Massachusetts General Hospital. It's now Monday morning. The clock is ticking. The everyman actor William Converse-Roberts is Michael Forbes, O'Malley's other attorney. Now, his nose isn't completely gone -- he's wearing a Band-Aid and you can see the tip, which is a relief. William Converse-Roberts played Cate Blanchett's imbecile of a husband in Bandits. Forbes explains, "The doctors think he basically created this man in his head, for the murders themselves." He signs what looks like release forms in front of him. Then the nurse takes them away. Why even bother? How much of the production budget would that mini-scene within an already small vignette have cost? It's totally useless to the plot, and somewhat redundant. We can see the dude is in the hospital. That's enough. We don't need nameless extras running around with papers on clipboards to create a reality we already assume exists. Stuff like that drives me nuts. Oh, sorry. Forbes is still talking to Lindsay and Jimmy -- my bad: "He has never denied consuming the victims, but it's always the other persona who stabbed the girls." Lindsay asks, "What's the diagnosis?" Forbes responds, "It's all over the map. Once of my doctors says paranoid schizophrenia. Another says psychotic disorder. The prosecution experts say he's faking it." Pause. "That he stabbed the girls to give himself an insanity plea should he ever get himself caught." Only it sounds like "cauwt" because Forbes's poor noodle is all swollen from being bitten. Jimmy: "Well, it would convince me!" Tap. Tap. Tap. Okay, Anvil, shush -- I'm recapping. Forbes: "Look. To do what he's done, obviously there's some severe mental deficit here." The music swells to match the size of Forbes's nose. The injured lawyer continues, "Is he criminally insane? Did he not understand that what he was doing was wrong? I don't know. All I am sure of is as crazy as he may be -- he is not stupid." Only it sounds like "stuupud." Pause. "Don't ever think you're in charge of him, Ms. Dole. I promise. He'll be in charge of you." Jimmy and Lindsay exchange glances.
The Firm. Ellenor explains to her co-workers that one of the doctors had O'Malley take a lie detector test. The results were excellent. He passed the polygraph, even when he said he was Lannibal Hector and another guy killed the three women. Ellenor: "He passed the lie detector with flying colours." Except that polygraph results aren't admissible and notoriously unreliable, but whatever -- keep trying to convince us there is "reasonable doubt" about Lannibal Hector. Shush. Anvil! Stop stirring. You're distracting me. Rebecca: "He could also describe the killings. It was basically like he stepped outside himself, like he was watching somebody else do it, and then stepped back in to himself to --" Ellenor finishes the sentence for her: "Eat them." Lindsay asks Eugene why the police think that O'Malley is faking. He cites the fact that Lannibal has a full-time job; he punches in as Lawrence O'Malley, and pays his bills on time. Jimmy wants to know if the prosecution is "offering anything." Yes, life in prison. Rod cracks, "The client turned it down. I guess he's not that crazy." Ellenor: "So? What? Are we all going to try this?" Right. This gets Rod's organization motors running again. Boom! Lindsay's doing the opening to ensure that we get a "woman's touch," because the victims were all women. Boom! Jimmy's got the lawyer. Because they are going to call him first. Ellenor and Rebecca "get" the doctors. Boom! Eugene and Rod will take the prosecution witnesses. Lucy arrives, almost on her I'm-about-to-be-really-really-annoying cue. Apparently, O'Malley's parents have arrived for yet another uselessly annoying scene.













Comments