The fourth drama in Dick Wolf’s Chicago franchise has the same beating heart of its fellows shows. Chicago Justice spent its freshman season picking relevant, important headlines for their stories, and teaching us some new things about the law in the process. This show draws a wider scope than other legal dramas currently on the air. The season finale was so socially relevant in fact, it practically hit viewers on the nose.
Never trust a millionaire who goes out of his way to make other people feel better in difficult times. We’ve learned this lesson the hard way. These are the people who offer solace in one hand and stab you with the other. It’s just way too easy to blame the little guy for a disaster, which is exactly what the Lyndon family tries to do when a crane falls on the beloved, heir apparent son-in-law Evan Wheeler. It’s obvious from the get go that Frank Lyndon is nothing but a liar. What he didn’t count on was how passionately, and how personally, the State’s Attorney’s office would go after him. It’s because of a name we haven’t heard in over a year.
Remember Danny Borelli? For those who don’t, he was a firefighter featured on Chicago Fire, the brother of Firehouse 51 rookie Jimmy Borelli. Jimmy exited last year after an accident on the job ended his career, an accident that happened as a result of Jimmy’s grief over Danny’s own death on the job. Danny died because the building he ran into wasn’t stable. It was grossly neglected and his death swept under the rug by the building’s owner, Lyndon. And it just so happens that Danny Borelli was close to Stone and Dawson.
Dawson and Nagel easily find proof that one of Lyndon’s contractors purposely weakened the crane so it would kill Evan Wheeler. The man didn’t even bother to remove the evidence from his car! Getting Lyndon’s daughter to testify against her father was a different story. The threat of her daughter being stripped from her custody isn’t even enough to guilt the woman to turning on her father completely. Before Stone can even get the warrant started, Jefferies makes a deal with Lyndon for no jail time. As if Stone was really going to let that go. Jefferies asks Lyndon point blank if he ordered his son-in-law killed, and the man goes into yet another story about his own greatness. I’d have loved to hit Lyndon with a crane when he not-so-subtly threatened Jefferies. That was a mistake. Jefferies happily throws Stone the grenade he needs to take out Lyndon. It’s pretty easy to get rid of a narcissist when you force others to stare at his horrendous visage. It is a thing of beauty to watch Lyndon walk right into Stone’s trap.
He makes two major mistakes. The first is repeatedly claiming love for his deceased son-in-law, which clearly irked his own son. He takes after his father, trying to throw his widowed sister under the bus. The second was leaving a long trail of his own public writings where he expressed the validity of valuing monetary value over human lives, and getting him to admit to it on the stand. Hubris is a beautiful thing. Stone takes great pleasure in getting a conviction against Lyndon, with absolutely no chance of a deal for either one of his children, as it should be.
It was a satisfying end to a first season. Let’s hear your thoughts. What would you like to see from Chicago Justice‘s (potential) second season?
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