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Let’s Talk About ‘The End of STR Laurie’:
- It was learned that the man who fell outside of Diane’s window actually slipped off the roof trying to hang a banner to taunt the protesters.
- Liz and Diane are handling a case involving a college that has been targeted by the same group tossing fake grenades into the elevators at the firm.
- Liz, Ri’Chard and Diane learn that the equity partners are two-weeks behind in pay because STR Laurie’s assets have been frozen due to past business with Russia.
- Diane crosses a line with Dr. Bettancourt, and she likes it.
- Jay learns that the group he’s working with have been keeping tabs on several White Supremacist groups, and makes a discovery that rocks the office.
- Ri’Chard and Julius represent STR Laurie in court to attempt to have their assets freed.
- A new hire at the office comes under suspicion and Marissa and Carmen need to suss her out.
- A conservative news host takes the stand against the college but goes wildly off script.
- The FBI pays a visit to the offices, but Liz and company turn the tables.
Now this is the kind of The Good Fight episode we appreciate — elaborate storylines, off-the-wall humor, surprise twists, and all of the main cast having something to do. Even Carmen got in on the action this week after being nothing but a glorified extra the past two episodes.
For Liz and Diane, they are embroiled in a case defending a college against students who are launching a class action suit to get their tuition back after a series of threats were made against the traditionally Black institution. Having the same dummy grenades placed on campus, with messages like ‘Tick … Tick … 11/10″ on them the students no longer feel safe and want to go to other universities — and without actually saying it out loud, they means ‘White universities’. The issue is proving the threats are racially motivated, and it seems the smoking gun comes in a speech that the dean gave calling out the current resistance to teaching about race or the history of racism in the country that is in turn called out by a conservative news host who rails against it saying if a White person said such a thing it would be considered racist. The claimants’ attorney says this speech has made the college a target and is therefore responsible for making the students feel unsafe, therefore they need to refund the tuition — something the college can’t afford, and their insurance company won’t cover because the fake grenades did not meet the legal definition of ‘terrorism’.
Back at the office, Liz, Ri’Chard and Diane (to Liz’s surprise) are called in to a meeting with the suits at STR Laurie where they bring up the issue of the equity partners being two weeks behind in their pay despite the excellent previous quarter the firm had. The response is that because STR Laurie had done previous business with entities in Russia, their financial assets are now frozen because of the war in Ukraine, and they want representation in court to get those assets unfrozen because they aren’t currently doing business with Russia, they are just receiving payments for business conducted before the war. It should be easy to get this resolved and Ri’Chard and Julius take on the case.
Diane has another session with Dr. Bettancourt. She discovers he is a Buddhist and on her way out she decides to do something completely out of character — she kisses him. She then meets Liz in court for the university trial and bumps into the judge, who is also a Buddhist. What are the odds? With Jay on the stand, Liz questions him if in his investigations into things going on presently, like the protests outside their building, is there any common denominator? Fox News is his answer, to which the defense objects because Fox News is not on trial here. The judge asks Diane for a response, which sort of throws off Liz since she was the one doing the cross examination, but Liz responds that they are suing the insurance company simply because they are not upholding their agreement because they are blaming the victim, the dean who made her comments in response to a racist rant by the news show host Ted Willoughby. While the judge values opinion, he wants the lawyers to return with evidence.
Liz gets Jay to work on that and he puts a call out the group he’s now working with. Taken to their headquarters in a bread factory, Jay learns that they have been monitoring several White Supremacist groups in Chicago, notably a group called ‘Our Tomorrow’ which has been counting down to 11/10. Jay surveys the wall of photos on display and sees one with a woman who seems familiar exiting a White Supremacist meeting. Jay goes back to the office and surveys the associates and .. there she is, chatting up Carmen. he goes to Diane and asks her about the new hire and tells her that the woman is a White Supremacist. Diane wonders why she would want to work at a Black firm and Jay says that’s where the enemy is. Diane calls Liz and asks her to come down to her office right away.
