autopsy and we finally get to the heart of this B story: Kofi’s brain. According to the examiner (Lee Osorio), the brain shows clear evidence of Kofi being bludgeoned to death.

These storylines finally bring us to the first game-changing moment that ends the first segment. It is a weighty meeting between Jimmy Baxter and Big Mo. While the dialogue is of first-class quality, what really makes the scene so poignant is the camera angles throughout the sequence (hats off to director Clark Johnson), starting with Big and Little Mo arriving to Jimmy’s establishment (Little Mo’s track suit is in stark contrast with the milieu), continuing with large-scope shots foregrounding Jimmy and Big Mo’s visceral line deliveries and reactions, and ending with the slow-motion take of the two Mos leaving the establishment after plunging Jimmy into a state of shock. It also helps that Ward-Hammond and Stuhlbarg can, with a poignant glance or a vague facial twitch, convey loaded thoughts across the screen that would otherwise need paragraphs to put into words.

The pacing dramatically increases in the second segment during which Michael and Jimmy strive to get as fast as possible to the bottom of the mysteries haunting them.

Following an unsuccessful, time-consuming, and profoundly embarrassing stop by the bank to withdraw the $222,000 amount demanded by the blackmailer, Michael arrives late at the meeting point at the heart of the Vieux Carré. Tangled up in a parade (yeah, cliché) that is taking place at the same time, Michael holds an incoherent phone conversation with the blackmailer and takes a gamble by taunting the guy, saying that that he does not believe that the guy has any evidence, nor “the balls to see it through.” Bad move, Judge Desiato! It totally backfires as the blackmailer mocks him next with a text containing a clip of Adam filling up his tank at the gas station!

Intertwined with shots of Michael’s plot are scenes centering on Jimmy as he frantically attempts to get to the bottom of the puzzle. How was he not made aware of the fact that Kofi stole the car a day after his son was killed? Cusack, the corrupt policeman working for him, is the first target of Jimmy’s fury. Cusack, sensing that his life is in danger (Frankie’s stare says it all) unless he somehow placates Jimmy, promptly hands over the evidence, including the 911 calls. Gina and Jimmy eventually hear the dispatcher’s call back to Rocco’s phone at the gas station which sends Frankie on a quick search to pinpoint the cell towers used for that particular call — hey Frankie, how about showing the same efficiency on the DNA results from the inhaler?

Jimmy and Frankie stop by the three gas stations in the vicinity of the towers in question, seeking to find camera footage at the time the 911 callback was made. Eventually, they arrive to the one owned by Leland whom Michael, presenting himself as “Dylan,” tricked into letting him see the camera recordings back in “Part Three.” Leland confirms that he knows the guy on the front page of the newspaper that Frankie is showing him. Except that he is not talking about Kofi like Jimmy and Frankie are assuming. He is pointing to Judge Michael Desiato’s picture and referring to him as Dylan! Thus, the second game changer.

In a brief-yet-terrific closing scene, accompanied by the stirring score of composer Volker Bertelmann, Jimmy and Frankie appear stunned as they exit Leland’s gas station in slow motion.

Last-minute thoughts:

— I believed throughout most of the episode that the blackmailer was the person driving the SUV that seemed to follow Adam in “Part One” and witnessed everything on the day of the accident. However, the “proof footage” sent to Michael’s phone at the end shows Adam getting gas from behind the car, giving the impression that it was recorded by the driver who yelled at Adam to hurry up. I know I am obsessive, but I went back and watched carefully the sequence in question in “Part One.” The car pulls up behind Adam right as he puts the nozzle in the tank, whereas the “proof footage” shows Adam still unhooking the pump from the dispenser. Therefore, assuming that the showrunners are meticulous about these details, the driver of the car behind Adam at the gas station could not be the one in possession of the clip. Patience, my dear!

— Potent aerial shot of the Jones family’s burnt house as the funeral crowd stands next to it before the short title generic appears.

— Big Mo “accidentally” drops a wad of money on a chair to test Eugene who passes it with flying colors by bringing it back to her instead of pocketing it.

— Little Mo says to Eugene, “we’ll take care of you.” Did he not make the same promise to Kofi once upon a time?

