The Firm. Helen is briefing the defense about DA Toome. She explains that he stays very neutral. Is this ethical? One team ratting out a member of the other team? Helen advises the lawyers not to try getting emotional; it won't work. Toome also doesn't object too much: "If he doesn't need to preserve something for appeal, he stays quiet." Lindsay "There's No Business Like Woe Business" Dole looks like she's about to burst into tears. Ellenor grumbles, "Great." And Eugene rallies the troops: "Come on, let's go." It's Day One of The Emperor's Final, Very Last, This Is The End Of The Line, How Many Times Can One Man Get Arrested, He's Really Innocent, Trial. Everyone pushes their chairs back and heads out of the conference room. Eugene asks Lucy if all of their bags are packed. Yes! Captain, sir! She inquires whether or not being on call for her rape crisis center will be a problem. Two sets of eyes roll: Bobby's and Eugene's. Rebecca pipes up: "I thought you were just in training?" The Emperor thought she was just working nights. Well, she finished training and she is volunteering nights. This is a one-time occurrence because a counselor came down with a mysterious illness. Ellenor rests her hand on her hip and drones, "We need you on call here." Lucy doesn't think it's a big deal: "They probably won't be calling me anyway." Which loosely translates to: They'll be calling in the hour. See, DEK can't leave a hint like that open-ended, because that would be television travesty. Then the schmarm starts: Rebecca hugs Bobby and wishes him the best; Jimmy tells the Emperor he'd rather be there too. Eugene tells them they can't have an army. They need some lawyers back at The Firm earning the money to pay for the fancy lifestyles everyone has become accustomed to living. A humble Emperor appreciates everyone's support. Then Team Defense rushes out to court.
There we see Eugene, Ellenor, and Bobby walking down the hall. Eugene is briefing Rod as the gang walks toward the elevator. He tells Bobby that there are lots of reporters on the sixth floor, and Rod should simply walk through them, looking humble but like a winner. Huh? As if Bobby could manage "humble" any day. Call it "haughty" and we've got a winning expression. As the three of them are headed up in the elevator, Detective Mike stops the closing doors and wrestles his way onto the car. The silence is cutting. Eugene and Bobby give him a simultaneous stink-eye. Traitor! Mike stands with his back to the crew. He can feel the Emperor's steely blue eyes boring their way into his back. It's the knife I bet Rod wished he had handy. Oh, wait, right, it's Neal who goes around killing people, not Bobby. Channeling a grade-three schoolyard brawl, Bobby growls, "Thanks a lot, Mike." Eugene chastises him, but that doesn't stop a Rod on a roll: "We're friends." This time it's Ellenor who begs him to stop. A painful silence surrounds the group as the elevator climbs steadily upwards.
The Firm. A very aptly placed Sky Tel pager buzzes to Lucy's head. Rebecca notices Lucy looking toward the pager but not moving and asks, "Aren't you going to get that?" Little Lucy looks positively stunned. "That's my rape center pager." Well, it seems you have a call. She grabs the pager and just stares at the number in disbelief.
La Hospital. Lucy is standing in the middle of what appears to be a busy emergency room. Perhaps they've used the leftover Chicago Hope set for this scene. A nurse named Caroline walks up and calls, "Lucy Hatcher?" Little Lucy answers, "From the Rape Crisis Center." Caroline explains that the victim is in room three, and her name is Maddie Warner. She's twenty-two years old. Lucy asks whether or not the police brought her in to the hospital. The two start walking down the hallway. After stating she does think that the police brought her in, Caroline explains that Maddie has trauma to her face and neck, and defensive wounds on her hands. As she points down the hall, she lets Lucy know the victim is "in there." Lucy hovers in the hallway for a while before she walks toward the exam room.
