Harry's Law Episode 1.04 Wheels of Justice

Tommy has his office rigged up with lights and a video camera to coach Yvonne on the delivery of her testimony for her fast food lawsuit. Of course, Tommy is his hard-driving, offensive self, so predictably, Yvonne is offended. Tommy treats her like a cow, but she's a person - a person who had a heart attack at age 39 because of her fast food diet! Tommy impatiently explains his strategy: while he can't beat the four biggest fast food chains in a court of law, he can win money by settling, which they will surely do, because he's going to generate a raft of bad publicity. He reminds Yvonne that he took the case with the proviso that she do exactly what he says. Yvonne grumpily sucks it up, trying to make her testimony more emotional.

Over the phone, Adam is just inviting Chunhua away for a romantic weekend, when she's an attacked in an alley near the laundromat. Her assailant means business, slamming her into the pavement and preparing for rape, and Adam hears it all over his cell. Luckily, Fung charges into the alley in the nick of time, scaring the guy away. Adam rushes to the hospital, beside himself to see Chunhua, who despite her terrible beating, insists she's okay. Detective Dimitri wants to get Chunhua in front of a lineup, and she agrees, the sooner the better. Over the phone, Adam is just inviting Chunhua away for a romantic weekend, when she's an attacked in an alley near the laundromat. Her assailant means business, slamming her into the pavement and preparing for rape, and Adam hears it all over his cell. Luckily, Fung charges into the alley in the nick of time, scaring the guy away. Adam rushes to the hospital, beside himself to see Chunhua, who despite her terrible beating, insists she's okay. Detective Dimitri wants to get Chunhua in front of a lineup, and she agrees, the sooner the better.

Damien visits Chunhua at the hospital, promising he'll find the guy who beat her up. Dimitri says that won't be necessary; the cops already caught him, and Chunhua can face the lineup as soon as she's ready. Meanwhile, Harry barges into Tommy's office, interrupting his prep session with Malcolm and assistant Lisa. When Tommy invites Harry to join in the case, she explains why she's come. She's been misplacing her wrath on Malcolm, when she should be shooting it directly at Tommy. Malcolm's going to make a great lawyer one day, and she doesn't want to subject him to bad influence - namely Tommy, who's some kind of joke with delusions of grandeur for mounting the fast food suit in the first place. Wounded, Tommy recites his big wins, then asks Harry to leave; he needs to prepare for his settlement conference.

At the police station, Chunhua quickly identifies her attacker, a guy named Carl, in the lineup. When she breaks down, Fung goes crazy, charging into the lineup room to attack Carl. Meanwhile, Tommy, Lisa, Malcolm and Yvonne rehearse for the settlement conference, which will feature wildly alternating spotlights, and a grand entrance by Tommy. They're creating a ridiculous circus so the opposition gets a taste of what they're likely to encounter in court. Skeptical that Tommy may indeed be crazy, Malcolm heads for the store to ask Adam's advice. Much as he hates to admit it, Adam knows that Tommy's nonsense actually works for him, witness the laundromat case.

When Chunhua gets called to the DA's office, Adam goes along to meet with ADA Kathryn Kepler. Kepler is sympathetic to Chunhua's plight, having been similarly attacked in high school, but she's got bad news. Carl has reliable information regarding a case gone cold, involving the murder of a city councilman. In exchange for the information, Carl will be granted transactional immunity - which means he'll walk free. Completely unable to comprehend what just happened, Chunhua pushes off Adam and bolts from the office in a daze. Back at the store, the mood is somber. Adam reports that Chunhua is holed up in her apartment and won't talk to anyone. Damien charges in, demanding Carl's address. Despite Harry's lecture, it's clear Damien intends to mete out his own particular brand of justice.

Concerned that Chunhua's not talking, Jenna stops by her apartment with a container of putrid homemade soup. Once inside, Jenna relates the tale of her encounter with a "friendly uncle" at age seven; she didn't get off as lucky as Chunhua. She's not trying to compare tragedies, but she knows talking to people helps - only because she didn't. Instead, she retreated into a make-believe world, where everything's pretty and happy, and she's probably never come out. Chunhua can choose to stay locked up in her apartment, but Jenna fully intends to keep coming over with her disgusting soup.

