In a hurry? Read the recaplet for a nutshell description! Finished? Click here to close. So, like, have you guys ever wondered if we recappers sometimes write these recaplets, like, piss-assed drunk? Well, I'm not saying that happens as a matter of course, but it's seventy-five degrees here tonight, which is margarita weather, and I'm just fast-forwarding through the American Idol results show before I do anything else, but yeah, I'm at least half in the bag here. OK, Desperate Housewives previews, Nicolette Sheridan looking about seventy-five somehow, previouslies, trolleys, some newspaper guy babbling at Eli as he has a vision of the year 2018, people shouting "Live Brave" over and over again for some reason, some African-American named "David Mosely" for some reason, Sassy Patti and Maggie bonding and forcing Eli to take a case involving gay chimps, which as I remember was a Will And Grace plotline if you replace "chimps" with "penguins," a MILF from the London office who's apparently the missing partner and is played by Peg from Married With Children showing up with concerns about Eli, Matt going to Eli for romantic advice about Taylor and Eli getting him and Taylor to represent the gay chimps, Eli realizing that Mosely is a former client of Keith's who led hunger strikes in prison and pulling Keith into the case, Taylor bitching Eli out for being jealous of Matt, Mosely getting attacked in prison, Eli and Keith deploying the whole team of associates to help in a class-action suit on behalf of prisoners in Mosely's prison and Peg The MILF busting their chops, Asian Judge I love agreeing to hear the gay-chimp case, Maggie pretending she has a fiancé named Scott, Sassy Patti rightfully (!) ripping a strip off both Taylor and Matt, Eli having a future vision of Keith, himself, and Maggie…with his child (baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarf), Taylor falling in love with a chimp, besides Matt I mean, some witness betraying Keith and Eli, Maggie disgustingly saving the day, Pete the chimp taking the stand and warming our gay hearts, including that of Awesome Female Asian Judge, Eli really kicking dirty ass and taking douchebag names, Peg The MILF making sure she's going to be a thorn in Eli's side for the duration, Keith teaching Mosely the ins and outs of the law, Taylor, Matt, and Sassy Patti bonding over the reuniting of the gay chimps, Taylor throwing Matt a challenge, and one more vision, in which Mosely lauds Eli for being a champion of the people. I…kept drinking while I was writing that. Did it show? Want more? The full recap starts right below!
We follow Eli as he crosses a street and stops at a newspaper stand. He greets the proprietor with a "Morning, Bill," which prompts the inquiry, "How long have you been buying your newspaper at this stand, Mr. Stone?" Not as long as you've been wearing those checkered newsboy caps, Vendor Exposition, and you can feel free to take that as a hint. Eli thinks it's been since he moved into his place five years earlier, and the guy babbles that he knows about Taylor and Maggie, yet Eli doesn't know that his name is actually Hank. Eli doesn't really so much care, which is something we have in common, and then he frowns as he sees a story in the paper about the U.S. completing its withdrawal from Iraq, and fog kicks up over the screen...
...and then we see the date on the paper: Tuesday, October 16, 2018. I can't be bothered to check to see whether that date will actually be a Tuesday, so apparently there are limits to my propensity to be a know-it-all, which is personally surprising to me. Anyway, it's night in what looks like a green-screened Times Square, and there's a huge crowd chanting "Live Brave" and holding signs that say the same. Eli watches as an African-American man climbs some steps up to a nearby podium, and yells over the crowd to ask a neighboring woman who the speaker is. "David Mosley" is the response...
...segueing into Chen asking, "David who?" After some George-Michael-based chitchat, Chen points out that since Eli still thinks his visions are random hallucinations, he's not sure what he can do for him. First off, I cannot believe that Eli or anyone else still thinks that after last week. Up until then, I was willing to buy the ebb and flow of his belief, especially after the whole Silver Terrace debacle, but this is twice now that he's seen things in the past that he could never have known about otherwise. Those can't be random hallucinations -- it's odd to say this, but the only logical explanation for those occurrences is the guidance of a higher power. However, just because I agree with Chen doesn't mean I don't think he's being a little "I'm not angry, just disappointed" about the whole thing. Anyway, Chen counsels Eli to find out if Mosley actually exists in the present. Geez, Eli, if you couldn't think of that on your own, maybe you need the brain surgery just to get a little smarter.
