Margaret is in the process of finalizing her legal separation from henry. She is not quite ready to divorce him, yet. The tide is against Margret in the Bayliss case and she knows it. Todd sees her frustrated and angry at the prospect of losing the case when it is clear that Luke has planted his CI story. He makes a bold decision to contact Veronica, his former PI partner because of whom he nearly destroyed his life. The reason why Todd goes to Veronica is that Josephine Fontana, the leader of the biker gang The Pioneer Ghosts, is someone she knows about. Margaret’s play is that this gang got Keith killed because he was about to release a bombshell article on them exposing their organized crime. When Todd tells her about what Luke is doing, Veronica says that this particular detective has done it before in the past. Her client, Melissa Granger went through the same thing. Margaret files a motion to take this on record and believes it is the break the case needed. Veronica sends a voicemail saying Josephine revealed Luke’s antics are only “the tip of the iceberg”. There are more serious issues in the department. Former cop Herb Mulholland is Todd’s next clue to solving this puzzle. The Wrights meet him and convince him to testify. Margaret also agrees to become her lawyer in his case, where he is being falsely implicated by Luke. In court, as they are about to plead not guilty, Herb sees a photo of his sleeping daughter placed near his chair and construes it as a threat. He instantly backs away from testifying. At the family dinner, Margaret and Allisson discover that Todd has been talking to Veronica. Margaret is heartbroken and the two have a fight over the issue. In conversation, Kathleen reveals that Keith used to frequent a bowling alley apart from work. Margaret plans to take Todd there and see if his locker might have something that can help them. She creates a distraction and pulls out some amazing bowling moves, while Todd lips behind security to ransack Keith’s locker, which has a lot of information. The truth they learn is even more shocking. Keith had been collecting evidence against the entire PACT force. All the cops are ditty and it was not the biker gang that killed him – it was one of these dirty cops. Todd smartly discovers receipts from a coffee place where Keith used to go. He deduces Keith went to visit his informant and goes there to meet with them. As he reaches the spot, he is unsure of himself. He reluctantly calls Veronica and asks her for help to identify the informant. Through hit and trial, they finally find Susie, who is an IT expert at the police department. Susie’s accounts confirm the theory that the entire department is corrupted and that the PACT force fabricates evidence to get away with their trials. They convince her to testify and it works. The DA takes prompt action against the task force and issues their arrests. Todd visits Veronica one last time to inform her about the case. Although they flirt and she is happy, Todd interrupts her and says that this is the last time they are meeting. She nearly destroyed his life and he cannot trust her. Margaret too takes a bold step and divorces Henry instead of filing for legal separation. Todd informs her about his meeting with Veronica and Margaret asks him to make smarter choices. The two proceed with lunch and it seems like things are okay. In the last scene, we see why Margaret was right all along. Veronica has been released early for her good conduct and her help on the case with the PACT. She was indeed using Todd all along and now that she is out, he is in danger again.
The Episode Review
As we draw close to the end of season 1, So Help Me Todd has one final ace up its sleeve. Veronica will play a significant part in the season finale and Todd will have to pass the litmus test once again. She did help with the case, which was pretty much straightforward in this episode. But Margaret was right all along. The family tends to make reactive choices to deal with problems but together, they do just fine. The focus in episode 10 was not on the plot itself but on the relationship between Todd and Veronica. And to an extent, how Margaret too is heading in the wrong direction by not being brave with Henry. There were a couple of great moments of drama between the mother and son and their dynamic once again stood out as the highlight.
