ANOTHER episode title in French? Give me some culture, Franklin & Bash! I love it. So much.

This week's episode, titled "Voir Dire," departs from the traditional FnB structure, as you'll soon see. While I appreciate a diversity of tactics, the jury is still out (hah!) on whether or not this newfound plot focus will aid or inhibit FnB's progress throughout the season. Roll up your sleeves, folks, and let's judge the shit out of these lawyers.

| Last Week's Recap: "L’affair du Coeur" |

MAIN CASE: Sal Gotelli accused of beating up former coworkers with a wrench.

This is a bizarre one, indeed. After Peter and Jared fail to show up for a partner meeting -- they were eating chicken and waffles! -- they're assigned to defend an undesirable client: Sal Gotelli. Sal is the brother of Stanton Infeld's mechanic, and he beat the shit out of three guys when he decided he no longer wanted to be in the illegal chop shop game.

FnB struggle to coach Sal, who claims he just wanted to go straight. Listen, Sal: You were born that way. Anywho, their defense relies on the assumption that Sal was defending himself from a bunch of goons who wanted to force him to remain in their illegal enterprise.

Our heroes are aided by a summer shadow named Bonnie in their quest to defend Sal successfully; she may have her hair pulled back and glasses on, but dammit, she's competent. The boys focus on jury selection, which is the key to any good defense. A good jury = wins, even though we've never seen this side of FnB before.

Unfortunately, prosecutor Hewitt blows their defense out of the water when he reveals a boot which was used to kick in the door of the chop shop, and the wrench Sal used to beat the living hell out of these guys. It was premeditated!

It turns out that Sal was trying to protect a girl named Anabelle, who witnessed a crime committed by Sal's former colleagues. Oh, so he's in love! All they need to do is track down this Anabelle girl, have her testify, and Sal's off the hook.

One problem: Anabelle doesn't know Sal. She recognizes his face when Carmen shows her, but he came in frequently and bought little gifts for his niece. Even without Anabelle's testimony, though, FnB go ahead and select a jury based on the love defense; one woman seems perfect, a newlywed planning a vacation with her hubby.

Ugh, but MORE obstacles present themselves. First, Sal tells Anabelle to get the hell out of town, which she does. Then the boys see their prized juror bawling in the halls because her husband left her. MEN SUCK AND SO DOES SAL. They need to figure out a way to get her off the jury, because FnB have already used all their challenges.

Stanton Infeld recommends pulling a Ruth Bader Ginsburg (what he did when he was advising Clinton) and get Hewitt to challenge the juror himself. They pull this off by pretending to pick up her parking ticket and begin striking up an innocuous conversation. Hewitt claims jury tampering, but the judge ain't having it, so Hewitt challenges. Win again.

Meanwhile, FnB discover that Sal's been buying gifts from Anabelle to give to Kiki, a receptionist at the chop shop who has an on-and-off relationship with Sal. Not surprisingly, Kiki won't help them with their love defense when the boys try to get her to testify.

But, at Bonnie's prompting, FnB tip their hand intentionally in order to allow the prosecution to call Kiki as a witness. When they cross-examine, they'll be able to expose Sal's love for Anabelle.

SECONDARY CASE: ??????

Woah, big departure here. There IS no second case.

TERTIARY STORYLINE: Summer shadows.

Bonnie is FnB's summer shadow, and she's just trying to make it in this business. Still, this was tied into the case, so it wasn't much of its own storyline. 

SumOlogy: Jury selection is everything, I guess. So is tricking the prosecution.

Grade: B

LEFTOVERS

-Chicken and waffles. Yummmm.

-"The ultimate expression of love is KILLING HIM." -Kiki

-Bonnie and Jared maybe have a little chemistry? Let's not rule this out.

-I'd bet Peter Bash's life that Bonnie's hair comes down and her glasses come off next episode.

-Speaking of next episode, is this to be continued? It ended abrubtly, with Hewitt  taking FnB's Kiki bait, but it was obviously just the beginning of the case.

-Jury selection, you guys. That's how ALL cases are won. Just ask Johnnie Cochran.

-"Classic Franklin and Bash."

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Follow on Ology: Anthony Schneck |  Franklin & Bash

Follow on Twitter: @AnthonyOlogy |  @OlogySports

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