Eli is telling Sassy Patti (I've come back around to it) that he needs her to search for David Mosleys, but Sassy Patti (and Maggie, TF?) aren't paying attention, instead intently watching Patti's computer screen, which is playing a video of a chimp. It's cool if that's what you're into, I guess, but I'm surprised the company doesn't block those sites. Anyway, Eli actually gets slightly annoyed at Sassy Patti's complete ignorance of him, to which she cryptically (and sassily!) responds, "You scratch my back, I scratch yours." That sounds fair -- no need to let the fact that you get PAID TO DO A JOB enter into it. Parents, if you want your kids to get ahead in the world, raise them sassy! Anyway, Patti is all upset because the zoo took away the chimp's mate, and he's now heartbroken as a result. Maggie wonders if that's a violation of Equal Protection, opining that the state can't separate her from her fiancé. Eli, looking at the screen: "That's your fiancé? You didn't tell me you were engaged to a monkey!" Hee. Patti corrects him that he's a chimp, and a gay chimp to boot, as he, Steve, and his partner, Pete, face the problem that "some right-wing closed-minded crazies are trying to keep them apart." Eli says he doesn't practice chimp law, but Sassy Patti tells him he will if he wants her to find Mosley, and then goes back to cooing over the chimps. Patti should just give in and start singing at gay bars around the city -- she could easily pass for a drag queen.
In the staff meeting, Jordan is just starting to jauntily announce the "summer associate recruiting program" when he looks up and intones, "Marci." It's Katey Sagal, of Married...With Children and Futurama fame, and whom I actually recapped once before...in the ABC Family Channel's TV movie Campus Confidential. I will try not to hold a grudge, Katey. Also, if I remember right, she's a very accomplished singer, so assuming she's sticking around, as this episode makes seem evident, I'm looking forward to hearing her musical numbers. Anyway, Marci says not to let her interrupt, and Jordan responds, "Too late." Ooh, tension from the get-go. I like it. Taylor also fixes her with a less-than-thrilled look, and Jordan introduces Marci as the "Klein" in "Weathersby, Posner, and," and also calls her "the colonizer of our London office." Marci wastes no time in going up to Eli and dripping fake concern as she asks if he should be sitting. Eli says he's fine, so Marci moves back to Jordan, interrupting him again and, presumably referring to the fact that all the associates are present for the meeting, saying she admires how "egalitarian" they've become. Jordan ignores her, but Katey Sagal has managed with just a few lines to establish herself as a powerful adversary to Jordan. I knew that Campus Confidential thing was just a fluke.
After the meeting, Matt catches Eli and, after mentioning that his night of passion with Taylor didn't actually include penetration (thanks for that, dude), asks Eli for romantic advice on his ex-fiancée. Eli, basically: "You cannot be serious." Matt, basically: "Yes I can." Eli, however, takes a moment and gets An Idea, and tells Matt that he must know how much Taylor loves animals, as "anyone who knows her" is aware that her passion is animal rights. Hee. Eli grabs some flunky's monitor, which conveniently happens to be displaying Pete and Steve, and tells Matt that there's a lawsuit in progress to reunite the chimps. He says that he was going to take it himself, and then awesomely fakes grudging acceptance as he offers it to Matt instead so he can co-counsel with Taylor. Matt calls him an "extraordinary human being," and walks off in satisfaction. Eli: "So are you." Hee. Seriously, though, he's prissy and effeminate, can't keep up a relationship with a woman, and now is being awesomely bitchy and calculating. It's San Francisco, Eli -- do you know how well you'd do on the other team?
Eli tells Sassy Patti that he got Matt to take the case, and although she doesn't look over the moon about that, she gives up a list of the David Mosleys between the ages of twenty and forty she found, which unfortunately numbers fifty-three. Sassy Patti tells him that the extra work will be karmic payback for throwing the case to Matt, but Eli, looking at the list, says he thinks he knows which one he's looking for. He kind of gloats about it too, and his attractiveness is growing so exponentially that I expect him to be six inches taller by the end of the episode.
So the thing that made Eli pick the particular David Mosley he did is that Keith represented him a long time ago, as Eli is now telling the man in question in the break room. Keith uncertainly acknowledges this, saying it was on a felony murder case, and Eli reads that Mosley is currently serving twenty-five to life at "Tipton Bay." He goes on that he's going to visit him, and since Keith is his last attorney of record, he thought he might want to come along. Keith shows he's not a masochist by being like, "Uh, no," a sentiment he repeats when Eli asks if he's not even interested in why Eli's going to visit Mosley. He doesn't want to visit a prisoner he failed to successfully defend? What is wrong with him?
