All Rise Season 3 Episode 9 Review: Truth Hurts

After an episode-long fantasy sequence, All Rise Season 3 Episode 9, “Truth Hurts,” throws us back into reality at full tilt. The main case alone contains an hour’s worth of drama, but there’s plenty on the sidelines, too.

The smash-and-grab case that has tied into multiple plotlines this season, including the involvement of Gloria and Maddie Hernandez, reaches a new peak when the FBI steps in just as Mark’s office is ready to make a key arrest.

The main issue here is how the feds get involved—they’re tipped off by Robin, who happens to be there as Mark asks Lola to re-sign a warrant. After several episodes waiting for Andre to drop a bomb on Lola and Robin, this is not the explosion I’d expected.

Lola does help wrest control of the case back into the hands of LA’s prosecutors, but not before she has an intense argument with her husband that is the real dramatic center of the story. Here, Andre does get mentioned, though he doesn’t appear in person.

This is where we might expect the potential of romantic drama to be involved in the Mark-Lola-Robin side of things instead, but that doesn’t really come up. Mark is friends with both Lola and Robin, and the idea of her choosing between her husband and bestie is just weird, nothing more.

What of Andre, then? I’m not sure. This is the first time we confirm that Robin feels the weight between his wife and her ex, but the only true development we get is Lola not going to Andre’s conference. Can this really stay on the backburner?

Moving past all this personal messiness, we’re approaching the midseason finale with Mark about to take on a very high-profile case with Maddie as his star witness. The idea this is about to escalate even further has me very nervous.

Much of the remainder of the episode falls in the hands of Teddy, who returns as a new but already loved character to lead a case involving a stripper named Eden, drugged and nearly raped at the club where she works.

Sweet, awkward Teddy brings the humor you might expect from such a story, particularly in a hilariously uncomfortable night he, Sara, and Emily all spend at the club in question. The mood drops dramatically when we learn Eve was actually sexually assaulted.

Through the episode, Teddy and Eve have a series of affectionate interactions. While they’re not entirely professional, you’d be hard-pressed not to root for these two. And yet I find myself all the more anxious about what Teddy being “too good for this word” could foreshadow.

Other Notes

• It’s been a hot minute since we’ve seen Emily and Mark team up, in this case to get Maddie to act as a witness. It’s a rare dynamic when they’re normally on opposing sides, but I love it.
• I also love Moses. Love, love, love him. True, he’s a bit of a disaster in a court job, but he’s a perfect nanny for Bailey and I hope we see plenty of him.
• And then there’s Amy and Mark. This part of the episode is really wedged in brief starting and ending moments, but if we weren’t scenting trouble already, we sure are after hearing Amy’s not telling the full truth about divorcing her ex.
• Even more alarming: what in the world is going on with Sherri’s parents, and why does she need a large sum of money to plead to see her mother. Is my show-related anxiety not high enough already?

 

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All Rise airs Tuesdays at 8/7c on OWN.

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