BULL 2x03 "A Business of Favours"

"A Business of Favours" took an interesting plot premise - the accidental-or-not-so-accidental drowning of a frat boy during a college hazing - and showed us the behind-the-scenes machinations of court life, showed us how lawyers (or a certain trial scientist), might use a variety of underhanded tactics, charm and all-round guile to win a favourable verdict.

   In this case, a guilty verdict - and semi-justice - relies on Bull manipulating the fifteen frat boys until one capitulates under the mighty pressure and testifies to the events that caused Sam Whalen's death. It's a nice format shift: although plenty of the drama takes place in court, the emphasis on Bull's fluid tactical decisions outside of the courtroom was a breath of fresh air (and again, I feel some of the Bull in this episode was vastly different from the person he was in season 1). When Mohammed wouldn't go to the mountain, Bull took the mountain to Mohammed and switched from pressuring all fifteen frat boys to one, to flat-out tripping one into perjury before, faced with 25 years in prison (the threat itself another bluff), the truth was revealed. And it was, and semi-justice was served (personally, 2 years for the instigator and the other 14 getting off with 500 hours of community service were far too light, even after Bull put in a good word).

   But trying to win a trial without any evidence was only part of the drama. The other main source of drama came from the Assistant District Attorney, Richmond Abernathy, son of Judge Abernathy, who presided over some of Bull's cases in the first season. Richmond was - at least in the beginning - sceptical of Bull's psychological analysis, even after calling Bull in to help (which provides me another highlight of the episode: Bull being drafted to analyse suspects on behalf of the police department. That was a thoroughly unique opening to an episode that didn't feature any other main cast character until 11.5 minutes had passed).

   Although this episode was significantly low in trial science, as it were, given that we saw mention of mirror jurors on only a couple of brief occasions, its deviation from Bull's usual style is a symptom of the show's ongoing transition under the new showrunner.

Bull is curious about Marissa's tardiness.
Image: CBS

   So too is the heightened character focus: this week, Marissa, whose uncharacteristic tardiness perturbs Bull to the point that I genuinely felt Marissa is more important to Bull in a professional sense than Bull is to Marissa. I'd like Bull to recognise that sometime, as it might do to bring his character down a peg or too. On the plus side, however, Marissa's tardiness had a reason: she was enjoying the early ecstasies of a new relationship. I hope we can see a little more of this down the line, but I would also prefer the episode-by-episode window into different characters would be less emphatic (Chunk in the premiere, Danny in episode 2, Marissa in episode 3). It feels a little forced and unnatural, and is perhaps something the show can consider going forward.

A new outlook on courtroom machinations, combined with the typically Bull sceptical lawyer and some decent character drama made for a good episode. But no more than that. "A Business of Favours" lacked the emotion of the second episode, or the shock of the premiere, instead falling into an acceptable middle ground. This wasn't a memorable episode, but it wasn't a forgettable one either. And sometimes, those episodes are just what's needed.

RATING: 7.5/10

POINTS OF NOTE

• Can Richmond Abernathy be the next Liberty Davis? Probably not, but if not could we have Liberty back again?
• "Threshold number" is a very interesting concept.
• Michael Weatherly kills this show as Dr. Bull. I think this every episode.

BULL 2x04 "The Illusion of Control" PROMO