‘Bull’ episode 12 review: A hostage crisis forces Danny to face off with her past
Well, this episode of “Bull” was a little different!
For the most part, we consider the CBS show to be fairly lighthearted in tone. While it does take on serious topics, we don’t often think as though any of the main characters are in danger. That changed tonight with a hostage crisis kicking off the episode.
In the early going this week, we met our client, who threatened both Bull and his entire team to look more into the case of Gordon Guthrie, her husband and a man she claimed was wrongfully convicted. She wanted justice, and she wanted him to be able to get a District Attorney to re-open the case. She also had a personal reason for getting involved with the TAC, given that Danny James was the person at the center of said case so many years ago.
There was a certain bottle-episode element of the case, given that we spent the great deal of time flashing back and forth between some of the wife’s memories and experiences and everything that was going on with the TAC. While we didn’t see the team actually go into a public courtroom this week, we still saw a mock trial that was used in order to determine whether or not Gordon should be found guilty — again. Let’s just say the results were surprising.
Breaking Danny – This may have been the hardest part of the whole episode to watch, mostly because of the sole fact that Bull determined that the only way to start to get to the truth at the center of the case was to get to her personally. He made it known through putting her on the stand that she was supposedly under the influence of hallucinogens at the time in which she was investigating the Guthrie case. He helped Gordon get a simulated not-guilty verdict without him even being in the room. It was only after Bull did that when he started to explain some of his reasoning: His interrogation of Danny was what he would have done if his goal was specifically to clear Gordon’s name — making her look bad was a compelling way to go about it.
When he highlighted later just how qualified and smart Danny was, Bull managed to reach his final conclusion: Gordon actually was a murderer all along, and the wife had spent so much time trying to clear a guilty man. This was a big twist, given that effectively, all of her efforts holding the team hostage were for naught.
Eventually, the authorities came in, and everyone in the TAC had their freedom. It was at this point where Bull and the team had a chance to finally relax, and for him to make it clear to Danny that he believed in her. It was pretty rough of him to cause her to go through everything she did in this episode, just to be told that she was a valuable member of the team in the end. Then again, this was all an exercise — one she passed, and one Bull used to perfectly puppeteer his way to an endgame.
Overall – We’re torn on this episode, mostly because there was such a big part of it that didn’t feel like the “Bull” we’ve come to know and love over time. While we did appreciate getting to know a little bit more about Danny, at the same time we just aren’t use to seeing Jason come down so hard on someone that works for him. It’s a good thing that it was all a ruse in the closing minutes. Given that we’ve been calling for the show to shake things up, it’d be hypocritical to come down on them too hard. Grade: B.
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