Good Trouble Season 3 Episode 2 Review: Arraignment Day
Jasmine Blu
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Malika is free!
The tagline for Good Trouble Season 3 is "Speak Up. Speak Out." And the series is digging its heels into that with everyone stepping up and taking a stand for what they deem is right.
By the end of Good Trouble Season 3 Episode 2, Malika, Callie, Alice, Gael, Davia, and Mariana took their respective stands.
After the shocking final moments of Good Trouble Season 3 Episode 1, Malika's plight was daunting and one storyline that evoked the most stress. It seemed as though she faced an insurmountable obstacle, and she would be in for the fight of her life.
As a result, it's quite a surprise that they not only raised the bail for Malika, but by the end of the hour, BLM and Malika's friends, family, and supporters applied enough pressure to get D.A. Hansen to drop the chargers.
It's always the right time to look like a boss bitch.
Mariana
It seemed like a storyline that would extend into a few installments rather than get resolved in the first couple. Fortunately, they wrapped this portion of it up quickly, and they can delve into other avenues of exploring injustices.
Malika is always so quick to convince everyone else that she's fine, and she never wants to burden anyone. It's true to her character and hell, to a degree, her culture.
It's also why the majority of the others didn't know what was going on with her.
The word of her arrest spread sporadically. Mariana knew because of BLM crowdfunding Malika's bail money through the Activism App, but Callie didn't find out until she saw Malika in the cell while meeting with a client.
Alice had to find out through Kelly of all people. Nevertheless, they addressed some of the frustration with how disjointed some Coterie members are, and they had many of them rallying behind Malika with a sit-in.
Not only did they show up and out for Malika, but some had a hand in pushing things along or providing her aid.
Alice offered moral support and put on a stand-up routine that got her into her program. It had an odd self-serving tone, but she and Malika go back, and it was sweet that she wanted to be there for her friend the way Malika always is with her.
Davia learned from the experience, and it encouraged her to take a stand at her job despite the potential risk to her job. The only downside to exploring how the education system fails some kids is that they show it so sporadically that it doesn't always stick.
I get it. It's harder to be an ally when you've got something to lose.
Jordan
Callie pulled out the stops with her first appearance in court speaking on behalf of a client, and it was for Yvonne, the wonderfully maternal woman who looked after Malika in the holding cell.
And Gael put his graphic design skills to good use in collaboration with Dyonte for a scathing ad that went viral and prompted Hansen to drop the charges.
Gael's active participation in the sit-in and protest was refreshing for him, and it gives off the impression that maybe he'll get more involved from this point forward.
He took to all of it with ease, and he was also a reassuring force when walking through a seat of white supremacists groups shouting slurs at them was understandably overwhelming for Mariana.
The situation was intense, and one thing Good Trouble does well is it showcases what the actual BLM organization does and how it works. It was easy to understand Dom and Isaac's frustrations.
Isaac wasn't wrong; Malika's connection to BLM is what had her sitting in the holding center like that in the first place under the guise of being tough on Law and Order.
To Dom, their methods seemed ineffective and slow. Their petition to get Hansen to drop the charges felt useless, and encouraging a massive sit-in at the courthouse felt like a huge risk.
Thank you all for standing up for me and for fighting against oppression no matter the consequences. You all inspire me to do better and be better every day.
Malika
But all, including Dr. Melina, remained eerily calm about the ordeal. It's admirable that they can show such emotional restraint, but it's understandable why seeing that could rile someone up, especially when it's your loved one on the line.
No matter how calm, peaceful, and subdued everyone was, it didn't stop the cops from looking to and threatening them as if they were the issue.
Spitting on someone is literal assault, but the authorities didn't pay white supremacists who charged into the courthouse to counterprotest our group a second glance even though it happened in front of an officer.
Good Trouble's timeliness is unparalleled; those scenes reminded one of a much tamer glimpse of behaviors exhibited at the Capitol siege -- including the disturbing complicity of some officers.
It's doubtful that we'll see the last of Hansen. I can't imagine what Malika would've had to endure if not for that damning video, among other things, that showed her genuinely friendly with her most avid supporters, who happen to be white supremacists.
I also like the fact that Hansen herself is a woman of color. It shows how entangled and messy all of this is and contradictory and batshit insane, too.
