'Bull' Season 4 Episode 3 review: Benny stars in a compelling episode as Chunk and Marissa have their character arcs explored
This review contains spoilers for 'Bull' Season 4 Episode 3: 'Rectify'
Another case and it's another happy ending for Team Bull. Freddy Rodriguez as Benny Colon has an absolute rockstar and 'Rectify' is all about him. Guess the futuristic ending in the season opener was a one-off as the episode goes back to those thrill endings that we are used to witnessing. While each episode comes with its own case, Chunk Palmer (Christopher Jackson) and Marissa Morgan (Geneva Carr) have their character arcs explored in this one.
The case
The series goes back to 2002 where a few drug dealers get into an altercation at the local laundry store. The next day, the police find two bodies — a dealer, Quincy Giles (Marcus Lott), and the other of an innocent pregnant woman. The dealer goes by the last name of Lott. Investigations lead to the presence of another male at the scene, Eddie Mitchell (Malcolm Goodwin).
Eddie is wrongly convicted of triple homicide by a prosecution team that included Benny. When Chunk's law professor and his legal clinic aim to get a new trial for Eddie, Benny intervenes saying it's a closed case, and that the man was guilty, except, he realizes that the team made a mistake in the original trial, when he meets his old colleague Valerie Cobb (Christina Shea-Wright). Eddie reveals the witness had lied and Benny realizes that this was the same witness used by the team for different cases. Keen to make amends, Benny decides to switch sides and mount a defense to help clear Eddie's name.
The multiple suspects
The team realizes that the height of the suspect vs that of Eddie's didn't match when the killing occurred. They run a 3D simulation recreating the crime and realize that Eddie wasn't the man to have committed the murder as the target was the pregnant woman and she was shot before the dealer was the second victim. This leads Benny to deep dive into the women's case file, her phone records, and her family history. He tracks down the woman's sister, Maria (Karmine Alers ) and her husband, Issac Garcia (Juan Carlos Diaz) and gets them on the stand to testify.
The truth
The husband is accused by Benny of having an affair with the pregnant woman and the former confesses that while he did love her, his intention was to never kill her. The team regroup and see if they could find any shred of evidence on him when they realize the gun used to kill was owned by the killed woman's sister, and that she was working the night shifts. This gave her an opportunity to confront her pregnant sister and shoots her dead. The drug dealer is now a casualty. When Benny puts the woman on stand, she breaks down and confesses.
Another happy ending
Eddie goes free and Benny while happy that he was able to clear a man of a crime he never committed, is still torn by the fact that he wasted 17 years of Eddie's life by putting him away. Eddie, however, forgives him and says that he intends to just be free and relaxed after the tough time he had during his prison days.
The verdict
Research and attention to detail take center stage in 'Rectify'. TAC was always thorough in their research and their spot-on analysis is key to helping Benny and Bull get Eddie out of prison. The season so far has been about Benny who has been instrumental in helping the team solve cases. It is interesting to see how the show takes Marissa's storyline forward. While the entire Eddie case goes on, the scene cuts to Marissa talking to a therapist about her husband's impotency and how she took the fall for it. She tearfully admits that she's still going through the turmoil.
'Bull' has managed to dish out three great episodes so far and each of it has been worth the watch. The legal procedural was always about science and tech as part of its analysis and 'Rectify' couples it with logic to tell another compelling story.