— Did I hear correctly that Big Mo pays Rudy $5,000 a week? Rudy makes $20,000 a month in that case, a very lucrative endeavor for a cop (until he gets caught, that is). I do not have any inside sources to verify the veracity of that number, I am afraid, but I would love to know if that represents a ballpark figure.

— During the memorial get-together at Big Mo’s place, everyone appears to be having a great time, except when Eugene is standing next to them.

— Michael finds out that the burner phone is purchased in the neighborhood of Algiers. Not sure how much that matters but the episode dedicates two separate scenes to this matter. Was it just so Michael could use it (which, he did) as a talking point during his failed attempt to take the initiative over the blackmailer?

— Please tell me you were ignorant, like me, of the fact that the brain and the inside organs of a corpse after the autopsy were put in a plastic bag and placed inside the chest cavity of the corpse.

— “Tell Mr. Diligence… to confirm the shit out of this shit” – Big Mo.

Until next episode…

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“Part Four” – Aired on December 27, 2020
Writer: David Matthews
Director: Clark Johnson
Grade: 3,5 out of 5

Notice: All episode reviews contain spoilers

“Part Four” kicks off with an unexpected turn of events that feels like a letdown rather than a surprise. The corpse of Kofi Jones is transported out of prison in a body bag, his face still swollen from an obvious beating. Wait, what happened? “Part Three” ended with Kofi walking into Carlo’s cell, looking like a man with a plan to save his neck by spilling the beans on how he had nothing to do with Rocco’s murder. It was an intriguing cliffhanger, making the audience wonder what the consequences of Kofi filling Carlo would be, and by extension, the Baxters, in on the details of how he was only asked to drive a car to a junkyard, but forced later to plead guilty only after the plan stumbled.

Yet, in a way that squarely undermines the apropos build-up to that cliffhanger, it turns out that Carlo merely executed Kofi. Off camera, that is… If I didn’t know better, I would chalk one up to an error in editing. There are several meaningful ways Kofi’s demise could have been handled, and this was not one of them.

We switch over to the Desiato household where Michael solemnly informs Adam of Kofi’s death and claims ignorance as to how it happened when Adam asks for details. All Michael knows, or says that he knows, is that Kofi’s death had nothing to do with them.

Jimmy scolds Carlo during a jail visit for having killed Kofi with so little time left to serve in his sentence. Carlo snaps back, “Fucking motherfucker killed my brother.” And when Jimmy reminds him that he was going to take care of Kofi, Carlo drops the bomb: “That’s not what Mom said.”

In the official synopsis** of the episode on Showtime’s website, neither Gina nor the Baxters are mentioned. I can only imagine that they did not wish to give too much away, because the alternative explanation would be that it was inadequately written. Gina’s clout is indeed the central revelation of “Part Four.” Jimmy may be the “face” of the Baxter crime gang, the official boss, so to speak. Gina, however, is the driving force behind the “Baxter juice.” She decides to whom it gets administered, and how much. She doesn’t need Jimmy’s approval either because she rules behind closed doors. She knows it, Jimmy knows it. And this outing foregrounds it enough so that the viewers know it.

** “Complicit in multiple lies and agonized by guilt, Adam moves from one dangerous liaison to another as tensions escalate. Elizabeth steps in to protect her grandson. Family dinner at the Desiatos is plagued by secrets and lies.”

Speaking of “Baxter juice,” Sheriff Royce walks in the visiting room and uses some legal-babble to basically say that as far as he is concerned, “this never happened.” Carlo can go back to Angola prison and serve out his sentence. But Royce has some explaining to do later to an irritated Lee about what happened to her client. He mumbles something about a head trauma and them “getting to the bottom of it.” He’ll happily turn over Kofi’s intake property to Lee and let her take it to the family though. Yep, the jerkwad hadn’t even bothered to call Kofi’s family.

At one point during the dialogue, the sheriff takes a jab at Lee in a mocking tone: “Oh, yeah, you and suicide. You have that little thing.” Add that to the growing collection of vague references about Lee’s past in New Orleans (remember also her conversation with Michael in the garage at the end of “Part Two“). My curiosity is now piqued to the maximum. Give me Lee’s backstory in New Orleans, please!

