Another week, another leftist fantasy world on Paramount+’s legal drama The Good Fight, where all conservatives are violent, racist anti-Semites, and all liberals are heroes trying to save the world from hatred - unless it's hatred of Republicans, of course.
Thursday’s episode, “The End of Ginni,” also fired shots at Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and his wife Ginni while mocking the sanctity of unborn human life.
Right at the episode’s opening, lawyer Liz (Audra McDonald) appears on a local morning show to sing the praises of Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson while scoffing at the Thomases. As she removes her microphone at the end of the interview, a white, male cameraman stares at her menacingly while gesturing as if to shoot her with his fingers in the form of a gun. In this show, evil, racist, white men are lurking in every corner and are the norm rather than the rare exception they thankfully are in real life.
Meanwhile, newbie attorney Marissa (Sarah Steele) decides to purchase a gun after being warned to be on guard after the failed assassination attempt on her father by an anti-Semitic white supremacist - because guns aren’t bad anymore when a liberal’s life is in danger. When she trains at a gun range for a concealed carry permit, guess who’s shooting next to her? That’s right! More white, male supremacists who also happen to be conservative. Because of course. #eyeroll
Man: Just imagine Hillary's face in the crosshairs.
Man 2: Got Soros in mine.
Man 3: This one would definitely shoot out a few boomboxes at the next BLM. Okay. Here we go.
All: BUB! BUB! Right through the head.
Man 4: Let us talk about the major signposts of a 21st century civil war. Watch for these: Number one, is there a rise in domestic terrorism? Is there a slide towards more and more hate crimes? Are militia groups recruiting based on a myth? Is there recruitment of militia from the military and police? Is anyone using disease, or a pandemic, as an organizing principle. Is there a sense of inevitability to a war between the left and right? Is there a sense of, uh, winner take all in politics? Is there a belief that the other side doesn't play fair? Is the white population losing its majority status? Has the left armed itself? Have the police fired on protesters? So... let's pause there. Count up your signposts. If it comes to ten, you are in the midst of a civil war right now. If you're short of that, watch for the signs. Ten, and it's civil war.
Umm, how is white people losing their majority status supposed to be a warning sign of an impending civil war? I won’t bother touching on any of the other signs in the interest of brevity, only to say I don’t think the writers realize how many the left is actually guilty of.
The episode also touched on the humanity of the unborn as a couple negotiates a “pushnup” agreement that will compensate the wife for labor and delivery, but her true intention is to renegotiate the trust fund in their prenup. The grandparents hire a third lawyer to represent the baby which takes the other lawyers by surprise:
Brittel: There will be no more borrowing against the trust.
Ri’Chard: This has nothing to do with the trust.
Brittel: Mr. Johnstone has borrowed $895,000 for his crypto speculation. We expect that to be repaid in full with interest. 1.6 million.
Wife: You put us into debt?
Brittel: Well, you're not off the hook, either. I've heard that you've requested money to compensate for the trauma and inconvenience of childbirth. Well, it's only fair that Audrey gets half of that.
Diane: On what grounds?
Brittel: Well, birth is at least as traumatic to the baby, wouldn't you agree?
Diane: Who has hired you?
Brittel: The grandparents. They put the money into the trust, and they want it to go directly to the child. Not to you. So, see you in court.
Wife: Oh, I don't think she's going anywhere.
Elsbeth: I don't see how, legally... how, logically... he can represent Audrey.
Ri’Chard: It's a generation-skipping trust. The grandfather didn't want to give the money to them. He wanted it to go to their children.
Diane: But the child isn't born yet.
Ri’Chard: Right, so... let's sue the fetus. She doesn't have standing, not yet.
Elsbeth: Oh, sometimes I love the law.
When the case is brought before the court, the judge ends up being pro-life and a former member of the group Feminists for Life, much to Elsbeth (Carrie Preston), Diane (Christine Baranski) and Ri’Chard’s (Andre Braugher) dismay:
Judge: Mr. Brittel, why have you intervened with this contract?
