Bull season 2 premiere review: Michael Weatherly show takes a step up

Just fifteen minutes into the Bull season 2 premiere, one thing was clear: This show already had found its way better than it did during much of the first season. This was a very entertaining start to the season! There was a lot of laughter, and to go along with that, some interesting character development.

At the center of everything tonight was the state of the TAC, which wasn’t exactly all that profitable despite having top-of-the-line equipment and a boss with a tendency to win almost every single case. Marissa went through the numbers, and it was clear that he was in some deep trouble. He wanted to pay Chunk more to keep him in New York, but realized soon after that this may not happen. With all of this, he needed a big case in order to get a hefty paycheck — and the case revolving around the Clayton Communications was simply that. Kara Clayton (Minka Kelly) is the wife of a powerful media billionaire, and when he so happened to die (in the midst of what may have been a violent fight between the two), she found herself a murder suspect. The Clayton family out to not only wanted to take away the company from her (which made sense, given its value of more than $6 billion), but she wanted her behind bars.

Well, there were two things that complicated the case greatly for Bull: The presence of Diana Lindsay (Jill Flint) representing Kara, and also Kara not being interested in a $500 MILLION settlement. Seriously. That’s a ton of money. She wanted to go to trial, and this is when things really started to ramp things up. Benny went to work in the courtroom, making it clear that Mr. Clayton’s arrangement with Kara meant that if they divorced, she’d get a tiny fraction of what she got in the event that her husband died. He made a compelling argument, but there was one clear problem: Diana Lindsay. When he found out that one of the jurors was from Diana’s hometown, he insisted that she was a plant. That led to him calling Diana in the middle of the night, proclaiming that he was going to get her for everything terrible that she did. Bull freaking out = awesome entertainment.

Bull may have been wrong about the juror — a refreshing change — but he was right about one thing: How screwed that he was, since Kara Clayton did have a compelling story as to why her husband stabbed him and the abusive history that she had with her husband. It was an emotional curveball, and one that caused the team to get creative. They used her educational history against her, and use a breakthrough (thanks to Danny) in order to make it clear that Kara stabbed herself, knowing that she could do so without killing herself in the process.

Overall CarterMatt Verdict

Bull won the case! At least it was different this time, no? Not only that, but one of the conditions of him working the case was to give Chunk a scholarship to stay in the city. He also gave some of his team members raises to boot. Happy team, happy life, right?

We do have to say that in terms of fun and creative storytelling, the Bull season 2 premiere was far and away better than most season 1 episodes. It utilized Michael Weatherly’s charm to the fullest, and presented a character who was a little more of an unintentional savant than someone who just so happened to be right all the time.

What’s ahead on Bull season 2 episode 2?

If you head over to this link, you can read even more news in regards to what’s coming up next. Also, share your thoughts on the premiere episode below, and visit our CarterMatt Facebook page for more Bull updates! (Photo: CBS.)