One thing that Your Honor excels in doing is putting together montages of different scenes with fitting background music. We get to relish another splendid one here, featuring the voyages of Kofi’s corpse and Robin’s car into nullity.

The coroner (Andrew Dolan) ties a string to Kofi’s ankle that reads, “JK10181.” That is now his name. As if to drive the point home, it is even explicitly stated in the conversation. JK10181’s corpse gets stored away to the corresponding freeze box. Mixed in with these scenes are shots of Robin’s car getting towed to the junkyard, smashed, and stacked away to oblivion. Case solved, Robin’s car and Kofi’s – I mean JK10181’s – corpse are now mere entries in the records.

The coroner knows Kofi was beaten to death, but never mind that. After a few well-chosen words of wisdom by Sheriff Royce, the coroner’s official report reads, “JK10181, pending tox screen. Preliminary findings listed as undetermined.”

Michael and Charlie meet in the backroom of the barber shop where they met in “Part Three,” to discuss the latest developments in a weird dialogue in which Michael cloyingly goes on a morality rant, even castigating Charlie at one point for only thinking about his election. Charlie shakes Michael back to reality by harshly reminding him that this mess began with Michael asking him for a favor. The scene lasts around three and a half minutes, and in my opinion, misses its mark. It adds nothing of substance to the plot and I am not convinced that we needed three minutes to confirm what has already been drilled into the viewers’ heads in the first three episodes: yes, Michael feels ashamed of going down a rabbit hole, and yes, he is profoundly conflicted. It would have made the scene more passable if the writers kept the first 15 seconds when Charlie tells Michael that he had nothing to do with the murder of Kofi at OPP, leading Michael to heave a sigh of relief, along with the last 10 seconds when Michael invites Charlie to a shrimp dinner and the two men hug, and eliminated the superfluous bulk in the middle.

More annoying to watch than Michael going on a morality spree is Adam blabbering on about how “fucked up” his life is and how he is living a “big lie” to every Tom, Dick, and Harry, and getting mad at them when they don’t necessarily feel sorry for him. Frannie is his latest victim, at school in a classroom no less. Naturally, he turns mawkish when Frannie fails to react in the way he would like her to — I mean, how dare she worry about mundane things like others learning of their secret affair or hearing about the true cause of Rocco’s death?!? If it were me, of course, I’d suggest that he takes his ass to the precinct, confess to the hit-and-run, go to jail, and wait for his dosage of “Baxter juice.” Maybe even give him a preview, for good measure, by citing the details of Kofi’s grim adventure at OPP.  

Lee and Michael bring Kofi’s belongings to the Jones in a gut-wrenching scene in which Kofi’s mother laments the loss of her son and the other children soon join her as she starts to wail in agony. If there were an award designated for a single-scene performance by a guest actor in a TV series, Melanie Nicholls-King’s performance as Mama Jones would seal the deal.

In the meantime, Adam gets in a scuffle with his school pal Wesley (Sampley Barinaga, first appeared “Part Two”) who makes an obnoxious remark about Frannie. The school principal (Matt McCoy) is ready to expulse him when Adam’s grandmother Senator Elizabeth Guthrie (Margo Martindale) enters his office and convinces him otherwise via the use of an apt metaphor involving doughnuts. Elizabeth then drives Adam home and the rest of the episode centers on two households’ malaise-filled evenings around dinner tables.

On the Baxter front, the disconnect between Jimmy, Gina, and their daughter Fia (Lilli Kay, more active in this episode) is in full force with multiple snarky remarks made by Gina, even blaming Jimmy for buying the motorcycle and causing Rocco’s death, followed by Jimmy yelling at Fia for rejecting God in front of her mother, and Fia not lacking either in the sarcasm department. It ends with Jimmy giving the order to Frankie to eliminate the Jones family members to appease Gina who, if memory serves, wanted him to “go big” in retaliation for their son’s death. Thus, it’s not a coincidence that we see the house of the Jones family house explode in flames next. Eugene (Benjamin Flores Jr.), Kofi’s younger brother, is spared by sheer luck because he was out getting food for his family with the “lagniappe” given to him by Little Mo earlier in the episode.

