So the episode synopsis for Bad Beat said something about Lindsey Gort being missing and I got real hopeful she was leaving the show—the cast is way too big anyway and she’s obnoxious—but she gets back pretty quick. Wilson Bethel’s all worried about her but she just went to her place, which she’s been keeping through the pandemic because Bethel’s too good of friends with Simone Missick for Gort to commit to their relationship.
Gort’s worried Bethel’s going to sabotage his career by going after lying cops who framed someone. But it’s okay in the end because not only does Bethel have Steven Williams on his side—Williams gets a major sidekick demotion here—but also now Audrey Corsa. Corsa’s the assistant in the D.A.’s office whose been seeing J. Alex Brinson casually; she hates cops because her family is all cops and they gave her a “get out of jail free” white girl card she apparently used a lot and feels really bad about that privilege.
The episode’s got an interesting take on cops being shitty this episode because it seems like Missick’s finally going to realize her husband, Todd Williams, manipulates, coerces, and psychologically abuses people to get them to work for the FBI, not to mention boss Marg Helgenberger viciously using her position as judge to terrorize the marginalized and scared.
It’s all happy by the end of the episode or whatever but for a while it seems like “All Rise” might actually do some real character development, which would be particularly nice for Missick since her plot line this episode is basically being helpless because she’s pregnant (and tired all the time) and then something something with her impartiality or whatever.
It doesn’t matter. The legalese of “All Rise” is the most disposable thing about the show, which is saying something.
Brinson’s got a not bad subplot about how he doesn’t just want to throw more Black kids in jail. He tries talking to boss Reggie Lee about it, but Lee shuts him down (to later tell Brinson all he had to do was ask to talk to him about it). Jessica Camacho’s part of the Missick and Williams case, which she complicates because she’s waging war on the D.A.’s office. Unfortunately Tom Gallop’s a pretty weak foil as the A.D.A. she’s bickering with.
There’s a subplot about Lindsay Mendez palling around with Helgenberger and hustling the other judges for poker. It’s like they needed to use guest stars Paul McCrane (who also directed) and Peter MacNichol so they got to play in this pointless subplot.
Then there’s Samantha Marie Ware getting involved with Ruthie Ann Miles’s (entirely offscreen) love life problems; it’s almost like they’ve got way too many cast members and nowhere near enough story.
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