Establishing shot of a prison, and I'll pause for a moment to let all you Wentworth Miller fans grab a paper bag. Inside, grim, stately music plays, and I know we're supposed to feel some gravity here, but this isn't The Green Mile. Anyway, Eli gets to talk to Mosley on the phone through the glass, and he introduces himself and hesitantly asks if he needs a lawyer. Oh, wow, Mosley's totally Whackjob Gordon from Supernatural, whose death I had the privilege to recap! I doubt he's going to be decapitated with razor wire here, but one can only hope. Anyway, in answer to Eli's question, Mosley's like, "Uh duh," but Eli sighs and explains that criminal law isn't exactly his specialty. Mosley tells him it doesn't matter -- he's been told that there's nothing to appeal in his case. He starts to hang up, but Eli stops him, and they discuss some details of the case -- apparently Mosley's accomplices testified against him, but Mosley says they lied -- he didn't even enter the crime scene, but was in the car the whole time, so he certainly didn't kill anyone. He and Eli stare at each other wordlessly for a moment, and Mosley takes Eli's silence to mean there's no hope, grimly intoning, "What's another twenty years in prison anyway?" Hey, I only recapped Oz for two seasons, and that just about killed me. I think twenty more years is pretty significant! Eli's confused, though, as he read the report on Mosley's sentencing, and thinks he should be up for parole right about now. Mosley agrees that he should be, but in order to get parole he needs to be granted a parole hearing, and the warden keeps turning his requests down. You see, the prison is overcrowded by a factor of three, and Mosley led a hunger strike to try to change things, which the warden didn't appreciate. I hope the warden at least savored the irony of refusing to parole a man with issues about prison overcrowding. Evil is wasted on the dumb. Mosley says he doesn't care, anyway -- he has to stand up for what he believes in. "We've got to..." "...live brave," Eli finishes. Mosley looks a little floored, but he simply agrees before we get the title card.
Eli comes in to see Keith and tells him about the "vindictive warden," but Keith opines that it's not like Mosley isn't a troublemaker. He says that as a public defender, you're lucky to get a client who's actually innocent once in three years, and those are the ones -- "that you fight for?" Eli asks. "David wasn't one of them?" Keith deflects this, so Eli tells him that Mosley's been a model inmate (...except for the hunger strikes, I guess) and deserves a parole hearing, and while he's aware Keith doesn't know him well, he's in unfamiliar legal territory here and could really use Keith's help. Keith doesn't say anything, but looks like he's going to reluctantly agree. Didn't come across such unflagging earnestness in the public defender's office, eh Keith?
In Jordan's office, Marci is observing that he has some new art, but Jordan steels himself with a sip of something strong and asks her to cut the shit, so she tells him that basically, Fortune 500 clients have lately been the rats to their sinking ship. Jordan informs her that billables are up ten percent this quarter, but she says that follows three in decline. She brings up Eli and the problems he's causing with his do-goodery, although I'm not sure I follow her argument, since it sounds like billables were steadily going down until he got a conscience. Jordan doesn't point this out, though, instead icily wondering why one associate is worth the concern of a senior partner "who hasn't even worked in this office in three years." Marci counters that Eli is symptomatic of a larger problem at WPK, and if this is how she feels now I can't imagine the gay chimps are going to help. Jordan bites out that no one has brought any such concerns to him. Marci steps forward: "Consider it done." While I don't like her antagonizing Jordan, if she has Maggie in mind when she mentions the newfound problems, I'm hard pressed to disagree.
Matt shit-eatingly leads Taylor into a conference room, wherein she almost jumps out of her skin when she sees Pete The Gay Chimp sitting in one of the chairs. Matt introduces them and asks Pete to shake her hand, and he endearingly obliges by sticking out an arm. Taylor, however, is not quite ready for that, so Matt informs her that they're Pete's legal team, and then introduces Taylor to the blonde woman to Pete, who's the "primatologist" at the Parkland Zoo. Pete starts spinning his chair around as the woman, "Layla," tells Taylor that she hears her specialty is family law, and Taylor acknowledges that, but jokes that her cases are usually limited to her own species. Layla, not breaking a smile: "Many zoologists would argue that the chimpanzee is already a member of the homo genus." Well, that may be, but she said "species," and it's been a long time since I took biology but I'm pretty sure that's the "sapien" part. Hey, I would have skipped being a know-it-all again, but just smile politely time, Layla. I know you can do it, given your reaction to Matt's statement that Pete is a "homo homo." Anyway, Matt stage-whispers to Taylor about her love of animals while hitting on her, but Taylor asks, "I'm sorry, who told you I loved animals?" We cut out of the scene right there, which is disappointing. No needle-scratch? No Seinfeld-esque "Stone" with fist-clench? Not even a response of, "Well, you slept with me, didn't you?" What is TV coming to? (Oh, fine, maybe he didn't catch on yet. Sheesh!)