The same people shouting racial slurs at Mariana and Gael with their White Lives Matter signs, and all were cheering for this Brown woman who made it her mission to go after BLM and anything close to it with gusto for the sake of political clout.
Malika's journey in the holding center was intriguing, too. Typically, when a fictional work depicts imprisonment, they focus on how terrifying it is, yes, but in a way that often demonizes everyone who finds themselves behind bars.
I live in an intentional community which for the uninitiated translates to millennial clown car. I'm the manager, so I drive the car. It's a jalopy that runs on sexual tension and bad decisions which we have plenty of.
Alice
Malika was terrified, and the stress of it all took its toll on her instantly. She was an absolute wreck, and Zuri Adele's performance was nothing short of moving.
But the women she shared a cell with were perfectly normal individuals. Yvonne was a single mother of three in jail because of her last-minute court appearances conflicting with her babysitting schedule. Cadence was equally as warm and nurturing as they looked after Malika and made sure she was OK while she silently sobbed in the corner.
Often holding centers are filled to the brim with people who fall through the cracks of a broken and biased system that always ensnares the economically disadvantaged.
Malika's drive to help these other women wasn't surprising, nor was it when she asked Callie for a favor. However, forfeiting her bail to pay for everyone else's was a shocking move that I can't even fathom. I don't know if I would've had it in me to do something like that no matter how much I wanted to help the other women.
Callie: Why didn't you let anyone at the Coterie know?
Malika: My team's raising bail, and I didn't want to worry anyone.
Callie: OK, well, we're your team too. We want to be here for you.
Malika officially embraced the movement and what it means for her after that move, where she was still green before. It was a moment where she could've backed off after the scary ordeal or double-down.
However, it makes you wonder if it'll affect her relationship with Isaac. He loves her passion and activism, but it also worries him.
Malika and Isaac's differences with her activism and whatever could brew between Malika and Dyonte feels like there's some trouble in paradise for one of our favorite couples and also another love triangle on the horizon.
If it wasn't obvious before, it's plain as day now. Dyonte has caught feelings for Malika, and they sure as hell aren't the platonic kind. We've possibly escaped two or is three concurrent love triangles already, and now we may have this. But at least Callie isn't in the center of it at the moment.
Her first official day as a lawyer was memorable. She looked amazing in her suit, but it's too bad it got ruined.
Kathleen is a gosh damn force, and Zimmer's presence on this series continues to be an instant highlight. It's going to be so good when we delve into her character more.
What makes a well-known shark of a lawyer like Kathleen take on legal aid? Something had to prompt such a drastic career move, and despite her employees' speculation, it has to go beyond impulsivity.
Both men seem like quite the characters, and Callie is likely to clash with them on occasion. But what's evident is that they are her employees. Katheleen probably chose them for a reason, too, but Callie -- it seems as if Katheleen picked her as a protégé.
Your job is not to argue the facts, it's to form your own narrative. The courtroom is theater. You're the actor trying to manipulate the judge and jury. If it doesn't fit you must acquit. Of course the glove fit, Callie. But the actor convinced the jury that it didn't. Read the jury. Read the judge, and put on a show. Understood?
Kathleen
The one guy was too cocky, but Callie has a knack for observing and figuring things out, so maybe that's why Kathleen was quick to give her advice about how a good lawyer puts on a show and creates a narrative.
Shai's case was another infuriating one. It was a bogus collar and homophobic as heck too. They shouldn't deem a young woman making out in the car with her girlfriend "Indecent Exposure." Given some people's penchant for extreme PDA, you'd wish it was sometimes, but nope, not the case.
Kathleen was right about Shai taking a plea. It's a slippery road downhill when you take one, especially for something like that, and it was avoidable.
Callie (and most of us, probably) didn't look favorably on her cavalier suggestion that Callie needed to convince Shai to out herself to her parents for help getting released.
But Kathleen spun gold in the courtroom, implying that Shai's father was there to vouch for her when he wasn't. Kathleen radiates Boss Bitch, and I'm here for it and her.
Callie was able to put Kathleen's advice to good use in a way that suited her. She played the bumbling, awkward, inexperienced but humble baby lawyer card in front of the judge was already effective; she tossed in the foster kid bit too.
We already know lawyers aren't beyond these types of antics, and we've seen it often with the quirky, dynamic lawyers on series such as The Good Wife and The Good Fight. Everyone has a gimmick.
