Summary
Lola meets a hero of hers in “Caught Up in Circles”, though not in the best of circumstances, and Mark gets some bad news.
This recap of All Rise season 2, episode 14, “Caught Up in Circles”, contains spoilers.
In a change of pace, “Caught Up in Circles” reverses All Rise’s late-season MO. Whereas the last few episodes have mostly used their cases of the week to further ongoing character arcs, here the cases – one, in particular – really form the meat of the drama. No sooner has Lola been back in the courtroom than she’s presented with the challenging task of presiding over the People v Judge Prudence Jenkins, a prominent Black female judge who she considers a role model and who may or may not have been taking bribes. The fact that Jenkins is defending herself pits her directly against Lola.
Never meet your heroes, or so the saying goes, and All Rise season 2, episode 14 is an example of that. Jenkins’ trailblazing has earned her a degree of respect and admiration, but both have clearly gone to her head. Defending herself is arrogance, plain and simple, and it becomes clear quickly that she considers Lola inferior, someone too inexperienced and idealistic to handle the case. She’s so clearly antagonistic that, even in the early going, it’s not much of a twist that she turns out to be guilty. But it isn’t the verdict that makes the case interesting. Jenkins’ charity of choice – she was giving a defence attorney, Andre Buckingham (Philip Casnoff), favourable outcomes in exchange for donations to it – is an LGBTQ+ foundation; the work she has done throughout her career is undeniable. But she crossed a line and abused her position.
There’s a tremendous moment of catharsis in “Caught Up in Circles” when Lola, having rendered her verdict and become thoroughly sick of Jenkins’ snide remarks, lays the law down in a more figurative sense. Jenkins might have blazed a trail for her once, but now she’s just in her way. Zinger! The case is a telling reminder that even if doing the wrong thing has a worthy cause attached to it, it’s still the wrong thing.
Mark, meanwhile, is building a case against McCarthy while also navigating his fractious personal life with Amy, who finally confesses her big secret about being married and in the midst of divorce proceedings. Her husband, though, is ill and is relying on Amy’s health insurance to get treatment, which naturally he’ll lose in a divorce. That makes the situation a lot more complex than it need be, just like everything else in Mark’s life, but especially his upcoming case. Of course, the police union have hired a shark to defend them, and a big part of All Rise season 2, episode 14 is that case being assigned a judge – Lola.
While this seems like a good thing, it might not be. Everyone knows about Lola’s close personal relationship with Mark, and that is not only going to give the defence something to exploit but also create a conflict of interest. They’ll have to stay away from each other for the duration of the case, and since they’re both each other’s closest confidante, that’s easier said than done.
“Caught Up in Circles” just about spares time for Luke, his relationship with Emily, as well as the ramifications of Sarah’s accusation against Judge Benner’s friend. These subplots are clearly on-going, though, and you can probably expect them to see a resolution, or at least some more developments, in the next episode or so.
