Eli comes to Patti's desk and tells her to phone Salinsky and set up a meeting right away, and then to call Jeffrey Powell and tell him he wants to negotiate a settlement. He tells Patti he's going to make the situation right, but Patti sassily points out that he's still helping Salinsky to destroy her old neighborhood, and sasses, "Make your own damn calls." How is she not fired? And the parade of annoyance continues, as when Patti walks away, Maggie turns up, and we learn she doesn't know who Carole King is (sadly, that I can believe) before she denies having a crush on him. He tells her that they work together and she reports to him, so nothing romantic can ever happen. I didn't think even temps were reporting to Eli these days, but I so heartily agree with his overall point that I won't make an issue of it. Maggie unconvincingly agrees, and I hope she made up that bit about having a boyfriend, because GOD. Taylor turns up and brightly notes that Eli came by her office. Maggie wordlessly makes herself scarce, like, way to act normal, there, and Eli "covers" by saying, "Her keyboard jammed." Taylor wordlessly tries to parse that one...

...and then we're down at City Hall. We intercut between the prosecutor's and Jordan's opening argument; it's unremarkable stuff about steroids and celebrities, although I will note that I love the female Asian judge that's presiding over the case. Victor Garber gives the most hilariously lawyerly smile to the jury as he wraps things up, though. Man, I could watch dailies of him ad infinitum.

So Salinsky, as I mentioned in the recaplet, is played by James Remar, who you'll remember as Richard on Sex And The City, but also, much more significantly, as Harry Morgan on Dexter. Eli and Taylor are hard-hatting (literally, in case you thought I was making up some metaphor there) as Eli tells Salinsky that $20 million could make the whole thing go away. Salinsky says he's still not clear on why the neighborhood can even sue him, and on the one hand, I agree, as it seems like their beef is with the city. On the other hand, though, it's a little preciously naïve to express surprise at just about any lawsuit you could imagine, particularly for a developer. Salinsky adds that the city has paid the residents for their property already, but Eli counters that the trial could delay the start of the project for a month. A month? If his workers are unionized, a couple of construction workers getting a bad cold could delay the project for a month, Eli. He's not going to pay them twenty million to get out of bed. Taylor calls Salinsky "Arvin" (hee, again) as she notes that it's better to weigh the pros and cons of settlement before trial, but, considering that he believes he's "turning an urban blight into a clean, safe place," Salinsky doesn't so much see the pro side. Eli, however, points out that Jeffrey Powell will paint Salinsky as a monster in court, and it might be worth coughing up the money to avoid that. Taylor, for some reason, looks like she ate a bee, although maybe she's just about to sing again.