Jury Tampering Recap – Rake

Once again on Rake, there are a lot of things going on, but at least in this episode, none of them had to do with Leanne’s boyfriend, Bevan, whose name Keegan Deane can never get straight.

In “Jury Tampering,” Kee takes on the case of a mother who has gone to extreme lengths to get her daughter out of prison. Lucy Marks has had plastic surgery to totally change her appearance and seduces juror, Patrick Murphy, taping their “sex talk” about about how they convicted her daughter. Kee is totally impressed with Lucy’s maternal dedication and “fake boobs for justice,” and they quickly roll into bed together. When she asks him if it’s unethical, you just know she’s taping his reply: “I don’t have any ethics.”

Mayor Marcus Barzmann is pissed off because, once again, he’s being made to look like an idiot. He makes it crystal clear to Scarlet Leon that he wants Lucy Marks acquitted. His wife, Gloria, was supposed to have lunch with him. She’s sitting there waiting for word on that, when her husband says “cancel my lunch,” not even aware of who he was supposed to break bread with! The thing is Kee is supposed to get Lucy convicted, that’s what his client wants. Don’t ask us why, if they explained it, that went by us in the hubbub, but Scarlet and Keegan make a $1,000 bet on which one of them will be able to lose the case, which has been set before a very lenient judge who lets attorneys get away with a lot. Kee manages to push even her too far, going out of his way to alienate female jurors with talk of PMS and irrational female decision making.

Ironically, Kee’s own advice to Ben is what makes him turn on his client. Ben has been having a tough time trying to fit in his father’s shoes now that he is head of the law firm. Kee advises him to take charge, take a day off, fire someone. Ben stands up to another attorney, an obvious impediment to his progress, and gets a hold of files that turn something up on Kee’s case. The murder victim’s secretary got such a big severance package, it smells like hush money to Ben. So yes, it turns out that Lucy’s daughter is guilty of murder. Finding out that Lucy knew all along that her daughter was guilty puts a big damper on Kee’s enthusiasm for Lucy and the $1,000 bet. Lucy threatens to make his life a living hell, but Kee says she’ll have to get in line for that. The case ends in a mistrial and Lucy Marks takes her doctored Kee tapes to the press with a new attorney.

Subplots, Ongoing and New:

The Mayor goes through Gloria’s cell phone and learns of her flirtation. He admits to neglecting her, as Gloria tells him she’s aware that he is having an affair when all she did was kiss Kee. The Mayor was just watching Lucy Mark’s press conference with taped statements Kee made (yes, the no ethics one was prominently featured). He says Kee preys on vulnerable women and vows never to let him hurt Gloria again.

Maddy follows Finn and his English teacher, Stacy, and finds out about their affair. She is enraged that Kee knew about it. Kee warns the teacher to step off or she will be branded a pedophile and sex offender but Finn is furious at his father because he believes he is in love with Stacy.

Mikki has begun dating David Potter, the prosecuting attorney on Kee’s tax case. Kee is angry and asks if she has revealed her working girl stint to him. Mikki told her new boyfriend that she knows Kee through her cousin, Angus. After Kee loses the tax case and the judge orders a garnish on his earnings of 70% (70%!!), Kee tells David a tall tale about Angus molesting Mikki. What did we learn from the scene where he reveals to a wary Mikki what Kee said? Her real name is Mikayla.

Bevan wasn’t the only one MIA in this episode. Stalking has also taken a back seat so no Margaret. And Roy? No mention of Kee’s gambling debts once again. Does this mean he has paid them off? We hope so, because they were originally mounting at the rate of about 5K an episode.

Cast of Jury Tampering:
Greg Kinnear – Keegan Deane
Miranda Otto – Maddie Deane
John Ortiz – Ben Leon
Necar Zadegan – Scarlet Leon
Miranda Otto – Maddie Deane
Ian Colletti – Finn Deane
Bojana Novakovic – Mikki
David Harbour – David Potter
Tara Summers – Leanne
Bill Cobbs – Judge in Keegan’s tax case
Damon Gupton – Mayor Marcus Barzmann
Kim Hawthorne – Gloria Barzmann
Amanda Gist – Pretty Brunette
Nick Gracer – Russian Oligarch
Trisha LaFache – ADA Laura Davey
David Lengel – Junior DA
Scott Michael Morgan – Patrick Murphy
Donna Pieroni – Brenda Nuzzi
Tara Summers – Leanne Zander
Jama Williamson – Stacy Mullen