Episode Report Card LuluBates: A | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Actus Reus
By LuluBates | Season 2 | Episode 7 | Aired on 02.18.2009
In a hurry? Read the recaplet for a nutshell description! Finished? Click here to close.Patty is finally ready to go public with her relationship with Frobisher. She just has to convince Ellen not to put all her new target practice skills to use on her lead plaintiff. Maybe she can distract her with some new leads on Frobisher's secret security team. But that evildoing murder mastermind Frobisher is gone. The new Frobisher had a jailhouse conversion and is now very spiritually minded and full of peace, love and the desire to do a downward-facing dog. Or at least he wants to pretend he had a spiritual awakening, because it's a great way to meet chicks. Mr. Cheeseburger wants Frobisher to pull out of the UNR lawsuit and back him in his move against Ellen and/or Katie, but Frobisher can't be bothered to revisit his past deeds while on the path of enlightenment. Mr. Cheeseburger won't take no for an answer, so he puts Wes in the awkward position of an Ellen/Katie sandwich.
Meanwhile Tom is in hot pursuit of a hooker (it's for work, honey, I swear!) after Claire Maddox defended the lovely lady of the night in court (which seems pretty unlikely for general counsel of an energy concern). When Patty realizes someone's name was redacted from the court documents, she is determined to find out who in the what now. Thus, the hooker. Seems that despite the economic downturn and the slashing of Wall Street bonuses, there is at least one energy trader who has enough pocket change to afford all the cocaine in Colombia (is that what Lester was doing down there?) and the company of a pretty lady. The coked-up trader is doing a deal for Kendrick or Lester (a.k.a. Dave), but he makes the hooker turn away from the computer screen so there are no witnesses. Clever fellow! Is it all about insider trading, then? It might be because Kendrick tells Claire that he has lined up a significant line of capital. Once the capital is in the company, the stock will rebound, and the lawsuit will be history. If that's the case, then what is Darrell Hammond doing in that damn Cadillac Escalade? And what are those mysterious coordinates?
When Ellen sees Uncle Pete sneaking around an office at night, she starts to wonder who Uncle Pete really is. This sets off a chain of events that is, well, sad. The FBI has a few answers for her, namely that Uncle Pete is a lifelong crook who Patty represented and apparently reformed. Or reformed enough to use for her own extracurricular activities. The FBI follows Pete, catches him in some dirty deeds, and gets him to agree to flip on Patty. But he wants to see his dying-of-cancer wife one more time before betraying his boss-turned-life coach. After delivering a present to his wife, Uncle Pete makes a quick stop at the medicine cabinet and swallows enough pills to fell Andre the Giant. He collapses in the middle of the wild goose chase he is leading the FBI on. He is loyal to Patty to the end. Sniff sniff.
Want more? The full recap starts right below!Ellen is the only attorney at Hewes & Associates who cares enough to work late. I don't know what sort of lackluster work ethic has infected the rest of the staff, but this sort of leaving-after-only-nine-hours behavior is truly unacceptable. No wonder Ellen is so firmly ensconced in Patty's inner circle -- no one else works so hard for Patty's love. Or they have lives. Ellen descends the stairs, books in hand (ooh books, how retro), and notices Uncle Pete sneaking around in the dark corners of the firm and slipping out of an office. He quietly shuts the door and furtively walks away. Since it was her office he was leaving, Ellen is just a little surprised. She trepidaciously opens the door, undoubtedly expecting to find an Edible Arrangement in the shape of a hand grenade or an enormous cookie with a heartfelt message inscribed in chocolate saying, "We're on to you," but instead she just finds a blinking hard drive and a warm monitor. She alerts the FBI to this office invasion and, as it turns out, Uncle Pete has a rap sheet as long as the beard of the guys from ZZ Top combined. Like, whoa, right? He has a criminal record that goes back fifty-odd years, but he turned over a new leaf when Patty Hewes got him off scott-free on some petty racketeering. He's been clean ever since. Ellen doinks herself in the head for being. So. Stupid. for not realizing that Uncle Pete wasn't just some quirky old man who was harmless except when armed with a dry cleaning rolling rack. By the way, Ellen's hair is back to being extremely complex. It seems to involve at least four bobby pins holding four curls that lead into a flat ponytail. There is no way she could do that without a few extra hands or extra bendy arms. Maybe both. Maybe she has a shrine to Kali Goddess of Complex Hairstyles in that hotel room of hers.
Patty has arranged a press conference to announce that Arthur Frobisher is her new leading man. Frobisher was hoping something like this might happen and he prepared a few remarks just in case. Patty looks over his two-page memorandum of greatness and rolls her eyes at his blatant pandering to the audience. Frobisher wants his reputation back and Patty, as the person who smeared him in the first place, is the only one who can help him. Patty giggles, "Yeah, wasn't that awesome? Good times, good times." Frobisher has purchased a spiritual awakening and he is ready to be a better person. And he knows he is a better person than environment-raper Walt Kendrick, so he is willing to help Patty in her quest. Patty points out that after the number she did on his name during the pension-raiding case, it will take more than a few good words from her to repair the damage. The defendants will try to destroy him (Really? In a shareholder suit? Huh.) Also, they need to vet his financials. Frobisher tells her to have it, he has nothing to hide under his flowing white caftan (Really? Even from Patty Hewes? Huh.) Their conversation is interrupted when Ellen knocks on the door. She stops short when she sees Frobisher sitting there. Her eyes get very wide and she does nothing but stare lamely like a bunny in headlights, as Patty re-introduces the two of them. I know Patty is supposed to be a heartless driven litigator, but damn, woman, that's cold!