Eli and Keith are in the warden's office, and the warden is telling them that Mosley refused many work details and encouraged others to do the same, and was also found with prohibited reading materials, not to mention the hunger strikes. Keith does not look at Eli like, "This is your definition of a model inmate?" Which is just another baffling omission. Eli tells the warden he thinks Mosley was engaging in civil disobedience, but the warden counters that this isn't a college campus, "where community activism is encouraged." I'm sure the Ohio National Guard thanks you for that portrayal. The warden's position is basically this: He doesn't have the time or budget to worry about anything but keeping order, so Mosley's continued disciplinary problems will probably keep him from ever getting a hearing. Eli counters that they'll get Mosley a hearing before a judge, and the warden tells him he admires his optimism. "We don't see a lot of that around here." Maybe Maggie can come work at the prison and everyone will be happy.
When Keith and Eli return to the office, Taylor is lying in wait, griping that she hates animals, "especially gorilla-type ones!" Eli snerks that it's actually more of a fear thing with her, and when Keith asks what she's talking about, Eli replies, "Apes. One's her client, the other's her co-counsel." Call me, Bitchy Eli! Let's have brunch! Taylor says she can't believe Eli's jealous of Matt, and when he denies that, says they'll see, as she'll be working with Matt late into the night. She leaves, and Keith tells Eli, "You live a very interesting life." I don't usually appreciate the meta commentary, but he's not exactly wrong. As if to punctuate that, Patti comes rushing up with the news that something happened with Mosley...
...and Eli and Keith are right back at the prison, visiting Mosley in the hospital wing. A bloody-faced Mosley first asks Eli what Keith is doing there, and when Keith steps forward and says he's on his legal team, Mosley tells Eli he doesn't want Keith's help. Eli, however, tells him that he's been getting that help already, and then asks if he's okay, and Mosley says he'll live -- he's just got a few broken ribs. Keith, not particularly wanting to hear the answer, asks how he got them, and Mosley replies, "The warden knows how to make a point." For someone who complains about the lack of optimism, he's not exactly helping to foster it. Eli says he's not the only one, and asks Keith if they should pursue a writ of habeus corpus, but Keith has his eyes on a bigger prize, and they agree to file a class-action suit on behalf of the entire prison population -- they'll sue for denial of parole hearings, violation of civil rights, and prisoner abuse. Mosley chuckles, and when Keith asks what's so funny, he tells him, "I just like the way you boys roll."
Keith and Eli have assembled a bunch of associates in a big room full of boxes, and Keith tells them that they have forty-eight hours to go through hundreds of them, all filled with Department Of Corrections records, in order to discover a pattern of abuse that they can link to Tipton Bay's warden. Just then, however, Marci and Jordan appear, and when they learn what's going on, Marci sneers, "Prisoners' rights class-action? This should get our Fortune 500 clients running back into the fold." Leaving aside general philosophy, if Keith and Eli are going to appropriate this many man-hours for this case, doesn't it seem like maybe they should have had to clear it with a partner? Marci demands that they recuse themselves from the case, but Jordan opposes her. Thwarted but unbowed, she informs the associates that their commitment to pro bono work is gratifying to see, but their time spent of the case won't count toward the seventy-five hours a week they're expected to bill. Well, I think they should still be able to find that many...wait a minute. She means seventy-five hours each, doesn't she? Does this woman know how many hours there are in a week? Anyway, she asks how many people are now interested in assisting Eli, and of course Maggie puts her hand in the air, but it's the extras that are cracking me up with their studious examination of the floor. Hey, you've got to make the most of what they give you.
