Reasonable Doubt: Season 2 Episode 2 – Review/ Recap

Spoiler Alert: This summary and review contains spoilers.

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Storyline Recap

Why Bring Me On If You Want Things Done Your Way? – Shanelle, Corey, Jax, Mavis

Corey might be well qualified, invited by Jax, and come from a long line of lawyers, but Jax decides he isn’t doing right by Shanelle. So, despite his strategy of winning the court of public opinion by pushing how Shanelle is the victim, Jax decides to help her get out of jail and ruin all Corey is working for.

What doesn’t help this all is Mavis, JT’s mom, having alone time with Shanelle at JT’s funeral and her kicking Shanelle (proverbial) while she is down.

Putting Down The Gloves – Jax, Lewis

While Jax may not have taken Shanelle’s case, that doesn’t mean things between her and Lewis are now perfect. They still go back and forth and have unresolved issues about the ultimatum and what happened up until Damon killed himself, and it’s a lot of petty back and forth.

However, there comes a point where they seem to embrace what happened, including Jax maybe getting turned on that Lewis had sex with someone else, that leads to them moving forward.

Say Goodbye For Me – Shanelle

With things not looking good in the court of public opinion, Shanelle decides she is better off on the run than sticking around. This means major consequences for everyone in her life, especially those involved with raising her money for bail.

New Character Descriptions

Donna Biscoe As Mavis Tucker-Jones

• The actor is also known for their role in “Greenleaf: Season 3/ Episode 2.”

Review

Highlights

How They Portray Jax and Lewis In Therapy

Seeing couples in therapy isn’t new, but it still feels rare and notable when Black people are in therapy, including Black couples. And I know this is scripted, and maybe we harp too much on the Blackness of a show that isn’t purely rooted in the Black experience. However, representation is noted as something that matters over and over again for a reason.

Jax and Lewis might be the type of couple who may push people to say, “That couldn’t be me” or “They should break up,” but it is always easier to talk about people and situations when you aren’t in them. Jax and Lewis have a life that is integrated by time and having children. To end things is not a decision that can be made due to a single action. Even with a series of actions, as noted by their therapist, they are still fighting for the relationship, even if it is fighting each other.

I mean, lest we forget, both of them are stubborn as hell. Thus, they would rather the other person change than work on themselves, and having to reallocate their energy from what the other person should do to what they need/have to do is hard. But, in watching them stumble but keep going at it, you see what a long-term, not always happy, relationship and marriage looks like.

On The Fence

How Rushed Things Feel With Shanelle’s Case

I’m all for a time jump, but I also believe an audience should get to sit and experience a situation or moment for a character. Shanelle being in jail, struggling, accused of murdering this popular athlete, I don’t feel like we’re getting the full effect of that. Never mind, with it being noted how many other women are in prison due to similar circumstances, getting a sense of the community or comraderie she may get, mixed in with what else a woman’s prison has to offer.

Mind you, the performance is there, but the writing seems to want to rush things along, and I get it; writing a show with ten or less episodes might be a talent that not everyone may have, but I would submit it is the norm now. So, while it may mean cutting the fat, that doesn’t mean you don’t use the kind of precision required to not sacrifice the meat, which makes this all worth it.

As we noted in the season review, Shanelle is a character that became a stand-out in a big way towards the end of season 1. So with the push in the finale that this was for a reason, and it would be because she killed her abuser? It seemed like they recognized Shannon Kane could bring it, and whether this was a one-season or multiple-season series, they would give her a deserved spotlight to be a representative of what she could do.

So, with that in mind, I can only hope that as Jax calms down upping the madness, they let Kane take this character where she showed she could in season 1.

Cutting From Opportunities For Lucy To Shine

Lucy is not necessarily a love-to-hate character, but you recognize that as someone working against Shanelle, Jax, and Corey, she isn’t supposed to produce warm and fuzzy feelings. Yet, with her not having any agenda but justice, and Shanelle’s situation pushing the idea that she isn’t as innocent as Jax and Corey would like people to believe, it’s difficult to want to hate her.

When it comes to Lucy, she seems like the type that just wants to do her job and do it right. Never mind the politics, the optics, or anything else – she seems something was done wrong, and she is going to present the facts and dispel opinions.

Now, with the reveal she is someone’s mother, I will admit I want to see behind the curtain and get to know her outside of a work environment. Who knows? Maybe one of Jax’s kids, or even Shanelle’s, may end up involved with Lucy’s? It’s hard to say but of the new characters introduced, Lucy is the most interesting one (and I’m including Corey when I say that).

General Information

Additional Information

1. Previous Episode: Season 2/ Episode 1
2. Series Page

Episode Title

Say Hello

Release Date

August 22, 2024

Network

Hulu

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Where To Buy, Rent or Subscribe To Watch This:

Director(s)

Pete Chatmon

Writer(s)

Tash Gray

The Gist

• Corey comes onto Shanelle’s case, and while he wins over Shanelle and Jax’s partners at the law firm, he doesn’t do that well with Jax because of his strategy.
• With him thinking Shanelle should stay in jail due to the perception of it all, Jax works against him and, with Sally and Autumn, gets her out.
• Undermining him messes with their relationship and to make matters worse, Shanelle is found to have 30 million tucked away that, after being released, she eventually seems to run with.
• As all this happens, Lewis and Jax continue to work on their relationship, and with finally having intimacy and putting their boxing gloves down, it seems they have reconciled – for now.
• With weeks passing since the last episode, things all felt rushed in a way that didn’t benefit the show.
• I get they don’t want to overload the show with fat, but for an hour-long episode, it doesn’t feel like a whole lot happened.
• Yes, we got the reveal that Shanelle was putting away money and that Jax and Lewis were reconciling, but there wasn’t much more.
• It makes me wish that, as TV shows seek to break traditions, maybe “Reasonable Doubt” sought to be a tight half-hour program rather than, with commercials, be an hour.

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