Taylor is berating Eli, saying that she's always supported him, "except, I guess, when it comes to earthquakes, where you seem to have a pronounced blind spot!" Eli asks what that might be, so Taylor informs him that Marci is using Eli's quixotic behavior to try to take Jordan down. Eli looks chagrined, and Taylor goes on, saying that if Eli keeps pushing this, "the man who's been like a father to you takes the hit." Eli watches her go...

...and then he's in Jordan's office, offering to recuse himself from the case and get his client another lawyer. Jordan mellifluously opines that Eli will have a hard time finding another lawyer in San Francisco as eccentric as he is, and I know Jordan's making a point here, but Eli doesn't even scratch the surface of "eccentric" in the Bay Area. There have to be some lawyers out there who wear hemp pants and live and breathe the Utne Reader. Jordan goes on that it's not like Eli to "bail" on a client, so Eli tells him he's worried, and he's heard rumblings. Jordan: "And did you hear them from a tall, female associate who has my eyes?" Hee. I feel like I'm going to be transcribing every word out of Victor Garber's mouth in this episode. ["As well you should, because seriously? A+ episode for that guy and the lucky so-and-so who gets to write his dialogue." - Joe R] Eli acknowledges that he's heard of the potential "political consequences" of him soldiering on, and Jordan notes in response that Eli's decided to come to his rescue. Eli points out that Jordan's been there for him, so he wants to return the favor, but Jordan says that it's not for Eli to decide to recuse himself. "Every case you've tried or ever will try at this firm has been and will be done so at my pleasure. If I hadn't wanted you to represent Daniel Foote or, for that matter, Beth Keller, or Arvin Salinsky, make no mistake, you wouldn't have. And while I appreciate your newly-located sense of loyalty, you started this case. It's not finished yet. My lawyers finish their cases. Understood?" Eli does not respond, "Hell YES it's understood," which is too bad, because then I would have been able to yell, "Jinx!" More seriously, though, Jordan's speech is very interesting -- on the one hand, it seems like it might be a little revisionist, since Jordan certainly didn't seem supportive of Eli taking the Beth Keller case. But if you come at it from the point of view that Jordan has been part of Eli's newfound journey by design, it makes an intriguing amount of sense. Jordan may have had to make it look good when he took Eli on, but the most important thing about the Keller case was not that Eli won, but the agreement that came out of it that protected his job. I don't think it's too much of a stretch to think that Jordan has always been on Eli's side, despite how he sometimes represented his feelings to Martin and others, especially in light of the Jordan-vision Eli had so long ago. Anyway, Eli nods and looks happy...