Yay, it's Female Asian Judge! I think she's my favorite bit character on the show. I can see on her nameplate that her first name is "Marcia," so she'll be Judge Marcia until I get a more informative camera angle. Oh, wait, IMDb lists her as "Judge Phelps." That's more dignified. Anyway, Judge Phelps disbelievingly asks Taylor and Matt, "You brought me a gay chimp case?" If that isn't indicative enough, she's skeptical of the merits of the case, so Matt asks her if she's heard of the theory of chimpanzee tort protection. Judge Phelps: "Let's go out on a limb and say that I haven't." Hee. Matt babbles some bullshit (not that he's wrong on the merits, necessarily, but he's totally making this up as he goes along) about the similarities between chimps and humans, and Taylor gets in on the act too. The opposing counsel is dismissive, but I think she's the same woman who represented Matt ex-girlfriend's ex-lover, so she's probably just one of those right-wing crazies Sassy Patti was talking about. Judge Phelps is like, "Sit down, bitch, I'm hearing the case." Love her. Matt and Taylor both look psyched.
Eli and Maggie are alone with the boxes, and they've laid out their strategy for proving their case on a whiteboard. Maggie's phone rings, but when she sees who it is, she rejects the call. I'd feel sorry for her fiancé if I actually thought he existed. Eli tells her it's okay for her to talk to her fiancé in front of him, and then her phone rings again, so this time she answers, "Hey, sweetie." That seems like a familiar way to greet a telemarketer, but I could see Maggie striking up that kind of friendship. She gets rid of him, anyway, and Eli offers that if she wants to talk to him at more length, that's cool, but Maggie awkwardly says that he gets her situation, and that "Scott" is really awesome. Anyway, Eli makes a "hmm" noise, and just like that, they're having a discussion about the engagement, with Eli opining that it came out of nowhere, as it did, and Maggie saying that going home reprioritized a lot of things for her, such as long-distance engagements with people who may or may not exist. Eli says he's glad, because he didn't want to think that she got engaged as a reaction to what happened between them, which is a load -- he's only sorry that she got engaged in that she's not an option for him now, not that she had a strong reaction. Anyway, don't you two have work to do?
Keith, meanwhile, is at the prison talking to an enormous guy and ascertaining that he wrote some letters complaining about the sewage in his cell, and he got beaten up as a result. The guy adds that he's got twenty-two stitches to prove it, although I'd think you'd need a large meat slicer to inflict that kind of damage on this guy. Keith tells him he'll see him in court, and he leaves as Mosley enters. Keith adopts a guilty posture on seeing him, and we learn more about what happened -- Keith wanted him to accept a plea that would have resulted in a sentence of five years, but Mosley refused, as he was innocent. "But I turned your five years down and you just stopped fighting." Keith denies that, saying that they simply lost, and that was the risk of going to trial. "You had no one who backed up your alibi." Mosley asks where Eli is, but Keith tells him that he's the one taking depos. "I'm the guy you got now, David. There's no one else coming." Mosley turns his back for a moment, but sits down and tells Keith how, the second year he was at the prison, his cellmate's appendix burst, and "they" waited a day and a half before getting him to a doctor. Yikes. Mosley filed a complaint, and as a result got transferred to the E Wing -- "with twenty-five members of the Aryan Nation." Keith looks up slowly as Mosley goes on that he suffered a punctured lung and some fractures, but that was nothing compared to his cellmate, who died that night. Keith uncertainly opines that that's unbelievable, and Mosley says they should keep going. "I got ten years' worth of stories to tell." Keith looks like he might vomit.
It's still night, and Sassy Patti comes in with refreshments for the chimp champions and asks if they've been to the website that day, as "Stevie" is getting sicker. Matt tells her that the problem is at the end of the day, they're still chimps, and Taylor sighs that they're going to have to drop the case. Sassy Patti, in response, calls her a "meat-eating animal hater," and I may not like her but I can appreciate some northern California vérité being thrown into the mix here. She goes on about Taylor's shoes, and now Matt suddenly catches on that Taylor doesn't even like animals and that Eli set him up. "I don't believe you! The only reason you took this case was to piss off your ex!" Taylor, of course, counters that the only reason Matt took it was to get her into bed, but Sassy Patti has had enough of this shit and orders them to work out how they're going to save her chimps. Well, at least she's using her sassiness for gay instead of evil.
Eli puts Maggie into a cab as he says he's going to return to the office for another hour. Once she's gone, though, he gets thrown back into the "Live Brave" vision, wherein he climbs up on something to get a better view of Mosley, who's now thanking the people whose lives touched his years ago -- "people like Daryl Rhodes, the man whose single courageous voice helped me change Tipton Bay. And Keith Bennett, the lawyer who never forgot about me" -- here we see Keith, near the podium, acknowledge the crowd and then turn to Future Eli, who's right to him -- with Maggie and their baby OH MY LORD NO. Seriously, show, we kid each other and have some laughs and it's all a great time, but if this is your inevitable endgame you can rest assured I'm not going to be around to see it. Anyway, Eli comes back to find himself standing on a garbage can, which seems oddly fitting given what we just witnessed.