Callie is working with someone who will help her hone in on her skills and knack for standing up for things rather than trying to stifle that. It's a good match for now.
Mariana: I understand. It's your company. It's your call, but I can't be a part of it anymore.
Evan: Don't go. Please.
Mariana: I have to.
Evan: What about us?
Mariana: I don't know.
But are Mariana and Evan? As smoking hot and endearing as their journey has been, the latest development is unexpected and makes you reevaluate everything.
Mariana created her app for good, and it's been a wild success. In another ripped from the headlines plot, hate groups have taken to the app as much as others.
A disagreement over how to handle the situation is the exact kind of thing that would come between Mariana and Evan and their fledgling secret romance.
They wouldn't have been able to hide their relationship for long at the rate they were going, but it's like a bucket of cold water was doused on them, and the fun of it vanished when shit got real.
Evan is an awkward, socially inept guy who has improved with both over time. However, he's all about his business and the best interest. Wouldn't you love to know the full extent of Evan's stake in his company?
For Evan, there was no way he would shut down a successful app that is making them money because of select groups using it and their beliefs. He's a businessman first and foremost; in his opinion doing so wasn't savvy.
From Evan's perspective, fair enough, he has to think about their business, the other employees, payroll, and more. He can hide behind sound reasoning of how it wasn't a smart move for the company.
You can also argue that Evan not doing anything is equally as disastrous for the company in this day and age. If he doesn't at the very least denounce the hate groups using his product, then people will end up boycotting it anyway.
All we've done since we've gotten here is fight. For gender and pay equality. And we're still not taken seriously or really heard. It's like death by 1000 paper cuts. And the bottom line is we don't own any of our work. I can't give my energy to a place that takes the best of me and won't stand up for what's right.
Mariana
Who you associate with is considered a reflection of you in today's society, so something tells me that this will bite Evan in the ass in the long run.
It wasn't something outright expressed, but it brought up some of the racial issues that were a problem at SpecKulate since the day Mariana arrived.
Evan cares about her, but he's a white man dating a Latina woman, and he handwaved racists as those with different political beliefs.
It's a constant source of frustration that fundamental issues that shouldn't be up for debate, like racism, are reduced to political quibbles and minor differences of opinion. "Politics" as a blanket term for every moral or ethical issue that is anything but simple politics is a cop-out.
It didn't even cross Evan's mind the extent of why Mariana would have a problem with what was happening. She spent part of the day with protestors calling her names and telling her to "go back to Mexico," and Evan's response to the app issue is that it's not personal only business.
Given Evan's attitude, you in part understand how the Speckulate culture reached a boiling point in the first place. Often Mariana makes emotional, rash choices that have you wondering why she can't see a bigger picture.
However, given everything Speculate-related leading up to the moment she quit, it feels like we've earned this moment.
It was probably a long time coming. Mariana is right; they don't have ownership of their ideas. Everything that they create at Speculate belongs to the company.
On top of matters, women and minorities got paid less than their white and male counterparts, sexism and racism ran rampant at the company, and for years no one did anything about any of that.
When you take a moment to consider how much time Mariana and many others invested into Speckulate and the upward climb it was, it's understandable why they would want to leave.
I don't know if Mariana having a start-up of her own will be smooth sailing or a success. But Mariana has fought, scratched, and clawed her way through everything at Speckulate, and maybe she's peaked there, and it's time for her to take her talent and skills elsewhere.
What does she have to lose? She has her entire team of other women following her.
You can't even feel bad for Evan or Speculate. They're not working together, so Evan and Mariana could be together now, but this potentially places them as rivals.
It's an exciting development for Mariana, and it's not rooted in her romantic relationships either.
Girl boss Mariana and her girls taking on the world of tech is badass.
Over to you, Good Trouble Fanatics. Are you relieved that Malika is out? Did you see the Mariana move coming? Hit the comments!
You can watch Good Trouble online here via TV Fanatic.
Jasmine Blu is a senior staff writer for TV Fanatic. She is an insomniac who spends late nights and early mornings binge-watching way too many shows and binge-drinking way too much tea. Her eclectic taste makes her an unpredictable viewer with an appreciation for complex characters, diverse representation, dynamic duos, compelling stories, and guilty pleasures. You'll definitely find her obsessively live-tweeting, waxing poetic, and chatting up fellow Fanatics and readers. Follow her on X.
