Loveday Writing

Julia goes back to the Institute to find more potential children in the waiting room. One of Leon’s patients, Grace, approaches her and expresses concerns about her upcoming fourth round of IVF and how Leon’s trial will affect it. Julia reassures her it will go ahead, before going to a staff meeting, where she tries to motivate the staff to keep going, only to be told she’s fired as her continuing to work at the Institute will be a bad look. Meanwhile, Edie and Tim go to court again to try and get Leon off house arrest, with Tim noticing something between Edie and Amanda.

When Julia gives Jan a brief on the patients and how to care for them, as she’s packing up her stuff in her office, Leon calls her. He asks her to get a drawing of him she made when she was in the third grade, that’s sitting on his desk. Moments later, Roxy walks into the Institute, filming again. Julia and Isaac tell her to stop filming. As both Julia and Roxy are being escorted out, Roxy offers to check up on Leon and Julia reluctantly agrees.

Meanwhile, Tim asks Edie about the vibe between her and Amanda. Edie asks if he was jealous or turned on by it. He tells her both and they have sex in her office. Meanwhile, Roxy brings what she thinks is Leon’s favourite lunch to him, only for him to point out that she was mistaken. When he sees her get upset at her mistake, he invites her into his apartment and they end up eating the lunch and bonding over a game of backgammon. He confides in her that he was only trying to help his patients and she tells him that she believes him. Roxy eventually returns back to Julia’s apartment, where they get into a fight as Julia knows Roxy spent all day with Leon and belittles her addiction, while Roxy tells her that she’s now in competition for Leon’s love. Later, Roxy goes to her parents’ house to get some money, only to be thrown out by Ron when she tells him about ‘meeting her real dad’.

https://youtu.be/3yjTxgln9a0

Meanwhile, Julia goes to see Edie and Tim and asks them to look at her employment contract so she doesn’t lose her job forever. Later, Edie and Tim talk about the case and opposing council to their boss, and he tells Edie to have drinks with Amanda to negotiate a better deal. During the drinks, Amanda asks Edie where she falls on the lesbian spectrum. Edie says about ‘50/50’. They then get a call about Leon’s ankle bracelet being removed. Edie lets Julia know about it after she meets up with Grace at a diner, with Grace telling Julia that she’s pregnant. Grace also tells Julia that she, not Leon, is the heart of the Institute, and why she and her husband chose to go with them for their IVF.

Leon’s ankle bracelet went off after he told Roxy that he wanted get the drawing Julia made for him, and she tells him that she had a hack for it. While they’re at his office, Leon tells her that he knows she’s high due to his experience as a doctor (echoing him telling her earlier that her back pain is due to all the double twists she did as a child before her spine was fully formed) and he offers to help her to get clean. Moments later, Julia arrives to tell them that his probation officer is on the way to his apartment.

When they get back to his apartment, Edie is waiting for them and it’s revealed that Roxy’s “hack” was just putting the ankle bracelet on a Roomba as it would detect movement within the apartment. Edie buys them time and prevents Leon getting arrested by making the probation officer believe the ankle bracelet has a technical glitch. After the probation officer leaves, Edie tells Julia that she looked over her employment contract and there’s a clause that states she’s in charge if Leon is ever incapacitated. Julia also lets Roxy live with her for another month.

The next day, Julia goes to the staff meeting at the Institute to tell everyone about the succession clause and she is now in charge. She tells everyone to be there for the patients and care for them. She also asks for Isaac’s help in keeping the Institute afloat. Meanwhile, Edie and Tim go back to court and fight for the house arrest to be removed from Leon’s probation conditions, arguing that the ankle bracelet is unreliable. The house arrest is lifted, under the condition that someone be responsible for him. When Julia refuses to put her hand up as she’s still pissed off, Roxy volunteers and the judge agrees.

Outside court, Edie and Amanda briefly flirt, before sneaking off to an office to hook up. When Leon leaves court, he gets into a car where Isaac is waiting for him. Leon reveals to him that he wants Isaac to be his true successor. The episode ends with Julia catching Edie and Amanda in the act by seeing them through the office door blinds. When Tim comes up to her, she walks away with him.

Overall this was a good episode of exploring the consequences and fallout of Leon’s actions on him, the Institute and Julia. I appreciated the little spanners in the works here and there, such as Julia catching Edie and Amanda in the act, and Leon telling Isaac that he wants him, not Julia, to be his successor. It will be interesting to see how these play out as the season progresses. On a smaller note, I found it hard to believe that the probation officer would fall for Edie’s trick, but we’ll see what happens with Leon and Roxy, now that he’s no longer under house arrest and she is having to be responsible for him. I also appreciated Leon and Roxy’s bonding scenes, however his character is still a little underdeveloped and inconsistent.

Stray Observations:

-At the beginning of the episode, Roxy asks Julia whether to give Leon flowers or balloons as a gift to introduce herself to him. She ends up giving him a mini foil balloon on a stick.

-Much like the predecessor series, Julia was fired in this episode.

Best one liners and interactions:

• “What do you think, flowers or balloons?” “It’s an arraignment not a baby shower.” (Roxy-Julia)
• “Pema Chodron, a Buddhist teacher I had to Google…” (Julia at the staff meeting trying to give a motivational speech)
• “My blood, sweat and hamstring tears!” (Roxy to her parents about her income and the fact that they’re living off it)
• “She’s…talented.” “She was always really good with mixed media.” (Roxy-Leon on Julia’s third grade drawing)