Finally the start of the courtroom episodes, which are apparently going to be two because it’s the second-to-last episode. It opens with a flashback to Pablo Schreiber with a goatee getting advice from—oh, look, they were friendly once—Chris Evans. Evans gives Schreiber a list of things to work on so if you want to wait to see if Schreiber uses them against Jaeden Martell… He uses at least one.

I’m not sure about the rest. I lost interest in tracking them.

It’s trial time and the “good guys” feel ready. Cherry Jones continues to be great and Schreiber’s a good bad guy; Daryl Edwards is good as the judge. Ben Taylor’s really good as the friend of Martell who’s got the most damning testimony, which surprises Jones, Evans, and Michelle Dockery. Turns out Martell wasn’t being forthcoming about all the possible evidence against him and it’s a big problem. It’s also a big problem because Evans should’ve found it but didn’t actually do the work to find out about it. And he never told Dockery about any of it, which eventually leads to her saying how their whole marriage is a shame because they’re only together to… pretend it’s a fairytale. Or something.

Dockery and Evans are nap-inducing when they’re alone together—or icky when they’re having weird sex scenes all over the house—so it’s a really disinteresting argument scene.

Other important developments this episode include J.K. Simmons calling to check up on the trial, the cops tracking down professional thug (who’s following Evans and Dockery) William Xifaras, and Patrick Fischler and Megan Byrne fighting in the courtroom. They’re the dead kids parents. Might be more interesting if it was there story too, especially since we still don’t know how Fischler decided Martell was guilty the day after the murder or whatever. Fischler’s good but he’s barely in the show.

It ends with a big surprise—though not really, not if you’ve got a fourth grader’s understanding of foreshadowing—involving pedophile suspect Daniel Henshall. But at least it’s about to be over.