Layla is on the stand, talking about how Pete was born in the wild in Uganda, but at three months old he saw his mother killed by poachers, and some conservationists rescued him. I may hate the opposing counsel, but I'll admit it's kind of amusing when she turns and give Pete, who's sitting right to Matt, the stink-eye. Layla goes on that Pete never developed an "attachment" until he met Steve, which was especially notable since chimps usually distrust newcomers to their group, and the attachment went the other way as well, as Steve brought Pete food and groomed him, and also slept with him every night. Matt does not high-five Pete at this point, which is another truly sad omission. Taylor reaches for a folder on the desk, but is stopped when Pete reaches out and strokes her arm. She's totally disarmed, and when Layla opines that Taylor reminds him of his mother, she takes it as the compliment it's intended to be. I appreciate this being adorable without crossing the line into sappy, but I still have to give further points to the opposing counsel for her physics-defying eye-roll. Taylor asks for clarification on the "sleeping together" point, and Layla says that she was being simultaneously literal and euphemistic, as Pete and Steve slumbered together every night, but there was also sexual activity, which is why they were separated, and since then, Steve has stopped eating, lost weight, developed bleeding ulcers, and has inflicted wounds upon himself. I'm not trying to belittle Steve's pain here, but the way he was just described make him sound like Tyra Banks's wet dream. The opposing counsel has had about enough here, and after noting that it sounds like Layla's saying that chimps are basically human, asks if Pete bit her two years earlier. Layla takes the blame for that, saying he just got excited because she had food in her pocket when she went into the habitat. The lawyer presses the point, though, asking if Layla filed charges against Pete, because if she's arguing that chimps deserve legal rights, shouldn't they have societal responsibilities as well? Layla says she didn't call the police because that would have been silly, and the lawyer snarks that she trusts her judgment. "You seem to be an expert on silly." She looks like she thinks she scored a big point there, but personally, I think the chimps should be awarded summary judgment, given Pete's restraint in not throwing his feces at her.
So that enormous guy is on the stand now lying about why he was disciplined, saying he stole some cigarettes and got into a fight with another inmate, and it was his fault. Eli, flummoxed, looks at Keith, who shakes his head, presumably to confirm that that's not what he said in his deposition. Eli tries again, but the guy sticks with his lie, so Keith jumps up and says that he's contradicting his sworn affidavit, and the judge, who's got the eyebrows of a Romulan, reminds him that he could face perjury charges if he's lying. Eli shows him his signed statement, but the guy, without looking at him, says he never signed any such thing. Eli, now might be a good time to remind him that lies make baby Jesus cry. Hey, things are looking desperate!
Eli, Keith, and Maggie enter the room in which Mosley is being held, with Eli seething that the warden got to the witness. Keith says they have nine more inmates to put on the stand, but Mosley thinks it will be a waste of time, as they'll all be toeing the warden's line now. Maggie suggests they find evidence that the warden coerced them into changing their testimony, getting this response from Keith: "Are you always this naïve?" Hee. Eli says they still have a lot of files to sift through, but Keith sends him and Maggie back to the office, saying he'll be there in a minute. If I were in their sleep-deprived, bleary-eyed shoes, I'd be like, "You'll be there now." Since this is TV and they both look fresh as a daisy, though, they head out without a word, affording Keith the opportunity to apologize for his original representation of Mosley -- he was young, and... "You thought I was guilty," Mosley finishes. Keith snaps that Mosley didn't make it easy to believe him with his attitude, but softens and soldiers on, saying he should have looked past all that. Given that we were introduced to Keith via his accusing a black man of intra-race discrimination, this is an interesting revelation, and Keith finishes the apology that he's clearly needed to give for a while.
At night, Maggie and Eli are working, and Eli says he's trying to find anything about the guy Daryl Rhodes that was mentioned in his vision, but he doesn't know who he is, so Maggie shouldn't waste her time there -- she should just go home. Maggie's confused, so Eli, obviously freaked by the offspring-heavy part of his vision, tells her that she shouldn't cancel her life -- he doesn't want to be the reason she and her boyfriend break up. Maggie asks what he's on about, so he apologizes, saying he's really tired but adding that maybe they don't need to spend quite as much alone time together. Ironic that he chooses the moment he's starting to hallucinate from exhaustion to start thinking clearly. Maggie is unhappy but leaves without ado.
