“Your Honor” Recap: Season Two Premiere on Showtime, Bryan Cranston

High CourtAs season two begins, Michael Desiato is still reeling from last season’s tragic ending – but as he soon learns, things can only get worse.

In Sunday’s premiere, Michael is rotting in a prison cell (!), gaunt and scrawny and with a unkempt beard. He is so saddened by the death of his son Adam that he no longer has the will to live. He doesn’t even want to eat, so prison staff have to force-feed him a vitamin shake by inserting a tube down his nostril and down his throat. (Ew.) A prison therapist encourages him to find a way to “learn to live with it,” but a catatonic Michael is reluctant to even try. Flashback to the night of Adam’s death, we see that the gunman Eugene managed to evade pursuit of a chasing Carlo (his intended target), and Jimmy’s daughter Fia was left in shock by her friend’s shocking death.

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As the cops searched for Eugene, Big Mo assured Jimmy that the boy’s attempt on Carlo’s life was not a sanctioned hit, but Jimmy still wanted Eugene turned over to him. Big Mo sent her men to find Eugene, and when they did, they left him locked up in a storage unit. Back in the present, Michael is visited by Assistant US Attorney Olivia Delmont (Rosie Perez). She knows that Michael conspired with Jimmy to fix Carlo’s murder trial – ah, that’s why Michael is in prison – and she wants his help in taking down the Baxter crime family. However, Michael has nothing to offer; At this point he just wants to die in peace.

Carlo goes in search of Eugene and is captured by Big Mo’s men, and she calls Jimmy and lets him know that his son has gone rogue. He warns her to “be very careful” – and sounds like Walter White! — but she insists she’s just trying to avoid a full-scale gang war, which her men will eventually bring Carlo back unharmed. Michael’s pal Charlie is in hot water too: Adam’s murder has got voters concerned about crime just before an election, and an aide warns his poll ratings could plummet if he doesn’t nip this case in the bud.

Fia visits Michael in prison and tells him that she sent him some letters that he never answered and asks him if Adam really loves her. Michael says he doesn’t know, but Adam was “a terrible liar,” so if he said it, it must have been true. However, he begs her to leave him alone, and his mourning fog leads him to volunteer for a prison rodeo where he sits with other prisoners in a bullring and plays cards while a giant bull stomps around them. The bull charges Michael, hitting him so hard that he flies through the air – although it doesn’t kill him as Michael had seemingly hoped.

Carlo and Gina urge Jimmy to go after Eugene, but Jimmy plays it cool: “Patience is not inaction, and violence is not a show of strength.” Little Mo grabs Eugene from the storage unit and puts him on a bus with a wad of cash town to later tell Big Mo that he escaped. Big Mo was hoping to turn Eugene over to Charlie and the cops, but she knows Charlie needs to solve this case for his public image, so she tells him to pin the crime on someone else, and she’ll make sure Eugene is never his face shows again The cops pay a coroner to say that an already dead body belongs to Eugene while Charlie crows on the TV that the killer has been brought to justice.

Olivia visits Michael again and tells him that if he helps her investigate the Baxters, she can set him free. Michael is still uninterested… until Olivia plays a recording of Michael’s confession, which also affects Charlie. Unless he wants his friend out of office and facing jail time, Michael needs to come on board. The next thing we know, Michael comes out of jail and takes a call from Olivia on a burner phone: “You made a good decision Michael. I’ll be in touch.” Oh, and Fia writes Michael another letter…while tending to her newborn baby. Wait, so this is Adam’s child?!

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