Bull Review: Justified (Season 2 Episode 20)

Bull Season 2 Episode 20, “Justified,” is an emotional and uncomfortable look into how abuse so often goes under the radar—and what that can mean.

Plenty of shows tackle abuse. More and more often, they also work to show those abusers who so often do whatever it takes to hide the consequences of their actions. Now, Bull is doing the same, and holding nothing back.

We also quickly make this case very personal, even though it would be emotionally affecting enough on its own. Bull speaks of his older sister’s murder at her husband’s hands and admits openly how that event skews his thinking.

It’s just one of many very frank discussions we get. Most of the characters talk about just how bad Kate’s case looks, and they’re absolutely right. Her using that gun when and where she does throws a lot of potential legal defenses out the window.

We can even understand bringing a case against her. At the time of his death, Brian is sleeping and defenseless, unable to be the monster he so often is. Legally, that’s murder. Yet there’s so much more  to it than that.

One thing done very well here is actually asking and answering the questions that are so often raised. Why not run, say or do anything, or leave sooner? Because she’s tried and been tracked down, because she’s been manipulated and afraid, because she remembers loving him.

And because she is pregnant and wanted to save both herself and her baby.

The episode also never tries to make Kate look overly misunderstood, which is probably a good thing. She knows what she’s done, knows how it looks, and seems prepared for whatever fate comes her way. For most of the episode, that fate does not look good.

Another positive thing—we don’t get a rush to a miracle solution. It takes time for the team to find one person who can back up Kate’s claims of abuse. And in the end, that not only vindicates her, but shows all the effort of Brian hiding his abuse before.

Strictly speaking, we probably don’t need to see why this case affects Bull personally, because he’s always passionate and always takes on the hard cases. But it does show why he might go against his own better judgement.

His feelings of guilt could be explored more, considering we’ve now touched or revisited major life events that shape his views as trial scientist during two episodes in a row. Of course, he’ll have to be willing to talk about his feelings first, so we may be waiting quite a while.

There is one bit where I’d like to see the notion of abuse addressed a little more . Marissa, soothing Bull’s concerns, tells him he couldn’t have done more for his sister– and that she made her own choices about her relationships. As we see with Kate, it’s really not that simple.

With all this going on, we barely touch on Chunk’s continued drama with his teacher, who has now failed him in his class. And…he’s got to have a case here, right? We dip into this story so rarely and briefly, but that professor is one character who doesn’t make me sympathetic at all.

Then again, who knows? Maybe this is actually much more complicated than we realize, too. I’m kind of nervous about what that would mean.

What did you think of this episode of Bull? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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Bull airs Tuesdays at 9/8c on CBS.

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