Bull Season 2 Episode 4 Review: The Illusion of Control
Christine Orlando
at
.
Updated at
.
Common sense isn't always so common, and although Bull Season 2 Episode 4 was the best installment so far, it still had some plot holes that bugged me.
Let's start with guest star Brad Garrett who played Jason Bull's idol, defense attorney Ronald Getman.
Getman was perfect as both an ally and a foil for Bull, and even Jason Bull realized it.
Do you have any idea how good you are? I followed you the way guys follow baseball players. If you were a stock I would have put every penny I had into you.
Bull
The man even took meetings in a deli, because you might as well enjoy a reuben while talking business. I lost a little respect for Bull when he didn't order one for himself.
Bull quickly went from the calm and intelligent professional to the borderline certifiable client who grew desperate when he couldn't be in control.
On the one hand, his reaction made some sense, while on the other I felt that Jason Bull should know better.
But I found myself feeling that way again and again throughout the hour.
During voir dire, Bull made quite a scene as he tried to get that one juror removed. Not only was it over the top, wouldn't that juror now be biased against Bull given how he reacted to her being on the jury?
Bull's original advice was spot on, as seen in this Bull quote...
I just think it's an enormous mistake to take this very private, very sensitive matter and put it out there for public consumption, and if you go to family court that's what's going to happen.
Bull
It was his follow up that was lacking.
Why wouldn't anyone mention the pitfalls of allowing the father to take his child back to Ethiopia? The concern seems like common sense, and Marissa's e-mail certainly drove that point home, so why wouldn't Bull perform some due diligence and at least make a phone call or send an e-mail to Amaya's attorney with that concern?
I also kept wondering if Alexander's mother was still alive. They said she had malaria but never specified that she had died, yet every time they showed the father in Ethiopia he was with a woman who was smiling at Alex. But when the father once again came to the U.S., she was nowhere to be seen.
Finding out that Marissa was once in the foster care system and her mother was a drug addict and an unreliable parent was a detail I never saw coming.
Once Bull revealed that information to Getman, he should have known the man would use it. There really wasn't another choice if they wanted to win the case.
It was Jason Bull's reaction to Marissa being cross-examined that really pulled at the heartstrings.
Bull couldn't stand to see Marissa's painful past being dragged into the courtroom, especially when she chose to share it with him as a friend in private.
His protective big brother streak reared its head, but not in a way that would help. Bull's outburst in court only managed to get him thrown in jail for contempt of court. It was a nice gesture, but it didn't really change anything.
I was also surprised that Bull didn't anticipate Benny being hurt, disappointed and perhaps a little jealous that Bull chose Ron Getman to represent him in court instead of Benny.
It felt like something that Bull could have easily gotten ahead of by simply having a conversation with Benny concerning his motives for making the decision...before he introduced Getman to everyone at TAC.
There were a few other things about this story that got under my skin.
The child felt like more of a pawn. I wish they would have mentioned whether or not he had memories of his birth parents. The fact that we only ever saw the kid happy and smiling, whether he was with Amaya in the United States, or his birth father in Ethiopia, didn't feel right.
Once again, I wondered about the relationship between Harrison and Danny. I wish they'd give us more details about these two because I'm finding the lack of information more annoying than mysterious.
And why has Chunk been relegated to a background player who wears normal aka boring suits? I miss the Chunk from Bull Season 1 who had a different perspective, a zest for life, and a unique wardrobe that always stood out.
Most of all, I was disappointed that we never heard Ron Getman's closing arguments. I know we got a taste of it as he spoke to empty chairs at TAC, but I was expecting a killer ending monologue, which never happened.
So TV Fanatics, did you think this was the best episode of Bull Season 2 so far? Am I making too much of the plot holes?
Check back next week for my review of Bull Season 2 Episode 5, and if you want more, you can always watch Bull online here at TV Fanatic.
C. Orlando was a TV Fanatic Staff Writer. Follow her on Twitter.