Once Little Lucy is inside, she says quietly, "Hi Maddie." She walks deeper into the room and introduces herself by saying that she's from the rape crisis center. The young woman is cowering on the hospital bed. She's curled up in the fetal position, and she's shaking. Lucy explains that she's going to help her through this: "Is there anybody that you'd like me to call? A friend or a family member?" Maddie shivers and nods her head. The "counseling" part of Lucy's job continues as she explains what's going to happen . The procedures the doctor will follow are explained, but Lucy looks, and sounds, extremely uneasy. Maddie is still shaking on the table. Little Lucy moves forward toward the side of the bed where Maddie is curled up. The young woman's face is beaten to a pulp. Honestly, most of her face is the colour of the inside of a blood orange. It is a deep, scary kind of red. One of her eyes is swollen shut like she's George Foreman after the Rumble in the Jungle. Lucy swallows and gasps for air; she hopes the Symphony of the Seriously Injured will hold her up. Maddie's lip is painfully split. Lucy tries to explain that the young woman doesn't have to do the rape kit if she doesn't want to, but that it'll help if she ever wants to prosecute. Maddie is still shaking. Lucy whispers, "Can I get you anything?" A violin masquerading as a siren wallows in the background, begging to be put out of its misery. Again, Lucy asks if she can get Maddie anything, a blanket maybe? As Little Lucy reaches for a blue hospital blanket, she gestures toward Maddie as if to offer up its warmth. Maddie screams and says, "No!" Then she screams some more. And then she screams some more, clutching her hands in front of her face. Poor girl. If DEK weren't so damn heavy-handed, this might actually be a good scene. Sigh -- but serious subject matter always ends up sinking to the bottom of DEK's creative ocean like the Titanic. Lucy apologies. Maddie wails. Then Lucy runs out of the room sobbing and we fade into commercials.
“ Yeah, get over yourself already, Lucy-cakes; it's hard, sure, but the poor thing in the exam room is most certainly having a WORSE day that you are. ”
We're back in court to hear Alan Neal's testimony. He tells everyone that he'd been a client at The Firm for about ten years or so, but then says, "Not lately though, because I've been law-abiding." Toome asks when Bobby last defended him, and Neal responds that it's been about eight years. They go through the litany of Alan's charges. Then Toome wants to know about their "relationship." Blah dee blah they were mostly lawyer/client, blah dee blah but when you "allegedly" kill someone, blah dee blah dude gives you back your freedom, blah dee flipping blah you owe him your life. Well, maybe if he's Tony Freaking Soprano. Oddly, getting people off (so to speak) is Bobby's JOB. Back on topic, Alan moves on to answering questions about the meeting between himself and the Emperor. Toome wants to know what happened. In his oh-so-eloquent manner, Neal says, "Well, he told me he just got married and that he's having a little problem. I figured he just wanted me to kill his wife." This prompts Lindsay to roll her eyes all the way to the North Pole, back down to the South Pole, and rest them somewhere in Fiji on the way back. Neal states that Bobby told him a "psycho was threatening her, that he could harm her, and he wanted me to take care of it." The DA wants to know how Neal interpreted Rod's plea. Neal answers, "Kill him." Did they discuss a price? $50,000. Did he pay you? Not yet. But Neal figured "he was good for it." Jackass. When did he want you to kill him? Immediately. There is fire surging out of the Emperor's nostrils. With his hands securely fixed underneath the defense's table, his anger needs somewhere to go, and Rod is having a hard time concealing his disgust for Alan "Hannibal Faker" Neal. , Neal states point-blank that he got the address for Hinks from Bobby, went over to William's house, and waited patiently for him to come home, then cut his head off and conveniently placed it in the freezer for safe-keeping. The gallery is miserably silent. Bobby shakes his head, and the fire comes out of his ears this time. Lindsay "Fourth and Whine" Dole's tear ducts fill with the immeasurable sadness she feels. Toome plays the tape. Oh, the tape, blah repeatedly blah angry man, blah repetitively blah jokes from Hinks, blah dee over and over again blah it's payback you little weasel, blah dee blah the police are on their way, blah dee again and again blah Hinks has cooties, blah dee please make it stop blah the soon-to-be-decapitated dead man quips, groan, bang, whack, glass crashes, the tape comes to a merciful end. I wish I could say the same for the Waltz of William Hinks. Toome pushes the stop button: "Does this tape represent an accurate account of the events as they happened that night?" Alan nods. Bobby seethes. Ragdoll snores.
The hospital. Caroline, the saintly nurse, comforts Lucy, because she's having a bad day -- never mind the poor girl who has just been raped and almost beaten to death. It's poor, poor Lucy. Caroline: "You should have told me it was your first. The doctor's almost ready for the exam. Are you coming back in?" After swabbing her face with a compress, Lucy makes some sort of inaudible "Argh" sound. The nurse wants to know if she needs to call the crisis center and get another counselor down there. No, she's okay; Caroline gives her the what-for. Lucy won't do anyone any good if she runs out of the room again. Yeah, get over yourself already, Lucy-cakes; it's hard, sure, but the poor thing in the exam room is most certainly having a WORSE day that you are. Lucy intones, "I'm fine." Caroline asks how old she is, and Lucy ignores her question: "Let's go." Only she doesn't look very convinced.