Episode 20

<--   8 March 2005   -->

As Alice and Nancy approach Old City Hall, Nancy is trying to convince Alice to take over her Mental Health client. Bob Lemur was charged after he attacked a fellow resident at Seaton House with a floor-cleaning sign. Nancy feels her time is better spent representing other clients---where she can "destroy" her opponents in court---and wants Alice to accompany Bob to his weekly court appearance. Besides, Nancy's not sure how to react when he talks and talks but doesn't make any sense: "Should I smile or just nod?" Alice is too busy with her own client's appearance in Mental Health court that day and tells her to do her best.
Elliot meets with his client, Beth Nelson, as she works out in the gym at her condo. Beth was charged with forcible confinement and living off the avails after her girlfriend, Tammy, accused her of forcing her to work as a prostitute in Beth's escort service. Beth believes Tammy fabricated the story to get back at Beth, whom she believed was actually enjoying having sex with men. This was especially painful for Tammy since her last girlfriend had left her to get back with her husband. Beth is concerned that the process of a trial will push Tammy over the edge and that perhaps she should simply plead guilty. Elliot, who is transfixed by Beth as she works out and must struggle to focus, believes they have a strong defense and should proceed. Beth finds her resolve when Tammy appears at the gym and the two end up in a bitter fight.
Back at Old City Hall, James is in the cells visiting his client, 20-year-old Victor Eustace. He's appearing in Bail Court for an altercation with his girlfriend. Victor says, "She gets frustrated with me because, well, I'm a pathetic asshole, right? I get on her nerves sometimes and she throws me out." When she refused to let him in to her apartment, he broke down the door. When James questions his behaviour, Victor tells him he's suffered from Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) for years but has never received medication to deal with his illness. While there are a number of drugs that could probably help, Victor's mother has her own views on handling her son's illness---and that doesn't include taking advice from doctors. James promises he will ask the doctor in the jail to look at him, but Victor is worried his mother will find out. In the hallway, James runs into Victor's mother, Callie, a 50-something hippie. When James tells her about her son's condition in the cells---twitchy, sweating, unable to focus---Callie blows him off, saying not everyone can go through life all "calm and collected, eh." She then heads outside to smoke some weed because the place is "freakin' " her out.
In the courthouse cells, Alice sits opposite an agitated, pacing Fred Sprewell, who's in custody for assaulting his senile wife's new husband. Unable to remember that she was already married, Frannie married Harry, an Alzheimer's patient whose wife died three months earlier. While Frannie and Harry are happy and in love, Fred is frustrated and angry that his wife of 48 years has simply thrown him aside for another man. Alice tries to calm him down, explaining that neither Franny nor Harry are trying to hurt him---they just can't remember who he is. Fred is not ready to calm down, telling her angrily, "I'm an aggrieved man! I'm a goddamned cuckold!"
Elliot makes a last-minute attempt to get Crown Attorney Menon to agree to a guilty plea on a lesser charge so he doesn't have to "expose every little nerve in the complainant's neurotic soul." When Menon refuses to budge, Elliot and Beth go to trial. On the stand for the Crown, Tammy testifies that Beth confined her to a bedroom for two weeks and beat her when she refused to have sex with her clients---all this to extort the rent money Beth believed Tammy owed her. On cross-examination, Elliot gets Tammy to admit she had feelings for Beth but Tammy suggests that after Beth lost her job, she came up with the idea of running the escort business not just as a way to make money but as an excuse to have sex with men. After getting Tammy to admit that her therapist had diagnosed her an an "emotionalist," Elliot suggests that Tammy's feelings dictate her view of reality and that, when she started feeling like she was losing Beth, she started feeling like a victim. When Beth takes the stand, she testifies that after she lost her job she came up with the idea that she and Tammy could run an escort business in order to keep their condo and that Tammy was a willing participant. In Beth's version of events, Tammy became despondent because she believed Beth was enjoying sleeping with men. When she tried to kill herself, Beth testifies that she locked Tammy up in order to keep her from trying to overdose on pills while Beth was busy with clients. On cross-examination, Menon asks why Beth simply didn't take Tammy to see a doctor and suggests that she forced Tammy to return to work because she couldn't maintain the lavish lifestyle on just one income.
Alice appears in Mental Health Court with her client, Fred. His daughter, Vera, wants to bail him out and tells the court that her mother is unwell and should have been placed in a nursing home long ago. Frannie made Fred promise he would never send her away, so he kept her at home to care for her himself. While the Crown discusses the details of the attack, Fred becomes agitated again and swears that next time Harry will get much worse---"I'll drag him to the bathroom and drown him!" Then Fred breaks down, overwhelmed by grief and deep regret for what he's done. When the Crown asks Vera how she plans to keep her father away from Harry, she says she has found a place for her mother in a home and will try to do the same for her father. When Frannie and Harry show up in court, they find Fred sobbing in the prisoner's box. Fred is released on bail. As Frannie, Harry, and Fred leave together, Frannie tries to negotiate new terms for their three-way relationship.
Nancy's client, Bob, has finished his weekly appearance in Mental Health Court and has asked for her to come see a room he wants to rent so he can get out of Seaton House "because some of the people are very scary." Bob has trouble making decisions but Nancy is a bit overwhelmed by the responsibility of helping him make the right choice and leaves him alone in the room "turning in circles." Eventually, she returns to him so they can make the choice together.
James's ADHD client, Victor, makes his appearance in bail court but it doesn't go well: Victor is pacing back and forth in the prisoner's box, unnerved by his mother's presence in the benches. When the JP asks him to stop, he says he'll shit himself if he does, so Crown Attorney Kaye suggests they sedate him. Upon hearing this, his mother, Callie, interjects that no one can medicate her son without her permission and all he needs is a turkey sandwich (to boost his serotonin levels) or a bit of weed---preferably some "really good shit." Victor is taken back to the cells to see if he can calm down. There, James asks if Victor will take some meds to calm down but he refuses, saying he's a product of his upbringing. James points out that his mother treated him with pot, and Victor explains that that was different, it's a plant and Callie believes plants can heal anything. Now James has to find another surety since Callie really isn't the kind of person the court is looking for so he suggests they call Victor's dad. Victor finds this hysterically funny and, through fits of laughter, urges James to call him.
Beth Nelson is convicted but receives a hefty fine instead of jail time. Outside of court, Beth surprises Elliot by rushing after Tammy and begging her to forgive her. She says she should have stopped running her escort business as soon as she realized it was upsetting Tammy. Tammy agrees to forgive her, but only if Beth takes an oath to never have sex with men again or they'll both have to kill themselves.
Back in Bail Court, Kaye questions Victor's father, Sonny Eustace, a 58-year-old billiards player. He tells the court that he can supervise his son 24/7 by bringing him to pool halls while he plays. When his parents start to bicker on who's better able to supervise and care for their son, Victor tells the JP that he'll stay in jail and take whatever drugs the court wants---anything but live with either of his parents. In the hallway, after the bail hearing, James chastises Victor's parents, saying Victor was brought up by children and now he needs to spend time with adults who can give him adult solutions to his problems. At the end of James' lecture, Callie tells James he should try mushrooms and leaves and Sonny admits he has no real interest in Victor's well being, either.