Or does she? Well, whatever she did, now she's waking Eli up and asking him if he's still looking for Rhodes, and when he acknowledges that, she tells him she brought help. On cue, a bunch of associates file in. I will give the show some credit for settling for an exchange of small smiles between Eli and Maggie rather than soulful gazes into each other's eyes as dramatic music swells on the soundtrack. Still: Gross.
In court, the opposing counsel is yelling about the affidavits that somehow no one will back up. Aw, it's Carlos Jacott, better known as Ramon The Pool Boy from Seinfeld! He was also the villain in the very first recap I did for TWoP. Can it be that we were ever so young? Anyway, Ramon the Pool Boy challenges Eli to produce evidence that the witnesses have been coerced, and on cue, Keith and Maggie enter the courtroom, and Eli asks Subcommander Judge for permission to call another witness -- Daryl Rhodes. The man appears, a tall, thin thing in a red cardigan, and when he takes the stand, he tells us that he used to be the warden's administrative assistant. However, he quit because he couldn't bear seeing the poor conditions at the prison. Also, if an inmate ever complained, the warden would have Daryl transfer him to another unit, and it was always one containing inmates that were automatically hostile to the transferred inmate's ethnicity. Eli tells Rhodes he's been through all of Tipton Bay's documents, and he hasn't found any corroborating evidence of Rhodes's story, but Rhodes says there was never anything in writing -- the warden would just call him in, and he'd get it done, and the inmates would never complain again.
The bigoted lawyer, "Ms. Bonilla," is apparently about three foot six, for you can barely see her as she tells Judge Phelps how "violently" opposed she is to what Taylor and Matt are proposing, which is to put Pete on the stand. There's a little bit where she has to move Judge Phelps's nameplate in order to get a clear look at her, which is funnier in practice than it sounds on paper. Judge Phelps continues to win my love by brushing Bonilla away like a gnat, and just like that, Pete is in the witness box, although I'm sure that everyone involved, no matter their differences, is glad that he's wearing a diaper. Taylor hands Pete a picture of Steve, and Pete holds it to his chest in what looks like a very loving manner. Taylor asks if he misses Steve, and Pete covers his eyes with the picture as Bonilla lets loose an eye-roll that she really should trademark. Taylor then inquires if Pete would like to see Steve, and Pete screeches and nods in response and then goes nuts as Steve is led into the room. Pete jumps out of the witness box, and the two chimps have a joyful, touchy reunion. Awwww. Taylor points out that they haven't seen each other since the separation, and she thinks it's pretty obvious how genuine their affection for each other is. Gays who have been denied marriage licenses all over the country smack their foreheads and ask, "Why didn't we think of that argument?" Judge Phelps says that's not really the issue -- the fact is, they're chimps, and if she were to rule in their favor, she's be creating new law, and her decision would be ridiculed and most likely overturned in six months or so. "It could even be a year. During which time Pete and Steve would be together." Oh, yeah -- Bonilla blanches, seeing what's coming, and Judge Phelps rules in favor of the chimps, as she thinks separating them would do them undue harm, under -- she nods Matt's way -- "the theory of chimpanzee tort protection." Hee. Bonilla hilariously yells that they made that up, and Judge Phelps smoothly counters, "Something I'm sure you'll point out in the appeal it'll take almost a month for you to draft and file." Network execs: Give her a spinoff. Taylor and Matt share an awkward but happy aborted embrace.
In a conference room at WPK, Ramon the Pool Boy knows he's beaten, and is prepared to settle. Eli and Keith demand a quick parole hearing for Mosley, and then Eli asks how much it would cost to comply with "the Governor's prison crowding and recidivism initiatives." Ramon the Pool Boy imagines it would be millions, and Eli's like, "There you go!" Ramon says they'll work out a number, although frankly it sounds to me like he's getting off easy. He asks if they have a deal in principle, but Eli wants one other thing -- the warden is to be fired, with a promise from the DOC that they'll never employ him again. Ramon doesn't think he can do that, but Eli has him sit back down, and goes off about how the settlement is meaningless if the warden is still in charge of "so much as a paper clip," and his only involvement with the system should be as an inmate. What's more, if he doesn't resign, they'll initiate criminal proceedings against him. I'm not sure Rhodes's word would be enough to convict him, but it's reasonable to think some of the witnesses would go back to their original story knowing that they now stand to get rid of the warden once and for all. Also, this speech is made ten times more awesome by the fact that the warden is sitting right there. And Eli drives it home by turning to the warden and asking him directly what it's going to be. The warden doesn't answer, but he's beaten, and everyone knows it. What a wuss -- at least Bob Gunton blew his own head off at the end of The Shawshank Redemption.
