Elsbeth just made a dangerous enemy and the second half of Season 2 could put our favorite crime-solving lawyer in major trouble!
Caution: This article contains SPOILERS for Elsbeth Season 2 Episodes 7 and 8
Usually, Elsbeth ends every episode with Carrie Preston's quirky attorney figuring out who the real killer is, so they're arrested. However, season 2, episode 7 played with that. The audience saw a man (played by Preston's husband, Michael Emerson) break into an apartment to beat someone to death over some shared past. The man's lover, Delia, was arrested for the crime, and at her trial, the audience discovered the killer was the respected Judge Milton Crawford.
Obviously, Crawford was ready to ensure Delia was found guilty, aided by the woman having an incompetent attorney. Fortunately, Elsbeth was on the jury, soon struck by how Crawford was letting the prosecution get away with too much and seemingly prepared to railroad Delia. Elsbeth was able to convince the jury to acquit her.
Elsbeth and Crawford had a meeting later where Crawford let slip a detail on the murder scene he shouldn't have known, getting Elsbeth suspicious. This played into Episode 8 as she enlisted Delia to look more into Crawford. Meanwhile, Captain Wagner (Wendell Pierce) had his own confrontation with Crawford at a party.
Wagner talked to Elsbeth, who shared her suspicions and agreed to help her. But at just that moment, the TV was talking about a judge unsealing files from a high-profile divorce case in Chicago, which Elsbeth had a hand in. Specifically, accusing her of burying documents, with Crawford shown smirking that "the game's on."
So what does this mean for the show?
What is happening with Elsbeth?
Season 2 has touched on Elsbeth leaving Chicago suddenly with no one sure why she'd travel to New York and a new job. Her own son mentioned it with Elsbeth quiet on the truth. Speaking to TV Insider, showrunner Jonathan Tollins revealed this will finally answer some of those questions and have a big impact for Elsbeth.
"We're finally filling in the full extent of what happened in Chicago. Elsbeth, her reputation will be jeopardized as will her friendship with Kaya . And so she's going to be driven to make things right. And I think that's because she's such an empathetic person and just hates the idea of having been a party to the victimization of an innocent person in Chicago. She's not going to rest until she makes things right."
A theme of the series has been Elsbeth acknowledging she felt a bit guilty helping corrupt people get away with things in court and wants a fresh start. A question is if she really did bury those files, which is a bit too unethical for her, but she might be more tied into this than she lets on.
Obviously, Crawford is behind breaking this news in order to cast doubts on Elsbeth's accusations against him. While Elsbeth will face backlash, it will help that Wagner, Kaya and other detectives who have come to know and respect her will have her back. However, Elsbeth will take this personally and Crawford, like others, will find out the hard way how dirty she can play things. That will finally address why Crawford killed that guy in the first place and what secrets he hides behind his arrogant demeanor.
Tollins said the storyline will take "a bunch of episodes" to play out. It's likely to be an overall subplot while Elsbeth continues working on regular murder cases. However, it's likely her presence will hurt cases, with suspects and attorneys arguing she has no standing to accuse anyone of wrongdoing given her own actions. It will also fire up her encounters with Crawford and it's been great seeing real-life spouses Preston and Emerson face off.
Thus, the second half of season 2 has Elsbeth stepping up with a major foe and a bigger conflict to make this series even better.
Elsbeth Season 2 returns on Thursday, Jan. 30 at 10/9c on CBS.