And truly, that’s about it in “Taxed” this week. Unfortunately for Diane, she’s arguing a suit on behalf of the plaintiffs in a wrongful death case – the parents of a young cancer patient who committed suicide with the help of two Oregon physicians. Her family is trying to sue, but they’re being held at bay by Louis Canning (Michael J. Fox) and his devastatingly effective exploitation of his own medical condition on the other side.
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Fortunately for Eli, he gets a few mileage out of that case, after he overhears Cary talking to Alicia about it. Cary wants Alicia to convince Peter to block a bill that would support euthanasia.
Alicia: Do I need to worry about you? Thing is, this has been Alicia’s problem since Season 1. Instead of being informed of the new treatment option, Alexa was provided with the drug cocktail that would end her life; she was denied hope.
The best part was seeing Diane back in court. Because of Lockhart’s focus and strong preparation for the case, she begins to kick Canning’s butt in the courtroom and gets the case moved to Illinois where APS is illegal. When Alicia asks him if she needs to be anxious, and Jason answers yes, it’s all but concluded that she’ll fall for him.
We feel for the Florrick family here, mostly because Eli is very good at his job … and continually stirring things up. They all come streaming into the office, ready to argue, and Eastman is like, “Omg omg this is all Eli’s fault, he’s messing with me”, and Eli cackles and rubs his hands together behind his door in his tiny broom closet. If you don’t mind. She’s happy! Anyway, Eli took the bill and ran with it. Ruth foiled his attempt at sabotage and in the process became closer to Grace and Jackie. Even though Lockhart got a leg up by getting the doctor to admit that he didn’t give Alexa the information about the Duke study because he didn’t think it would make a difference, a choice she should have been able to make herself, Carver has acknowledged that this case is indeed about insurance malpractice.
In the end, however, it appears as though Canning wins the case. Diane is appalled – she’s pro-assisted suicide – but Peter Gallagher asks, “Who knows the advocate’s case better than the devil?” Still, I hope Gallagher sticks around – his (platonic) chemistry with Diane while they were planning out the euthanasia case reminded me of Diane’s interactions with Will. It’s less a reminder of how much I miss Will and more a rejuvenating of an energy that’s been gone since he left.
Meanwhile, in our only other plotline of this episode, we follow Alicia through the ongoing travails of bond court, where today the bond lawyers are competing to see who can rack up the most poundage, clearing perps by weight. We already know that the truth doesn’t matter much to Schakowsky (definitely a Slytherin contender, don’t you think?), and he proves he’s nothing if not consistent when he puts Maia in jail for the night, rather than let Alicia finish her defence. Will Alicia be the straw that eventually breaks her? Bond court, baybay! It’s not supposed to be fair.
This causes a few tension between Alicia and the other bond court lawyers; stealing clients is bad form. That does really suck. Alicia puts Crouse on the stand to testify that he was at the store when Ms. Todd was and she didn’t steal anything.
In their reviewing of the security footage, he and Alicia realize that, yes, the store does racially profile shoppers – but also that Maia’s mother stole the sweater Maia then tried to return. Oh, and the client’s mom actually shoplifted the sweater, so the daughter (Orange Is the New Black’s Marsha Stephanie Blake aka Berdie) took a probation plea to spare her mom. She’s assigned to Don Weingarten (Daniel Abeles), but she also wants to switch to Alicia. Ruh-roh. Bad lawyers are gonna turn into mad lawyers!
Meanwhile, Alicia is in bail court – she overhears a woman who was arrested for shoplifting. He was disbarred from being a lawyer six years ago after he punched a judge.
Alicia is pretty offended by the game and continuously announces that she doesn’t want to play. Amusing how that works.
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To Alicia’s shock, Jason confirms it’s all true under oath! His investigation leads him to encourage Alicia to prove Maia’s innocence based on the store’s racial-profiling practices.