Eli is in with Jordan, and Jordan has apparently gotten some more art for his walls, about which Eli doesn't pretend to have the slightest clue. Jordan congratulates Eli on the Tipton Bay settlement, and Eli in turn thanks him for his support in the face of the opposition from Marci. Jordan smiles that whatever tension there is between him and Marci isn't anything for him to worry about, but he has to eat those words when the woman herself comes in and acidly expresses her hope that the new painting wasn't paid for with company money. She then turns to Eli and, without much pretense of civility, congratulates him on his moral victory. "It's almost worth the two computer companies and three department-store chains we lost due to our new 'We Heart Criminals' reputation." Well, to be fair, you've hearted criminals for a long time. It's just the "Who Get Caught" part that's new. However, Marci tells him that the damage will be contained by the fact that Mosley won't be leaving Tipton Bay, as while the board granted his parole, the Governor denied it. She lets that hang in the air while keeping eye contact with Eli, and Eli finally asks if she did that. Marci takes a moment and then breezes, "Only in that I voted for him." So did her checkbook, I'm guessing. She starts to leave as she continues that if he'd like to discuss the matter with her further, she'll be in her new offices on the twentieth floor. She turns back with a smile: "I'll be here for the duration." Eli looks like he might cry.
Back at the prison, Keith is apologizing to Mosley, but Mosley tells him there's no need. Keith wonders how he can go on after this devastating development, but Mosley tells him that's what living brave is about, and he's got another shot at parole year. He then smiles as he tells Keith he came through, and Keith responds by giving Mosley a copy of Black's Law Dictionary, saying that it'll help in his quest for parole, and he can come down once or twice a month and help teach him. Aw, good Keith episode here, not to mention the fact that it's great to see him be part of Eli's journey for the first time. Mosley is ready to dive right in, so Keith starts explaining about habeus corpus as we pull back...
...and then it turns out that the chimps have been released from the zoo, and Taylor, Matt, and Sassy Patti are visiting them in their new home, called "Chimp Paradise." I'm pretty sure, given the events that led us here, that they should change the name to "Chimp Xanadu." Sassy Patti accompanies Layla and her awful new hairdo into the actual habitat, leaving Matt to tell Taylor that she acts like she has no affinity for chimps. "But deep down, you kinda like us!" I kind of love him for making the joke himself. Taylor asks Matt if he knows some French restaurant in the Napa Valley, and Matt does: "Six-month waiting list. Have to know Bill Gates to get in." Taylor says that's the one, and if Matt can get them a reservation for the Saturday, she'll have dinner with him. I don't think the name Taylor mentioned exists, but I'm betting the description is based on the real restaurant French Laundry. And if that's the case: I wish you luck.
At the office at night, Maggie's waiting for the elevator down when Eli joins her. She's shocked that he's still on his feet after thirty-six hours, and then tells him that despite the Mosley development, they made a difference with the case. Eli sighs and says he knows that, but he had a picture in his head of Mosley going on to do great things. Maggie tells him that they can't know what's going to happen. "That's why they call it the future." Um, no it isn't, not that I'd expect Eli to catch that in his sleep-deprived state. Maggie then gets a call from her fiancé, which she takes with no awkwardness, although I'm not sure what's changed from her perspective. Eli lets her go, obviously wondering whether his future with her has been compromised by Mosley continuing to be imprisoned...
...but then, on the street, he gets thrown back into the vision, which continues where it left off, as Mosley now thanks Eli at length for, among other things, "remind[ing] us that every one of us, the least of us, is still divine." He presents Eli as "the man we've all come here to see tonight," and then we see Eli is still with Maggie and the baby. He kisses them both and then heads up to embrace Mosley, and Future Eli waves to the crowd as Present Eli gapes before we cut out. It seems like a bit much that the entire "Live Brave" crowd would be there to see Eli, no? I guess we'll just have to wait and see.
But I mean it about that Maggie-and-the-baby thing. Don't test me.