Mental -- "Rainy Days"
On this week's Mental: suicidal tendencies and a prosecutor who can't lose. Just another day at Wharton Memorial for Jack and his merry band of head shrinkers.Apparently, the key to getting any jumper off the ledge is a deli sandwich and a new (seriously crunchy -- the Vlasic folks would be impressed) pickle. Jack's called in to the hospital because Leonard Steinberg, in for a routine operation, parked himself on the roof nine hours previously. Jack asks if Leonard's eaten and, being told he hasn't, asks an orderly to go to a nearby deli to get munchies. He approaches Leonard casually, snacking away on the aforementioned pickle, which gets Leonard's attention. Coaxing him down with the promise of food, Leonard relents and the crisis is over.
It turns out that Leonard has some pretty serious gambling debts -- his wife and children have disowned him, he owes all his friends money and his bookie Jimmy is ready to go at him with a ball peen hammer. Hm... we might contemplate the ledge option too. But, never fear, it's Jack to the rescue. He convinces Jimmy to give Leonard some time to pay off his debt, along with free accounting services (ol' Lenny's a CPA), etc. Nicest bookie ever, by the way. Jack also gets Leonard to agree to 10 meetings of Gamblers United by stacking the deck and betting him 10 highest card draws.
Turns out the docs keep up with the gambling theme in their spare time. Since half the staff's out with the flu (suuuure, try to explain away Chloe's ongoing absence...), Jack gets suckered into hosting this month's poker night. All we really get out of this is Jack admitting to his colleagues that he has a sister he hasn't seen in years and Veronica and Rylan doing a piss-poor job of hiding the fact that they're sleeping together.
Jack is being deposed as an expert witness in the case of the state versus Trey Hansen. While the accused confessed to murdering a fellow bar patron in the parking lot, he later retracted his statement. Jack contends that the soft-spoken, non-violent man with a low IQ concocted a revenge fantasy, writing in his diary about the murder and convincing himself he committed the crime. In fact, the drunk bully who harassed Trey in the bar was actually murdered by the mugger who stole his wallet. However, he'll have a hard time selling this argument to Marcie Crane, prosecutor for the state, nicknamed "Great White" (as in, shark, get it?!), with the reputation for never losing a case.
Throughout the episode, Jack and Marcie debate guilt versus innocence and it's clear Marcie has the utmost confidence she'll win. She insists she's just doing her job and that while she didn't write the law, she's following it. Every once in a while though, Marcie's thrown by glimpses of reality -- a judge and jury that aren't really there, etc. Forget Trey Hansen and expert testimony, Marcie's actually the POtW. As the judge begins to read the verdict, there's a climactic pause just before he says guilty or innocent.
The veil of delusion lifts, and Marcie, dressed in a hospital gown, is standing in a patient room with all the familiar faces from the case, each of them holding scripts in their hands. She begins flashing between that harsh reality and the scenario they've all been acting out for her. Marcie comes close to admitting Trey Hansen was innocent, but her mind just won't accept it. She pronounces him "guilty" with a triumphant -- and slightly wacked out (it's a clinical term) -- look on her face.
We find out this is the second time through the exercise for Marcie. Jack got her closer to admitting the truth but she's not quite there yet. Apparently, the real killer was eventually caught by police after the bartender and the victim's buddies admitted Trey was not the antagonist that night. After the guilty verdict, Trey was murdered almost immediately after being sent to prison and Marcie just broke. It was raining throughout the trial and that seems to be her trigger. So, every time it rains for several days straight, they give the reenactment another shot. It's kind of nice to have a case where Jack doesn't win at the first go around. Ok, not nice for Marcie... but nice for us.
We're starting to feel an affinity for Jack and the docs of Wharton Memorial, but the show still seems to lack that certain something. What do you think? Talk about Mental in the comments!
Turns out the docs keep up with the gambling theme in their spare time. Since half the staff's out with the flu (suuuure, try to explain away Chloe's ongoing absence...), Jack gets suckered into hosting this month's poker night. All we really get out of this is Jack admitting to his colleagues that he has a sister he hasn't seen in years and Veronica and Rylan doing a piss-poor job of hiding the fact that they're sleeping together.
Jack is being deposed as an expert witness in the case of the state versus Trey Hansen. While the accused confessed to murdering a fellow bar patron in the parking lot, he later retracted his statement. Jack contends that the soft-spoken, non-violent man with a low IQ concocted a revenge fantasy, writing in his diary about the murder and convincing himself he committed the crime. In fact, the drunk bully who harassed Trey in the bar was actually murdered by the mugger who stole his wallet. However, he'll have a hard time selling this argument to Marcie Crane, prosecutor for the state, nicknamed "Great White" (as in, shark, get it?!), with the reputation for never losing a case.
Throughout the episode, Jack and Marcie debate guilt versus innocence and it's clear Marcie has the utmost confidence she'll win. She insists she's just doing her job and that while she didn't write the law, she's following it. Every once in a while though, Marcie's thrown by glimpses of reality -- a judge and jury that aren't really there, etc. Forget Trey Hansen and expert testimony, Marcie's actually the POtW. As the judge begins to read the verdict, there's a climactic pause just before he says guilty or innocent.
The veil of delusion lifts, and Marcie, dressed in a hospital gown, is standing in a patient room with all the familiar faces from the case, each of them holding scripts in their hands. She begins flashing between that harsh reality and the scenario they've all been acting out for her. Marcie comes close to admitting Trey Hansen was innocent, but her mind just won't accept it. She pronounces him "guilty" with a triumphant -- and slightly wacked out (it's a clinical term) -- look on her face.
We find out this is the second time through the exercise for Marcie. Jack got her closer to admitting the truth but she's not quite there yet. Apparently, the real killer was eventually caught by police after the bartender and the victim's buddies admitted Trey was not the antagonist that night. After the guilty verdict, Trey was murdered almost immediately after being sent to prison and Marcie just broke. It was raining throughout the trial and that seems to be her trigger. So, every time it rains for several days straight, they give the reenactment another shot. It's kind of nice to have a case where Jack doesn't win at the first go around. Ok, not nice for Marcie... but nice for us.
We're starting to feel an affinity for Jack and the docs of Wharton Memorial, but the show still seems to lack that certain something. What do you think? Talk about Mental in the comments!