Why don’t you tell me what spooked you so bad that you had to see me at 7:00 in the morning?
Bull met with his cardiac doctor before the trial. This was the first time the show dealt with Bull’s heart attack directly rather than the almost innocuous comments through the season.
It was an honest conversation between Bull and his doctor, absent of the wisecracking and often disparaging humor Bull often used to distance himself from uncomfortable things.
The doctor told Bull that it “The problem is not with your heart. The problem’s in your head, said the heart surgeon to the head doctor.”
This was a much-welcomed scene. We’re nearly halfway into the season; the subject of Bull’s heart attack and the behavior that ultimately led to it was never approached in depth. The doctor encouraged Bull to let Diana know what happened to him last May.
Is our alliance here starting to fall apart?
But before Bull could, he returned to court and to closed doors. Diana met Claire alone; the first sign of the partnership going wrong. And bit by bit, even the newlyweds started to split. Doubt rose among the ranks when Randy’s statement about his cap was in question.
Randy’s ex-fiancé took the stand. Like Claire’s boss, her testimony at first looked good for Randy. He had contacted her to get back a ring to give to Claire. But when questioned further, we found out he saw her on the night Claire and Randy stated was their alibi.
Claire flinched away from Randy. Diana jumped up to cross-examine and throw the suspicion entirely on Randy instead.
What do you know, “backstabbing” isn’t grounds for objection.
Before it went any further, Bull put a stop to this. Behind closed doors, both pairs who were united at the beginning of the episode started pointing fingers at each other.
Bull and Diana found out Claire gave her combination out loud over the phone in a crowded plane; a detail conveniently left out in the start of the case. Bull called Taylor to find out who were the passengers and surprise-surprise, it was the friendly passenger who sat next to Claire.
Bless you, again, Mr. McCall.
Chunk, later on, followed the passenger from his home to a bar, making sure he stayed there while the police execute their search warrant. He advised McCall to remain seated and enjoy his drink because “You’re not gonna be having one of those for a long time.”
The stolen goods were found. The real bad guy was found. The accessory confessed. Claire and Randy’s case was dismissed.
I’m not really good alone.
Diana extended an olive branch by way of a drink. Bull agreed, but when they got to the hotel, he steered her away from the bar. He started to explain why, Diana tried to tell Bull he didn’t have to, but Bull countered that he wanted to.
Thing is I’m actually trying not to drink.
In a way, Diana may have made the peace offering, but it was Bull who made peace with his old life. As he and Diana walked to, presumedly, her hotel room, I got the impression their relationship evolved to a new level with this moment of trust he was about to give her.
Let’s be honest: the case was one of the weakest of the season. Crime, method and culprit were answered in the first five minutes. However, what we received in exchange was Bull finally facing what his heart attack did.
Diana was a walking and flirting symbol of his old life. She liked fun. She liked having a drink. And she liked having company for it. She wasn’t evil or wrong in any sense, but she was the ‘fun’ part Bull tried to deny himself since the beginning of the third season. He gave in for a brief moment but later ran off rather than cope with it. In the end, he reconciled with Diana and in a way, with himself.
If we’re not gonna go to the bar, what would you like to do?
Regrettably, while I enjoyed the focus on Bull and Diana, I also wished there was more for the rest of the cast involved.
Benny as Randy’s lawyer was understandably on screen the most. But there was very little else of Marissa and the others. I enjoyed Marissa’s scene, her worry about Bull; it hinted how much she knew Diana’s return could affect Bull.
However, there wasn’t much for the others to do. It would have been nice to get their reactions as well. If anything, verbalizing their concerns to newcomer Taylor would have been nice.
Chunk’s participation in trailing the real culprit was ill-fitted for the scene; it felt contrived, almost obligatory to included someone from the TAC team. Danny would have been a logical choice as there was no guarantee the culprit wasn’t violent.
There were great moments in this episode; moments I enjoyed enough to forgive the weak case. However, it was too heavily one-sided, mostly on Bull and Diana, leaving the others on the wayside.
Bull‘s strength was in its cast. While Bull and Diana were enjoyable, the rest of the cast was glaringly absent.
A scene or two with the TAC team and their views on Diana’s return would have elevated the episode. It’s not enough to make it personal—in particularly for Bull—with no one else around to witness what he’s going through or interact.
The episode was about pairs (Claire and Randy, Bull and Diana) but without the rest of the cast, it felt like Bull was very much alone.
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