On the Desiato front, Michael arrives home with Charlie for the shrimp dinner only to be surprised by not only his mother-in-law Elizabeth being present, but also Nancy, whom Elizabeth apparently invited over because she wanted to meet the only cop who, according to Adam, has shown interest at her daughter Robin’s death. To make matters worse, Lee shows up at the door unannounced, and unaware of the crowd in the house, and gets dragged inside by Charlie.

This sets up an extremely fraught evening at the Desiatos during which:

(1) secrets are unwittingly spilled — Adam learns that his dad knew of Kofi’s troubling demise at the prison, and Michael learns that Elizabeth had been to the cemetery on Robin’s death anniversary and that she had not seen any flowers or a note by Robin’s grave at the cometary like Adam described on the way home,

(2) provocative verbal jabs are heard — Elizabeth refers to Lee as “the intern” along with a couple of other unfriendly remarks, Adam pushes his dad to say more about “the kid” victim, and Lee makes a remark to Charlie about having stayed silent for 400 years so why not talk now about how Kofi was treated by the NOPD,

(3) edgy glances at one another are observed — Charlie and Michael connect eyes as Lee describes the torture Kofi was subjected to and Adam glares at Michael when he understands that his dad lied about not having any knowledge of how “the kid” died in prison,

(4) The bloody rag that Django dragged back in the house in “Part One” is recovered by Michael, and noticed by others at the table.

Clark Johnson’s directorial experience of over two decades, combined with the luxury of having esteemed actors like Cranston, Martindale, and Ejogo perform, cumulatively add up to an explosive dinner sequence, although narratively, some of what takes place comes across artificial.

For instance, the way Nancy appears at the house and accepts to stay for dinner feels forced, as does Charlie’s enthusiasm in pulling Lee inside the house for dinner, as well as Lee letting herself get dragged that easily to the dinner table. And then, there is the uncharacteristic way the otherwise feisty attorney remains subdued while absorbing the belittling comments dished out by Elizabeth. It also seems a bit too convenient for the script’s sake for Django to obsess over the bloody rag under the dresser right during dinner, for Michael to even make the bloody rag visible to the dinner guests, for Nancy to ask loudly, “is that blood?” from at least 6 meters away, and for Michael then to approach the table to talk to the guests while still visibly holding the rag. Oh-kay!

In any case, it all culminates in Adam leaving the table to walk outside with Michael following him, and the two having yet another talk about the conundrum they face, although this time, Adam appears to grasp a bit better the gravity of their situation, which is a much welcome break from his usual wallowing in self-pity. He bicycles to Rocco’s memorial shortly after where he briefly runs into Fia who is also there after having escaped her own family’s suffocating dinner.  

Last-minute thoughts:

— Eugene still has the baseball signed by Mariano Rivera in his possession, which begs the question, why on earth did Michael not take it back when he saw it during the visit to the Jones earlier? Surely, it will come back to bite him at some point as evidence.

— With Elizabeth knowing that neither a bouquet of flowers nor a card was left by Robin’s grave on the anniversary of her death, Michael can kiss his pre-planned “we visited Robin at the cemetery on that day” alibi-story goodbye.

— Gina is religious. Fia is not, and she is defiant about it.

— Two established actors in Margo Martindale and Matt McCoy make their entrance to the show as guest actors in the same scene. Impressive! If I had to guess from the characters they play, I’d say Martindale is much more likely to reappear, and at more frequent intervals, than McCoy.

— “You may already know this” note of the week: Charlie promised Rudy the chief of police position if he wins the election and becomes the next mayor.

— In my review of “Part Three,” I wrote the following: “I prefer to wait at least one more episode before I can conclusively say that she [Gina] plays a major role in the central plot of Your Honor.” I would assume that my review above for “Part Four” clearly shows where I now stand on that.

