'Bull' Season 5 Episode 1 Review: Quirky, musical bizarre opener with Covid-19 as theme announces show's return
Spoilers for 'Bull' Season 5 Episode 1 'My Corona'
A musical in a legal drama? Whodathunkit. But then, a quick look back at the Season 4 premiere which had one of the most unexpected endings shows and we know that 'Bull' is not afraid to try something new. With the coronavirus pandemic as the central theme, 'My Corona' takes place in Dr Jason Bull's (Michael Weatherly) mind and to make the episode a tad bit different, there are some class musicals that are part of the episode including James Brown's 'The Boss' and Creedence Clearwater Revival's 'Bad Moon Rising,'
The world has officially shutdown. For Bull & Co, that pretty much means calls and video meetings online where they discuss the future. Important events like Chunk Palmer's (Christopher Jackson) graduation are celebrated virtually. There are some problems for Bull as he ponders over the future of the team and the family. The scene switches to Bull getting a case from a data mining company that collects details of people and hands it to landlords who pay an average fee of $12.
The company is in fact worth more than a billion dollars but also had trouble on their hands because they were an automated service and their business didn't come with human oversight. This means more chances of error and that lands the company in a soup as misidentifying people is a major issue. Bull takes on the case and is met with stiff challenges as new courtroom rules do not allow him to see the jury and this would hamper what TAC does.
Hurdles are increasing and the case appears to slip away from Bull until it is revealed in the final minutes that he was indeed having a terrible nightmare after being ill and presumably suffering from Covid. While in real life, this would have actually meant trouble for companies, the writers seem to have focused on showing the impact the pandemic has had on people physically and mentally. This makes it a unique, but solid start to the season and it also gives an inkling of what to expect from the new installment.
Before that, a word on the musicals. The fun singalongs throughout the episode make it a little less gloomy as we are not used to seeing Bull and his team lose cases. The episode ends with a musical, 'How Can I Be Sure' by The Young Rascals followed by Bull and the team telling the viewers they missed them. Pretty different, but with 2020, it's okay to make the fiction series a lot more human. This sets the tone for what will be a crisp season comprising of just 16 episodes and that makes it all the more interesting to see what cases we can expect to see in the weeks to come.
For now, get ready to see more masks, social distancing and fewer crowds in courtrooms and possibly confined to just one singular room as safety measures. We're not complaining though. 'Bull' is back and for fans, that's all that matters.
'Bull' Season 5 airs Mondays at 10 pm ET on CBS.