Season 1, Episode 3:
A Trial to Watch
Cornley presents the first legal drama they’ve ever staged (but not the first they’ve ever been involved in), in which the best defence lawyer in the country is up against his ex-wife in trying to get off a police officer accused on murdering his own brother, only to discover the shocking truth.
This week, Dennis has been cast in the lead role due to a conversation with his grandmother that turned out to be legally binding, and the sets were built in centimetres rather than inches. And that’s just pre-production…
”A Trial to Watch” contains examples of:
- Accidental Innuendo: Invoked. Dennis ends up saying a few of these due to misremembering his lines.Dennis: I get off with all my clients!
- Agony of the Feet: When the third flashback cuts to the half-gym/morgue set, Max takes a kettlebell out of Chris' hand and drops it on his foot.
- Amoral Attorney: Dennis' character is a defense lawyer who only cares about winning cases and boasts about having no scruples, which is why his wife divorced him.
- Artistic License – Law: Deliberately and delightfully invoked and played for laughs throughout this episode. Such highlights including:
- The wrong coat of arms displayed on the wall in the courtroom (it should be the UK Royal Arms, not... whatever arms are there).
- The government would not assign a prosecutor who had such a close personal relationship with the defence.
- Characters addressing a High Court judge as "Your Honour" instead of "Your Lordship".
- The judge using a gavel, famously never used in England and Wales.
- Calling court security a "bailiff".
- Shouting "objection" in court like Americans.
- The defence barrister's conduct. (A defence barrister who finds evidence that their client is guilty would advise them to plead guilty and if their client didn't they'd either refuse to represent them further (if they're allowed to by the judge) or restrict themselves to finding holes in the witnesses testimony/evidence. Explanation They definitely would not pass it off secretly, because they'd get disbarred if caught.)
- Referring to a witness 'taking the stand' (it's called a witness box in England and Wales).
- The barrister referring to the judge as 'Justice' instead of 'Mr Justice'.
- The judge walking in wig-and-gown through the courthouse, and being willing to chat with a defendant in his chambers (although this might be explained by corruption).
- Awesome, but Impractical: The movable two-part sets would be impressive to witness in action, but as with most of Cornley's practical effects, not enough thought has gone into how they were implemented. Consequently, even before things go horribly wrong, Max gets his leg trapped between two halves of the set simply by sitting down too hard on the couch, while set changes end up knocking props from the walls in the morgue scene. Soon after, bits and pieces of the set get mixed up, resulting in disastrous falls, absent props, and some singularly desperate attempts to improvise.
- Belligerent Sexual Tension: Carl McKennon and his ex-wife Becky Sandhurst still have feelings for each other, and this is supposed to drive the plot of this play — except Carl is portrayed by Dennis who cannot remember his lines to save his life, and Becky is portrayed by Vanessa who cannot cope with going off-script in any way, shape, or form.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing:
- Jack seems to be a man falsely accused of murder, but he isn’t.
- The Judge comes off as a Reasonable Authority Figure, but Jack has evidence that he took bribes during a previous case and threatens to expose this.
- Foreshadowing: Jack's opening lines and actions in the flashback (standing at the open closet, seemingly saying into the mirror "Don't worry, it's going to be okay", before closing the door) along with Nigel assuming his wife, Angela, would be home when he arrives foreshadows that the third flashback reveals that Jack and Angela were having an affair, with Jack's line actually being spoken to her, as she hid in the closet in hopes of keeping Nigel from finding out, with their failure to do so being the true reason for the fight that killed him.
- Flashback... Back... Back...: Three examples, with the first going off as scripted, the second coming in so late Chris has to yell and the third becomes an Innocent Innuendo.Annie: It started off as a night of passion and happiness… piness… piness...
- Gargle Blaster: During the second flashback, a mix-up between the home set and the morgue set results in the bottle of brandy not being available for Chris and Max, forcing them to improvise with a bottle of blue cleaning fluid. The substitute is apparently strong enough to leave the two of them gasping out their next lines, not helped by Chris's insistence on sticking to the script via finishing the bottle.
- Heel–Face Turn: Carl starts the trial as a smug jerk who only cares about winning, but facing off with his ex-wife and his client's dishonesty cause him to make a Sudden Principled Stand... a transition that might be more effective if it wasn't Dennis playing the part.
- Implausible Deniability: Chris ends up accidentally inducing this; the script is meant to have him simply deny the charges after the truth is revealed following the last flashback... but because Max's bloodpack went off like a firehose all over him, Chris returns to the courtroom scene saturated with blood, claiming his innocence and looking even more unconvincing than originally intended.
- Noodle Incident: As Chris opens the play, he explains that it's the first legal drama they've ever performed, but not the first they've been involved in.
- Overdrawn at the Blood Bank: Max's blood pack mechanism, having failed twice in a row during the previous flashbacks, goes into overdrive in flashback number three - and projects a geyser of fake blood into Chris's face, leaving him absolutely soaked in it.
- Overly Long Gag: A failed cue to move the set for a flashback results in Chris bellowing "LIVING ROOM! LIVING ROOM! LIVING ROOM!" for about half a minute.
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Permanent Placeholder: At one point, Dennis ends up mistaking a placeholder for improvised dialogue as one of his lines.Robert/Shawcroft: Is there anything you'd like to add?Dennis/McKennon: Yes, Your Honour. Some arrogant legal stuff and a line about [Jack] being right-handed that's important for the plot later.(beat)Robert/Shawcroft: My God, you're good. - "Rashomon"-Style: Inadvertently, due to the sets being misassembled, but there are still differences between the three flashbacks.
- Running Gag: This time, Jonathan isn’t allowed to fit onto the cramped set (despite being the only member of the jury with lines) and his second role as the newscaster gets butchered in editing.
- Saying Sound Effects Out Loud: Max when his blood pack fails to release."...Blood! Pssssh...."
- The Living Dead: Max simply cannot stay still for long enough to play a corpse.