Until next episode…

PS1: Click on All Reviews (also at the top) for a comprehensive list of my episodic reviews
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“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 9^th 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 9^th. 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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“Part Two” – Aired on December 13, 2020
Writer: Peter Moffat
Director: Edward Berger
Grade: 5 out of 5

Notice: All episode reviews contain spoilers

It’s the day after the accident that kicked off the series last week. In a diner, Judge Michael Desiato asks a man wearing a blue bow tie, named Charlie Figaro (Isiah Whitlock Jr.), to make his deceased wife’s car to disappear, “no questions asked.” We gather from the conversation that these two are close friends. Charlie figures (inaccurately) that the car’s presence must cause Michael great anguish by reminding him daily of his wife Robin. He feels bad for his friend, and Michael ‘conveniently’ plays along. Charlie promises to take care of it in a few hours. Michael just needs to leave the keys on top of the front-left tire.

The success of the episode lies in the number of compelling storylines built on the failure to accomplish that single straightforward task. Essentially, Robin’s car is the star of the hour. You probably heard the cliché, “a reliable car is one that gets you from point A to point B.” Robin’s car departs point A, but never arrives at point B, giving rise to one disastrous outcome after another. Whereas “Part One” was a fine exhibit on building character layers, “Part Two” comes across as a productive exercise in generating compelling plot intricacies. Complications arise, deceptions proliferate, tensions escalate, lives get ruined.

It all begins when Charlie phones someone named Rudy Cunningham (Cullen Moss). Rudy then places a call to a younger man named Little Mo (Keith Machekanyanga) who later turns out to belong to a gang referred to as “Desire Crew.” He orders one of his “soldiers” named Kofi (Lamar Johnson) to take on the “job.” Kofi must go to Michael’s house, grab the keys on top of the tire, and drive the car to the scrapyard. Not too complicated for a gang member, right? Riiiiight…

At a coffeeshop, Michael tells Adam to fill out a card for his mother. The judge has a plan, you see. The father-son duo will visit Robin’s grave at the cemetery with the card and some flowers because, according to Michael, they need to have the muscle memory of the activities that they will claim to have done on the day before, the anniversary of their mother (also read: the day Adam killed Rocco). “Today is yesterday,” Adam states. They must re-enact October 9th so that, in case Adam gets asked about it “months from now,” he can simply recount their actual visit instead of inventing one in his mind. Today is yesterday.

But first, Michael asks the server some questions about a shot-gun house and if one can see inside the bathroom to the side simply by looking through the front door. This is disorienting at first because we saw in “Part One” that not only does Michael know the answer to his question, but he also used that knowledge in his courtroom to free a wrongfully accused youngster. Michael has a second out-of-character moment when he makes a wise-ass comment to the panhandler at the cemetery’s entrance. His plan includes the server and the panhandler remembering those conversations, but not necessarily which day they took place. Today is yesterday.

The problem for the judge is that his son, who is already an emotional wreck from the guilt of having murdered someone, does not appear to be on board. Adam keeps questioning the plan’s details and frantically uttering sentences like, “I can’t fucking do it.” Do they have a choice at this point? Not really. So, they plow forward, hoping and praying that things will not fall apart. Adam’s inability to remain cool-headed, thus sinking the two of them further down into the abyss, will inevitably be one of the side stories of the season. I’m game, as long as it is told in a nuanced way. So far, the show gives me confidence that it can achieve that goal.

I noted in my review of last week’s pilot that Your Honor’s monumental challenge was to “nurture an accustomed cliché (a momentarily preoccupied, stressed-out driver fatally hitting another, and driving away in panic, causing a devastating ripple effect), and muster from it a unique enough narrative that can hopefully distinguish the show from others of the genre” — I know, I just did the despicable act of quoting myself, please forgive me. “Part Two” is a triumph in this perspective. In a riveting hour of human drama with social, cultural, and criminal implications, the ripple effect of the accident reaches further than I could have imagined.

Back to the episode, where we find Det. Nancy Costello (Amy Landacker) visiting Judge Desiato in his chamber. She wonders why Michael contacted him the day before (remember in “Part One” when the judge made a couple of calls before changing his mind about Adam’s confession at the precinct?)