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Ri’Chard and Julius are in court with the STR Laurie case — Julius is a bit overly familiar with the judge (they are both part of the 38 judges pardoned by Trump and they all meet once a month for lunch) — but she is a bit of a ditz, and that’s being kind. While questioning their client, he blurts out that it’s been difficult to operate with their assets frozen and he’s had to move some money around to Israel and convert it to crypto currency. That sounds off all the alarm bells because he just basically admitted STR Laurie was laundering money through Israel. A recess is immediately requested, but the man does not want to talk to them about it, so they are a bit stuck now fearing this puts the whole firm in danger.
With everyone back at the office, they have a meeting in Diane’s office to discuss what to do about the new hire. Marissa seems chummy with her, but as Jay points out Marissa is everyone’s friend. They call her in to tell her what’s going on and she tells them she’s supposed to go out for drinks after work with the woman so she’ll put on her investigator’s hat and see what she can find out. They keep Carmen out of it for now because the woman also seems friendly with her. Marissa isn’t too subtle with her questions and does her best to get the woman drunk on shots. When she returns to the office she has a major bombshell to drop — the woman isn’t a White Supremacist … she’s FBI. Now the question is what is the FBI doing there with an undercover agent? Now they have to bring in Carmen to make sure she hasn’t shared any sensitive information, which she is certain she has not. But now she believes the FBI is there to get evidence in a case against Ben-Baruch. They can’t tip the woman off that they know who she is, so they tell Carmen to assign her some busy work. Diane suggests a Teamsters case, which doesn’t seem to make sense but she says it will come in handy later, and Carmen puts her to work sorting out boxes of documents to refile them by date.
Back in court. Liz and Diane listen as Ted Willoughby is questioned about his statements on TV. He points out that nothing he says should be taken seriously, according to a lawsuit his network won. Liz points out that he has talked about some very serious subjects on his show, but he reminds them that just like Fox News and Tucker Carlson prevailed in their lawsuit, his show is just to be taken as entertainment and no sensible person could take anything he says seriously (yes, that was a real case and a real decision). But Ted begins to slip up under more intense questioning, at one point saying he’s only speaking on talking points he’s given by the network, and those talking points are meant to enrage … no, engage the audience. Liz and Diane note someone from the network going into a bit of a panic, a recess is called, and the lawyer for the insurance company tells Liz and Diane they will settle so their idiot witness won’t have to say another word under oath. Liz and Diane celebrate their win back at the office and Diane tells Liz her big secret, the she kissed her doctor. Liz is all for that but wonders about Kurt. Diane says their relationship used to be manageable but now that he works for the NRA and is always away, and with the political divide that has become a chasm between them, she doesn’t really know what the future holds. Liz, who has been divorced twice, tells her to make sure she really knows what she wants before she does anything.
The next day the FBI pays a visit to the office, and Liz and Diane let them know about their undercover agent. The FBI agents deny everything, so they call in Carmen who gives them details about the woman, shows them photos of her and tells them that she’s been going through files and photocopying everything. Turns out Diane knew about a case the FBI had pending against the Teamsters so their agent having unauthorized access to those files would be a major problem. The FBI is over a barrel at this point and Ri’Chard advises them to leave the firm alone as the agents leave. But just as suddenly as they left, they swiftly return with a whole battalion of officers. Julius tries to stop them, but they swarm down the hallway and ask Ri’Chard and Liz for STR Laurie. They helpfully guide them to the staircase to the upper floor. Jay follows behind as he and Ri’Chard hear a raid in progress. Jay has a mop in hand and puts it through the door handles asking Ri’Chard if that’s low-tech enough for him. Ri’Chard says sometimes that’s all you need. And with that, it seems their STR Laurie problem is over. But will Ri’Chard now officially go to war with Liz for the soul of the firm?
Diane decides to pay another visit to Dr. Bettancourt but he is in a mood and suggests she set up her future appointments with the other doctor. She says no and apologizes for crossing a line, but he says they both crossed a line. That actually gives her a little hope that maybe if he is no longer her doctor she can pursue him further. That does not seem to be in the cards as he shows her the door. While she waits for the elevator, she considers going back because maybe he was waiting to see if she would come back and then … Kurt calls. What to do?
What did you think of this episode? Give us your thoughts in the comments section below.
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