Warning: Spoilers ahead for So Help Me Todd Season 2, Episode 6, “Is the Jury Out?” Go make googly eyes at someone and get into some skeevy shenanigans until you’ve finished the episode!
The 2024 TV schedule is bringing viewers many laughs per minute with every episode of the amazingly heartwarming legal comedy, So Help Me Todd, and tonight’s episode showed us that things might really be looking up for our lead private investigator in the romance department, just as a big change could be coming for his “lumbering robot” of a workaholic big brother, Lawrence.
While Episode 6 saw Margaret enlist the help of Lyle to locate a reluctant witness and somehow convince her to testify in the defamation case Margaret was working on, she only needed his assistance because Todd was busy on a top secret mission for Lawrence, who’s the governor’s chief of staff. The last minutes of the weekly family dinner saw Lawrence corner Todd in the bathroom and hand him a photo of a local judge, with the odd request that his younger bro find out whether or not said legal system pro is gay.
As he investigates, Todd again comes into contact with an eager Judy Maxon (Heather Morris of Glee’s Brittany and Santana fame), the bubbly clerk who works in the store located in the lobby of Crest, Folding and Wright’s office building. If it wasn’t clear when we first saw her in the season premiere, she absolutely has a thing for Todd, and even straight up asked him on a date this time. But, after meeting famed local P.I. Dick Franks (Dean Winters of Law & Order: SVU) a couple of episodes ago, Todd’s convinced that he must “lone wolf” life in order to be a great detective, so he turns her down.
For a refresher, Season 1 had Todd make some adorable oddball chemistry with podcast host Lea Luna, but she had to head across the country to report on another unsolved case and, seemingly, hasn’t spoken with the newly re-licensed detective in months. He also connected with one time Rose Festival Queen, Amy, as he and Margaret tried to prove that she didn’t murder a fellow juror. Much like Leah, though, Amy moved far away to get her Master’s Degree, so she and Todd weren’t a couple for long.
Obviously, Todd has had what some would call terrible luck with women, seeing as how his last long-term girlfriend, Veronica, was just using him to cover her many illegal tracks, and is the reason he lost his license in the first place, and was nearly sent to prison. So, it was lovely to see that he’d changed his mind about Judy by the episode’s end and asked her out to dinner.
Is Judy the right woman for Todd in this new season? Who can say at this point? But, she’s got the right sorta silly but incredibly helpful attitude for Todd and can certainly assist in getting him out of his dating slump and get used to working at a high level while in a (hopefully) healthy relationship. So, even if this doesn’t lead to a Happily Ever After for either of them, at least I can see them having some fun while it lasts.
What’s Going On With Todd’s Robotic Brother, Lawrence?
Again, the robot nickname comes purely from Todd, and though I do see why he uses it for Lawrence, I like the guy. The main problem is that he works almost all the time, and even when he isn’t working he’s liable to get called away when a gubernatorial emergency crops up. This episode saw Lawrence, who’s about to have another child with his husband, Chet, accompany Todd for a portion of his investigation into the judge, who he eventually revealed is in the running for a state supreme court appointment, where there are already three LGBTQ+ justices, and with the governor up for re-election, she’s looking to seem as moderate as possible to capture the necessary votes to win.
When Todd questions why Lawrence would be alright with discriminating against someone qualified just because they’re gay, it leads to a bit of a crisis that sees him tell Todd he’s not gay. He means that he doesn’t feel like he has a real connection with the community because all he does is work 17-18 hours daily and do laundry for his young daughter when he is home. As he said, “How am I gay? Why does it matter if I have that label? All I am is a working, busy, tired father.”
It then becomes pretty clear that Lawrence, despite his ambitions of landing the governorship in the future, is missing not being able to participate in some of the freedoms and joys that he feels are inherent to being gay (including a healthy sex life with his hubby that’s not impeded by exhaustion).
Revealing this emotional stuff to his little bro was a bit too much for him, and when they had to head into a party to follow the judge in the hope of finding out about his orientation, he ended up indulging in far too many Jell-O “slaps” (that’s “shots” for the rest of us) and getting so drunk that Todd had to get him out of there before he caused a major scene.
It seems to me that we might be reaching a time when good ol’ Larry decides that (much like their middle sister, Allison, right now) it’s time to “change lanes” and let go of some of his political ambition (or at least delay it) so that he can have a more balanced, joyful and laundry-free life. This might mean that we could see him at more family dinners soon, and loosen up a bit in general, which would likely be welcome by Chet, especially once their baby boy arrives.
And, if we end up seeing more of drunk and/or accidentally high Lawrence on So Help Me Todd, so much the better!