Michael claims that he initially called to report his wife’s car stolen but changed his mind because, considering how painful it is to see Robin’s car every day – “like a bruise,” he solemnly adds –, the thief may have done him a favor after all! The irony here is that Michael downplays the robbery, even feigning to feel relieved from the disappearance of the car, expecting Costello to let it go. It completely backfires! Nancy, the ethical detective that she is, argues that so-called inconsequential acts can unexpectedly lead to horrific outcomes, such as the one that resulted in Robin’s death a year ago. Hence, whoever stole the car must be taught a lesson. “I am going to find that piece of shit,” she exclaims. Bryan Cranston is terrific here as Michael’s forced smile and fake nod of approval to Nancy’s reaction, mixed with his expression of defeat only visible to the informed eye, convey the deep sense of distress he feels. The slippery slope has begun for Judge Desiato.

As for Kofi’s point A to point B driving assignment, lo and behold, he runs a red light and gets pulled over. The police run the license plate and discover that the vehicle is reported stolen (courtesy of the ethical Det. Costello). They arrest and handcuff Kofi, before taking him to the precinct. Judge Desiato’s slippery slope has just been upgraded to a downward spiral.

Nancy informs Michael that the car has been recovered. When would Michael like to come to the station and take it home? Why immediately, of course! Nancy is not only ethical, but also punctilious, the kind of detective that Michael wishes would go away just this one time. For instance, she prods Michael with enough questions to learn that Adam was the last person to drive the car, meaning that the young Desiato will have to come down to the station and sign a release statement as well. Police protocol, yaknow…

This dialogue between Nancy and Michael is fascinating to watch as the detective delves into a theory about the possibility of the thief being connected to Robin’s death from a year ago, wondering if it was meant to be some sort of a sick statement, while the judge tries his best to act and sound indifferent. He just asks for Kofi’s name and age – it reminded me of the series Columbo where the guilty party would always give in to their curiosity and ask the beloved L.A. detective how the investigation was progressing, thus drawing more suspicion.

Much to Michael’s relief, the paperwork is prepared and a police officer drives the car to the outside area so that Michael can take it home. As the officer exits the garage, the car goes over a bump and a piece of Rocco’s motorcycle that must have gotten stuck to the bottom of the car falls out. Disaster just struck Michael anew. Nancy ain’t letting this car go anywhere. It will be detained and meticulously examined. An officer will drive Michael home as a courtesy.

Bryan Cranston puts forth another top-notch character moment as Michael sits disconsolate in the back of the police car and endures the annoying dialogue with the driving officer who launches a few lightweight verbal jabs in Michael’s direction because the judge apparently released a “panty thief” that he arrested a while back. He particularly wants Michael to know that the pervert went on to commit a series of heinous crimes following his release. “You didn’t know that?” he asks Michael in a judgmental tone. The scene serves to accentuate the existence of a friction between Michael, the judge admired by the marginalized ones, and those among the police who would prefer them behind bars.

As the saying goes, “when it rains, it pours.” Adam tells Michael at home in the evening that two people saw him after the accident, the windshield washer on the street and the angry dude at the gas station. Oh, and by the way, he most likely left his inhaler at the accident site. Neither is even realizing at this point that Adam was also recorded by the station’s camera when he stopped to fill the tank. Nor do they know that Baxter’s right-hand man Frankie has possession of the inhaler. He is having it tested for DNA and should have the results within 36 hours. Thanks to an inside connection with a corrupt officer named Cusack (David Maldonado), Baxter has access to the police database. Naturally!

Meanwhile, Kofi’s status has shifted. He is no longer just a car thief. He is also the main suspect in the murder of Rocco in a hit-and-run while driving Robin’s car. Unaware, Kofi is busy bribing the desk officer at the precinct into letting him go, in exchange for the baseball signed by Mariano Rivera that was found in his possession, so to speak (it was in the car). The officer takes the deal, but Kofi’s luck is about to run out as he heads to the exit. Having learned of the car’s connection to the accident and knowing that the driver is held at the precinct, Cusack storms into the building and stops Kofi dead in his tracks. Next time we see Kofi, he is in the back of a car and taken to an abandoned warehouse. By this time, you are wondering if he will even make it alive to the end of the hour.

