- Title: Franklin & Bash – Captain Johnny
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Rachel (Heather Locklear) makes a bet with Peter (Mark-Paul Gosselaar) and Jared (Breckin Meyer) over which of their cases will garner the firm more notoriety. As Rachel defends a self-proclaimed psychic (Fernanda Andrade) who pepper sprayed her boss (Roy Abramsohn) after having a vision he was going to assault her, Franklin and Bash perform a motion sickness demonstration, subpoena a parrot, and invoke Pirate Law while defending a “grossly negligent” commercial fisherman (Matt Battaglia) being sued for $25,000 from the team that rescued him against his will from a storm he did’t believe was dangerous (and cost him his fishing boat only after being forcibly removed from the sea).
Despite some compelling testimony from her coworkers, the psychic is unable to correctly read the plaintiff while on the stand, putting their case in jeopardy. Rachel puts Carmen (Dana Davis) to work investigating the company where she finds an entirely different motive for the the woman’s boss wanting to kick her to the curb. Armed with this new information Rachel is not only able to win the case but also win back their client’s reputation as a psychic.
Peter and Jared use Captain Johnny’s nephew (Eric Balfour), a snotty surfer who Peter can’t stand, and his job at Fish and Wildlife to get their hands on the parrot mascot of Captain Johnny’s competition. With the bird in court the pair are able to prove the company sent out a fake distress message in order to put Johnny out of business and later salvage his boat. Although Rachel believes it might not be as groundbreaking a case as her own, she can’t argue the results of Franklin and Bash winning the first Pirate Law case since the 1800’s and earning the firm their share of notoriety.
Both cases are amusing, and I like how Rachel defends her client without choosing to believe or disbelieve in her gift. However the pirate trial, which also gives us John Ratzenberger as the judge, is certainly more amusing. The episode also continues this season’s mention of Rob Lowe. The theft of Lowe’s couch by Peter and Jared (who found it outside his apartment on the curb) introduces the idea of a longstanding feud between Infeld (Malcolm McDowell) and Lowe which no doubt will be touched upon more as the season unfolds.
