Bluff City Law – Perfect Day
Oh. My. Goodness. This episode blew me away. Let’s get to the recap and hope I can collect my own thoughts for the end.
Will Sydney keep her license?
We open with Sydney stubbornly refusing to tell the judge where her client is and Elijah making sure she understands the stakes. This could be a career breaker for her, land her in jail and change her life forever.
The second piece of this puzzle comes as a dramatic introduction to Layla Hosmani. We sense Sydney being followed in the parking garage and just as we are sure something is about to happen to Sydney, it is Layla. She attended school at Vanderbilt while Sydney was there, but why stalk her in a dark parking garage at night? Her life is on the line.
Layla is a Saudi Arabian journalist whose work has crossed the government. Having fled to the United States via Jordan, she planned to seek asylum in the US. By the time she arrived in DC, her own government had labeled her a terrorist negating any claim to asylum. If she contacts US authorities she will be deport and killed upon arrival in her own country. So, Elijah has Bri take her to a safe location while they work on a plan. Brianna has her hands full trying to keep a journalist off the grid.
Strait and Associates pull out all the heavy hitters for this kind of case and Elijah, Sydney and Anthony team up. After reviewing the evidence sent by the Saudi government in requesting Layla’s extradition, Elijah asks where they are. To give both Anthony and Elijah plausible deniability, she declines to tell them and offers to call Brianna.
Here they come…
As Anthony calls her paranoid, Della is ushering a US Attorney, US Marshall and the attaché’ from the Saudi consulate. The situation quickly escalates when the US Attorney attempts to deescalate. The extradition hearing has been set for the next day, not giving the team much time.
In the safe house, Briana keeps losing at backgammon because “a woman on the run needs funds”. Sydney calls with news of the hearing the next day and a still not solid plan of attack. Back in the courtroom, the judge warns Sydney again. Sydney refuses to reveal the location of Layla and is remanded into custody. Elijah assures her they won’t stop until Layla is safe and Sydney is out.
Taking over for Sydney, Elijah delivers a powerful argument on the bravery of journalists speaking truth to power and how it does not make her a terrorist. How she is brave to risk it all to speak truth and that appearing in court would be to sentence her to death.
As Elijah seems to be making the smallest progress in discrediting the “evidence” the prosecution brings in a witness, Farhad Hosmani, Layla’s brother. Elijah and Anthony discuss a cross examination strategy via legal pad. Fearing he would be killed if they questioned him, they pass on the cross. As court recesses until morning, the judge tells Elijah he will recommend felony aiding and abetting charges for Sydney and transfer to a federal facility if she doesn’t produce Layla to the court.
After discussing the situation with Layla, they find their plan. The team persuades the judge to allow Layla to testify from a remote unknown location. The camera operator “clumsily” reveals the location and room number of the camera’s location. The ball is set in motion as the Saudi consulate sends assassins to the broadcasted location. Tension builds as we watch men walking through the halls, using a taser on a member of the housekeeping staff to get a key and waiting for the inevitable.
The lawyers of Strait and Associates had a better plan than that. They relocated Layla to another room but left the camera to capture the evidence. The US Attorney dismisses the case and grants Layla and her brother safety in the US. One more time Elijah, Sydney and Anthony have managed to win an impossible case.
As Sydney is processed out, she tells Elijah about the case she caught while behind bars. He is even less surprised by it than we are as viewers. Yes, Sydney helps the young art student out as well.
In Jail
Without surprising anyone, Sydney doesn’t just sit idly by while she is in jail. She meets her next-door cellmate. Tony, a young art student arrested for vandalism and at risk of losing his scholarship if he pleads guilty. Why did he do it? For a girl. He painted her name on the building with hummingbirds. Sydney asked if it worked. “We’ll see.”
Thankful for Elijah
Flashback to 24 hours earlier where we find Emerson assembling a video of “Thanks to Elijah”. Della attempts to rush off before making the video but chooses to make time to honor Elijah and try to help him through his first Thanksgiving without Carolyn.
While he secretly tries to edit his video, Elijah checks in to see if eating out is genuinely ok for the holiday. Elijah reminisces about Thanksgiving being the perfect day when Carolyn was alive.
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