Bull Season 3 Episode 11
Diana Lindsay (Jill Flint) returned and gets Bull’s heart pounding.
Wait. That’s not necessarily a good thing.
Heard you on the phone.
The episode opened up starting from a few days back. Claire and Randy spontaneously took the leap and had their nuptials during their trip. In Thailand, Claire explained this to her aunt as they boarded their plane for home. New hubby Randy tossed their stuff in the overhead and seated when Claire’s boss called as well.
In the matter of The People v. Claire and Randy Markes
The potential case became obvious when Claire, over the phone, gave her elderly boss her combination to a safe because he couldn’t remember his.
Claire remarked to Randy that her boss, Mr. Greene, wanted to make them a ring. And when a beat later, a considerate passenger (big clue here) struck up a conversation with Claire, the real culprit was apparent as well.
Not the most complicated mystery ever. The episode gave us a few parallels to focus on instead. Rather than focus on whodunnit, we’re focused on the people steering the case instead.
I feel so cheap when women just use me for my mind.
The newlywed couple was arrested for armed robbery, a murder charge hovering ahead should the jewelry store owner, poor Mr. Greene dies. Claire and Randy are standing trial together.
Two separate defense teams. Working together.
Diana, Claire’s aunt, flew in from Texas to help with the case and called Bull in for reinforcements.
Bull (Michael Weatherly) and Diana worked respectively for the husband and wife but were determined to also function as a team, united like Claire and Randy to show the courts and jury a positive impression. So we got two pairings, working the case.
Diana Lindsay was one of the more interesting guests Bull had throughout the season. Her on again-off again relationship with Jason Bull whenever she came to town always made for some fun television.
When Bull reunited with Diana in the courthouse, she remarked there was a bit “less of him” this time. While she was commenting about the weight loss, it was also a bit of commentary and foreshadowing that things are different this time around. So when Diana invited Bull for a drink after arraignment, there’s dread when Bull agreed with only a bit of hesitation.
Give me a call if I have anything I need to worry about on that other front.
The next day, Marissa (Geneva Carr) fretted to Benny (Freddy Rodriguez) that Bull sounded like the ‘old Bull’ on the phone. She voiced out loud what I was worried about: could Diana lead Bull astray back to his old ways? We saw how well that turned out for him.
I didn’t know you needed to practice. I thought you were retired.
Benny didn’t appear too worried until he arrived at court. He found Diana pacing outside and Bull taking a siesta minutes before court.
Throughout the season so far, references to Bull and his heart attack was done subtly: the new treadmill, the staying away from bad food, the casual throwaway lines about only drinking water. We got the idea Bull was trying his best to keep on track.
But here we have Diana, a remnant of the ‘old Bull’ and a lifestyle Jason Bull worked hard to divorce from.
Marissa’s worry shed new light into Bull and Diana’s dynamic. Diana’s the imp off Bull’s shoulder, whispering him to stray. The fact Bull did with minimal protest was worrying.
It’s the last night of summer vacation; I want to go dancing.
The next night, Diana wanted to go daning. For the first time, Bull checked his pulse yet still followed her to a club. After having her drink, Bull joined in with her.
It wasn’t until they were back in her hotel room, did it sink in for Bull.
Bull faced himself in the mirror, his heart pounded loud in his ears. He rechecked his pulse; an excellent metaphor for him of reality checking in. He left, with a stumbling explanation that wasn’t an explanation after all. Diana was left confused and more than a little hurt.
She’s my Clairey. Works in the store. She’s a lifesaver.
The episode moved on to a very awkward morning at court. Claire’s boss took the stand the next day. We’re made to believe this darling old man may save the case. Instead, his testimony ended up damning the couple deeper into suspicion.
Call me crazy, but I sense some antagonism here in the back seat.
At this point, the united front started cracking between the newlyweds and the defense team. Even Benny felt the tension in a hilarious scene where he sat between Bull and Diana in the ride home from court, him repeating weakly he could take the subway back instead.
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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