The Deep End Episode 1.04 Nothing Personal

Hannah is a college student who was stripped of her tennis scholarship after the school did a test that revealed she may be a man. Dylan and Beth are taking their client off the tennis court and into civil court to fight for her right to volley. But the school is within its rights to order a gender test which reveals that Hannah is not strictly male or female. The terms of her scholarship explicitly state that the recipient must be female. She's out of luck unless two of our favorite first-years can pull a rabbit out of a hat.

When Dylan discovers that Hannah's latest test also revealed she's infertile, he realizes that she is protected under the Americans with Disabilities Act. The school caves and will honor the scholarship. But Hannah doesn't want to stay at a place that doesn't truly accept her for who she is. She decides to sign a deal to go pro. Now she'll pay her own way through school. Game, set and match-Hannah!

Hart wants to do a preemptive strike just in case Katie, the paralegal they banished to Montana, decides to file a sexual harassment suit against Cliff. Addy is assigned the task of interviewing Cliff so they have a record of the relationship. She's a little nervous about talking to her boss about his extramarital affair, so she decides to bake a cake to soften the moment. She says, "You think the Prince of Darkness likes sprinkles?"

As Cliff takes the tasty cake in hand (Addy forgot to bring a fork), he is less than forthcoming with the details of the affair. But when Addy discovers that it went on for over three months, she claims that it wasn't an affair, it was a relationship. Cliff wants to know the legal precedent for this claim. But Addy isn't speaking as a lawyer. No, she's speaking as a woman. This intrigues Cliff. Suddenly, he's a little more accommodating.

Malcolm is assigned a pro bono case representing an engineer who fell asleep at the controls of a freight train that derailed. No one was hurt but it caused millions of dollars in damages. The engineer is a single dad who took some of his son's ADHD medication to help him stay awake, as he'd been working two weeks straight without much rest. The engineer says many other workers took stimulants to help stay awake.

Malcolm's attempt strike a deal with the D.A. goes south fast, which means the client will lose his son. Liam convinces Hart that it might be in the client's best interest to file a civil suit against the train company for creating an unsafe work environment. Malcolm isn't too pleased to learn that Liam has weaseled his way into his case. They have been pretty competitive with each other, both in the office and on the basketball court. Liam has a nice hook shot, but Malcolm is a better dunker. If only the case was a slam dunk.

Liam discovers that the train company has an impeccable drug testing policy. No one has ever tested positive in company history. It sounds like bad news, but Hart thinks otherwise. Perfection is an illusion. He thinks the train company is hiding something. Guess what? Hart's right.

Further testing indicates the samples all came from the same source. The train company offers $600,000 in hush money, but that means Malcolm can't use the evidence in the criminal case. The client tells Malcolm that the money means nothing if he goes to jail and his son ends up in foster care. The offer is rejected.

Malcolm pays a return visit to the D.A. He convinces her that she can save lives by going after the corrupt train company instead of trying to take a good man away from his son. His argument is compelling and effective. The train company is exposed and Malcolm's client won't spend one day away from his son. It's win-win.

Liam thinks Beth sent him a sexy card in which the words "caressing" and "supple" are used. Unfortunately, Beth doesn't use words like "supple." This can only mean that Liam is getting saucy notes from someone else in the office. Only Rowdy's relationship wisdom can get these two back on track. Apparently, he's "an instinctual emotional genius capable of solving even the thorniest of romantic problems." Those are Rowdy's words, not ours. And they are pretty much right on the money.

At the end of the day, Dylan tells Susan he doesn't want to say anything that would hurt her when he talks about his role in the Katie-Cliff affair. She tells him that he should not edit his testimony for her sake. She further says that the firm is lucky to have Dylan as part of their team. We couldn't agree more.