Nervous about the settlement conference, Tommy's strapped himself into an oxygen mask, making Yvonne and Malcolm even more nervous than they already are. When Lisa reports that not only aren't the Big Four lawyers showing up, but they're filing a motion to dismiss, Tommy's crestfallen, but only for a second. Maybe this is good news. If they survive the motion hearing, the Big Four will be more inclined to settle. Instead of putting on their show in his conference room, they're taking it to court! There's only one problem: the judge assigned to the case, Judge Coulis, hates Tommy. She thinks he's showy. Go figure. When Malcolm reports back to Harry, she softens, trying to prepare him for court. Jurors like Tommy, but judges don't, and she doesn't want any judges seeing Malcolm in the same light. Regardless, Malcolm's still peeved with Harry for all her Tommy-bashing.

Damien and his crew stride down an apartment building hallway, game faces on. When Carl opens his door, he has no idea what hit him, as Damien head-butts him to the floor, then unleashes a savage beating. Carl better not do anything to anyone on Damien's beat ever again. Damien sticks a gun in Carl's mouth to drive home his final point: the police can't help Carl. If Damien wants to kill him, he will. It's not long before Adam receives word that Carl's in the hospital in critical condition. Swearing he didn't give Carl's address to Damien, Adam runs out of the shoe store.

Tommy's having butterflies while waiting for Judge Coulis to enter the courtroom. Lisa reminds him that they've got a solid presentable case and... Tommy Jefferson! Bucking up, Tommy gets off to a rough start, allowing the judge to bait him into being offensive. Lisa pulls him aside and reminds him of their agreement: he's going to be Tommy big boy today, even if the judge is rude. The only way to win is to play it straight. To Malcolm and Yvonne's astonishment, Tommy builds his case with dexterity, explaining the scientific evidence of the addictive nature of fast food, and the billions of dollars the Big Four spend on advertising to seduce kids - which in turn yields billions in corporate profit. Yes, Yvonne put the burgers in her mouth - but what good is moderation when one bacon double cheeseburger contains more fat than anyone should consume in a week? So lay some responsibility on Yvonne, but why not ask the Big Four to take some, too?

Back at the store, Malcolm relates Tommy's star turn in court - the man is a damn good lawyer. When Damien shows up, Adam demands to know if he had anything to do with Carl's hospitalization. Harry's about to read Damien the riot act when the cops burst into the store, throw Damien on the ground, and cuff him. Harry reads the warrant and Adam instructs Damien not to say anything to the cops as he's hauled off to jail.

Despite the fact that he's in jail, Damien seems relatively confident that the cops have nothing on him, especially since they haven't set an arraignment date yet. Adam proceeds to Kepler's office to play hard ball. He's going to force her hand - she should either arraign Damien or release him. And if she arraigns him, Adam intends to make a delicious meal out of Damien's possible motivations and publicly establish Carl as a scumbag, thus contaminating her jury pool. She'll risk having a rapist AND a murderer walk free, while losing any future prospects she has of running for DA. Since there's no evidence that Damien did anything to Carl, why not let him go? It's a win-win for Kepler. She can have her murder suspect, who at least got a little taste of what should have been coming to him.

Judge Coulis returns to court with her decision, and yes, Tommy has persuaded her that fast food may be partially to blame for Yvonne's predicament. Despite the protest of the Big Four's lawyers, Judge Coulis does something no court has ever done and denies their motion. If the government won't regulate, maybe people need to litigate. Malcolm and Yvonne are shocked, as a beaming Tommy gives hugs all around, before going off to settle with the Big Four.

Adam returns to jail with news that Damien will be released in an hour, but as a person of interest, which means he'd better watch himself. Adam warns Damien that he's spent all his capital. Next time, he'll go down. And as viscerally satisfying as it may be for Adam to know Damien beat the crap out of Carl, he's also totally disgusted. Back at the store, Harry is gobsmacked to learn Tommy settled for $800,000. Playing it cool, Malcolm hands her a check for their share, $60,000, which Jenna points out is more than they've made in a month. When a chastened Harry coughs up an apology, Malcolm archly informs that he's not the guy she should be apologizing to.

That night, Adam stops by Chunhua's place with more of Jenna's disgusting soup. He's not sure that Chunhua wants to spend time with him, but she's happy to see him - just as long as he doesn't make her eat the soup. Later, Harry stops by Tommy's favorite watering hole to find him celebrating his victory with a stunning date, Barbara. When Barbara excuses herself to go to the ladies room, Harry asks if she's a call girl (she is), and admits she owes Tommy a huge apology. Their lawyering styles may not mesh, but that doesn't mean Tommy's not a terrific attorney. Harry underestimated him - and maybe he's not such a bad influence on Malcolm, either.