He is first handcuffed to some pipe, then threatened later with carbon monoxide poisoning inside a car. The organic unity of this sequence has the desired impact because it’s impossible to ascertain what Kofi knows. Baxter’s cronies assume that he killed Rocco and want his phone back. Kofi replies that he has no idea what they are talking about. Does Kofi even know whose car he stole? Or that he was even stealing? Who is to say with 100% certainty that he was not merely told by his pal Little Mo to drive a car parked in front of a house, with the keys on the tire, to a scrapyard nearby? Simple point A to point B task, right? Riiiiight…

Viewers are not privy to how much information Baxter’s cronies squeezed out of Kofi because the next time he appears on screen, he is driven to jail, chained, and subsequently dragged to a cell where an inmate, undoubtedly a member of the Desire Crew, hands him a phone. Little Mo is on the line and he tells – orders – Kofi to “take the hit” like a “good soldier.” He provides further clarification just in case Kofi considers being a bad soldier: “Maybe then I can’t guarantee they’d be safe. You heard me?” Little Mo is referring to Kofi’s mom and family.

In a gut-wrenching courtroom scene, with his mother in tears as part of the large audience, including Baxter, Michael, and Adam, Kofi pleads guilty to the charge of vehicular homicide. Once he is taken away, Michael leaves the courtroom, but he is chased down the hallway by Kofi’s mother who desperately seeks his help because she believes he is a “good man.” In another stellar character moment by Cranston (he can probably do those in his sleep), a conflicted and frustrated Michael loses his cool in front of others for the first time (that we have seen) and replies in a stern-yet-regretful voice, “Look, I cannot help you! I’m sorry.”

Further down the hallway, Frankie tells his boss that it was not a “hit and run”, but rather a “hit.” Period. They now believe that the Desire Crew is out for revenge because one of Jimmy’s men, a certain Carlo, had previously beaten up one of them. Baxter poignantly tells Frankie, “I’m gonna clean this city up! I’m gonna make it fucking shine!”

Outside the courthouse, Little Mo informs Rudi by phone that Kofi was a “good soldier.” In turn, Rudi calls Charlie to give the good news: “We’re safe.”

Enter Lee Delamere (Carmen Ejogo, whose performances in Selma and season 3 of True Detective are memorable), an old friend of Michael, and a successful lawyer working for a private company. Filled with compunction, Michael asks her to represent Kofi Jones. He felt bad for the accused and was embarrassed by the judge’s harsh treatment of the kid. “I was humiliated by his humiliation,” he adds. That is why he wants Lee to defend him. It’s only partially true, but it works. Lee accepts.

Last-minute thoughts:

— “This isn’t easy for me,” Lee says at one point. Michael understands: “I was there.” To that, Lee inquisitively replies: “You’re asking me to do this, knowing what you know about me?” The two also talk about having a glass of wine together. I admit, my curiosity is piqued! What is their background story?

— Kudos to Melanie Nicholls-King for her visceral representation of Kofi’s downtrodden mother.

— Scenes of Adam, the guilty-of-murder white teenager, arriving at his school in the morning, opening his locker, and going to class are intertwined with scenes of Kofi the not-guilty-of-murder black teenager handcuffed in the back of a police car. Contemporary context is king in this particular montage.

— Hats off to German composer Volker Bertelmann for the wonderful score. For one example, listen as you watch the montage of scenes alternating between Michael’s face as he sits on his chair at home and Kofi arriving to jail.

— The emphasis placed by Baxter’s cronies on finding Rocco’s phone makes me wonder if there is some incriminating evidence on it. Even during the police bust into Kofi’s home, Cusack makes it a priority to ask Kofi’s mom about the phone.

— The execrable Judge Harris who refers to Kofi as “boy” at one point is played by Bill Martin Williams. I know that he is a versatile actor – he is good in the short time he appears here too – but I can only remember him playing lawyers and preachers for some reason.

— I know that Jimmy Baxter represents a feared and despicable mobster. I don’t know, however, that a scene of him brutally smashing and crushing a birdcage with the animal still in it necessarily needed to be included in the script to point that out.

— Amy Landacker, who plays Nancy, is the second cast member of the critically acclaimed Coen brothers’ film A Serious Man to appear as a main character here, along with Michael Stuhlbarg as Jimmy.

— Kofi spots Adam looking down at him from the balcony area as he is dragged away after pleading guilty. I wonder if that moment will come up somehow in future outings.

Until next episode…

PS1: Click on All Reviews (also at the top) for a comprehensive list of my episodic reviews
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