Brittel: I’m the trustee of a generation-skipping trust, so I represent the interests of the unborn child.
Judge: Their unborn child.
Diane: Your Honor, I'm sure you're aware, the Illinois Reproductive Health Act, still in effect, clearly states that a fertilized egg, embryo, or fetus, does not have independent rights.
Woman: Shame on Illinois!
Judge: Quiet in the gallery. Even if what a lawyer says offends you... however appropriate it is to be offended… no heckling is allowed. Continue, Mr. Brittel.
Brittel: I can't be guilty of tortious interference unless I intervened in their relationship without justification.
Elsbeth: Judge Burnette only resigned from Feminists for Life when she took the bench in 2020.
Diane: So, we're in Alito-land.
Elsbeth: Mm-hmm.
Brittel: But the interests of a child are at stake. What could be a better justification?
Ri’Chard: Uh, Your Honor, as my colleague has already pointed out, there is no "child" in this case.
Judge: I'm going to allow the term.
Ri’Chard: Your Honor, plaintiff obj...
Judge: Order! Order in the gallery!
Diane: We're not going to win with this. She's pro-life.
Ri’Chard: Go our own way?
Diane: Uh, Your Honor, our client, Mr. Johnstone, has requested a declaratory judgment stating that he is under no legal obligation to pay for childbirth or mothering services, whether the compensation goes to Ms. Johnstone or to "the child."
Elsbeth: I never expected you to use this hearing to improve your negotiating position.
Diane: Seize the day. He also contends that such payments... In addition to contravening natural and Biblical law...
Woman: Amen!
Diane: …have no basis in Illinois law.
Ri’Chard: "Older women are to teach the young women how to love their husbands and children." Titus 2:4.
Woman: Amen!
Ri’Chard: Amen! Amen, amen!
Judge: There will be order.
Elsbeth: But Your Honor, Your Honor, the Bible doesn't support this kind of abandonment.
Brittel: Your Honor, you see, this is exactly why the child needs me to step in and intervene in the situation.
Ri’Chard: There is no child.
Judge: Order.
Brittel: There is a child!
Judge: Court is in recess until I can review the precedents.
Back at the office, Diane tells Liz she’s “working on a strategy for court.” When Liz asks what that strategy is, Diane replies, “How to legally attack a fetus.” Liz thankfully advises, “Don’t.”
Diane ignores her advice, though, and decides to use the sanctity of an unborn child’s life to their clients’ advantage, leading Diane to proclaim with disgust that she needs a shower afterwards:
Judge: You two seem happy.
Elsbeth: We're always happy, Your Honor.
Diane: We ask the court to appoint a conservator for Audrey Johnstone.
Judge: Who is Audrey Johnstone?
Wife: My daughter, Your Honor.
Brittel: Objection. I'm her lawyer.
Elsbeth: No, you're the trust's lawyer. And we believe you've placed your interest above the child's.
Brittel: Okay, there's no child.
Diane: Of course, there is a child. It's right there.
Judge: You want to appoint someone else to manage the financial affairs of the fetus?
Elsbeth: The child, Your Honor, the child.
Diane: Who clearly is not competent to do so for herself, as yet.
Elsbeth: These invoices show just how much Mr. Brittel was charging the trust... The fetus... The child... for his legal services. He has claimed over $100,000 in this calendar year alone. That's an exorbitant fee.
Brittel: Okay, as trustee, I am acting in the capacity of a conservator already...
Diane: But not as a responsible one. Mr. Brittel is not acting in the best financial interests of the... the child.
Judge: It is the opinion of this court that fetuses are entitled to certain inalienable rights, and therefore, the plaintiff's motion is granted. Mr. Brittel is not serving his client's interest, and the court places the fetus into a conservatorship.
Crowd: Stand up for every child!
Elsbeth: Yay?
Diane: God, I need a shower.
Crowd: Stand up for every child.
Yeah, Diane, I need a shower, too, after watching this facetious mockery of sacred human life and the disdain shown towards it. The only silver lining in all of this is that this is the final season for this show.
