So Help Me Todd Season 2 Episode 6 Review: Is The Jury Out?

About two-thirds of the way through So Help Me Todd Season 2 Episode 6, “Is the Jury Out?”. Margaret and Todd tend to an inebriated Lawrence amidst utter chaos. The circumstances feel oddly familiar.

This is only the second time the eldest Wright sibling has been seriously involved in a central plot, and both times have seen him affected by substances he ingested with only some knowledge of their true effects. It’s not a great track record.

Lawrence has hired Todd (without their mother’s knowledge) to find out if a judge is gay. The twist is that he’s worried about how having too many queer people on a state’s court could reflect on the governor—an odd thing for another gay man to say.

Though the approach is a little awkward, there’s impactful commentary here on cookie-cutter definitions of sexuality. Lawrence sees himself as a husband and father, but his career shapes him more than trying to be part of a specific community.

Before we can sit with this for too long, an unfortunate encounter with Jello shots leads to an absolutely  off-the-rails scene wherein we learn that Allison has been sleeping with Dick Franks, Todd’s PI idol—who has also previously slept with their Aunt Patty.

If there’s one way to remind us just how, um, offbeat the Wright family can be, it’s by getting as many of them as possible into as single room at once. I’m not sure we need to see Allison reaching this kind of level, but at least it wakes Todd to Dick’s antics.

It can be difficult to take anything too seriously in an episode that both has both a scene like this and Aunt Patty returning to offer her own (borderline unhinged) commentary through the hour, but there are a couple quieter moments that succeed.

For one, the main trial is anything but comedic. Margaret represents a woman accused of defamation after calling out the professor who sexually assaulted her. The one witness that can save her faces the judgement of her ultra-conservative church community.

It takes Margaret’s gentle encouragement for Clara to testify. More importantly, it takes her being allowed the chance to back out if she needs to without any judgement. Margaret may not be a perfect mother, but she’s trying—and learning from her clients along the way.

A glimpse of Clara’s bother, who is heavily implied to be gay himself, calls back to Lawrence’s original commentary. He manages to make peace with the judge and with his own internal conflicts. We get the nicest moment between the brothers that we’ve ever seen.

The episode also sees the return of Judy, who wins us over again just by having a notable presence in a story that’s already loaded with guest stars. Though Todd tries to avoid his feelings at first, there’s a spark here that we’re sure to see build.

We’re mostly distracted from Crest Folding and Wright being on the verge of collapse, but I’m sure it’s only a temporary reprieve. Still, without a secured renewal, the chance of leaving on a cliffhanger forever is very real. I hope we get at least some answers along the way.

 

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So Help Me Todd airs Thursdays at 9/8c on CBS.

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