Bull Review: Separation (Season 3 Episode 9)
On Bull Season 3 Episode 9, “Separation,” TAC takes on two very different cases and uses one to charge full-speed into current politics once again.
More often that not, I think Bull should focus on one client an episode. With two, the balance tends to be off, especially when one storyline has major personal ties.
Here, while I’m still unsure how I feel about the split focus, there’s a reasonable sense of balance. Even the nearly-too-convenient way they are tied together works, at least by this show’s terms.
Sure enough, the mention that Gabriel, Danny’s new boyfriend, is an undocumented immigrant comes back to haunt them—and does so much sooner than we might expect.
Some may be disgruntled about a one-sided portrayal. Gabriel exposes himself my saving a man’s life and is clearly a hero. The judge trying to speed his deportation is a jerk with no desire to be impartial.
Still, the reflection of real-life stories here is important. Gabriel can define the terror that he’s escaped from and would most likely kill him upon deportation back to his home land. He is undocumented because of a lie he believed in desperation.
There can be a tendency to confuse making undocumented immigrants sympathetic with saying they didn’t do anything wrong. As a legal drama, Bull avoids that my having it explicitly stated that he did, even if those making the point aren’t all that likeable.
Overall, the nuance here shows how complicated this issue is for all involved. There’s certainly an angle to it, and it’s one not everyone will completely agree with, but everyone should have food for thought.
Compared to Gabriel’s seemingly doomed future, our second case is a more traditional “case of the week” involving a custody battle of sorts over a painting.
It’s odd that TAC is so worried about their client appearing greedy for wanting a valuable painting of his dead wife but never makes the museum look the same way when their motives are only about profit and increased patronage.
Maybe this storyline is playing second fiddle to Gabriel’s (and I honestly prefer it that way,) but it does seem like there’s an easy play here that gets ignored, especially when the museum turns down a huge donation and settlement.
This winds up being another case solved through a last-minute witness that makes everything easy. Again, it’s a mirror to another situation that is anything but.
The main question is why these two completely unrelated cases are presented together. There isn’t that great an answer, because nearly any case could have a grateful client offer to help out anywhere else he could.
Regardless, Gabriel, alongside a happy (and influential) portrait owner, is shipped off to Germany where he will receive asylum. Danny, for some reason, is only told after a painful goodbye while believing the worst.
Now we wait and see. Gabriel is safe, at least for now, but chances are he won’t be able to come back to the country for a while, either. And just as Danny, so recently cautious about commitment, is ready to marry to protect him.
With any luck, this will be a plot to continue into the new year and second half of the season. Danny certainly deserves a successful love story, and, nice as Germany is, Gabriel deserves to be able to come home.
What did you think of this episode of Bull? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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Bull airs Mondays at 10/9c on CBS.
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Caitlin Wyneken
Caitlin is an elder millennial with an only slightly unhealthy dedication to a random selection of TV shows, from PBS Masterpiece dramas to some of the less popular series on popular networks. Outside of screen time, she's dedicated to the public sector and worthy nonprofits, working to make a difference in the world outside of media.