#Good Trouble Season 3 Episode 16 Review: Opening Statements

At the rate this case is going, Tommy could be going to prison.

Of all the storylines that happened, specifically on Good Trouble Season 3 Episode 16, it’s pleasantly surprising that the murder case remains one of the most captivating arcs of the season.

It feels like a show within a show while Mariana was humbling herself to work with her friends again, Alice’s comedic and romantic life imploded, and Malika stretched herself too thin.

Let’s start things off with Alice. Unless there’s some kind of miracle, the comedy showcase is as good as dead.

I’m inclined to hope for a miracle only because spending this much time (an entire season) on this storyline, introducing all of these characters, and subjecting viewers to Scott the microaggression King and Alice repeatedly catching hell just for it to end like this would be underwhelming and disappointing.

It’s been a struggle with how long this specific arc for Alice has dragged on, and if it officially imploded like this, it’s frustrating.

Scott was an ass. As senseless as it was to bring him back into the fold after everyone voiced their concerns about him, it couldn’t have been more realistic.

Scott thought that a couple of sensitivity training classes would magically fix everything, but that’s not the case. He has no understanding of what he was supposed to be learning from it, and he wasn’t listening to any of the minority voices sharing their issues with him.

It all goes back to why they had a cishet white man running the diversity workshop in the first place. Scott didn’t have the range. He went from laughing and producing racist content to allowing the comedians to create their own skits and then stripping them of anything cultural.

A week ago he thought racism was funny, now we can’t even mention anything cultural.


Shawn

Scott didn’t have to understand if what they were saying and doing was offensive or not.

The comedians who produce the content about their identities and the specific experiences know what is and isn’t offensive for their communities.

But to Scott, the comedians writing skits calling out bigotry was in itself bigoted.

But it’s a reflection of a larger issue in the industry.

One can have diverse, talented individuals, but if all the people with power behind the scenes are the same, it doesn’t matter.

Scott and all of his writers micromanaging these young comics were a bunch of straight white guys with no understanding of what any of these comedians were talking about or trying to do, and, understandably, they got so fed up they wanted to quit.

But Scott couldn’t leave without taking Alice and Ruby down with him by exposing their relationship. Honestly, I had forgotten that the others didn’t know about it.

It never seemed as if they were hiding it from anyone, and the full extent of their relationship got murky some time ago. The others were upset with Alice, but at this point, it seems like they’ll get angry at her for breathing, so their ire this time lost meaning.

It just seems that no matter what I do I can’t win. And I am so sick of this shit. OK. I’m sorry, oh, a 1000 pardons, if you want the lunatics to run the asylum I’m out. FYI, your fearless Alice is only in this program because she was banging the casting director and still is, right Ruby?


Scott

It’s hard to sympathize with them getting angry at Alice for pushing them to give Scott another chance when they would’ve been putting up with Scott’s crap the whole time anyway if Alice didn’t rally against him ALONE.

In surprising news, there was a moment where I felt awful for Lindsay when they gave their parting speech to Alice after Sumi broke up with them.

But then I remembered that Lindsay inserted themself into Alice and Sumi’s complicated relationship. They never wanted Alice on the showcase. And Lindsay was generally smarmy, insufferable, and antagonistic, so whatever.

Ruby got fired, but she was playing with fire when she got involved with Alice in the first place, and as Ruby said, it’s for the best since Ruby didn’t like who she was while working there.

To be honest, I didn’t like the person I had become at that job. I’m sorry I didn’t have your back the whole time like I should’ve. I hope you can forgive me and I hope you can give me a second chance at our relationship.


Ruby

She apologized to Alice for not supporting her the whole time, and she wants a second chance at their relationship now that there’s nothing left to lose. She seems genuine about it, and if Sumi weren’t in the picture, then maybe it would be worth considering, but #TeamSumi.

Mariana’s stint as a secretary/private investigator at Kathleen’s firm is over, and I’m a bit bummed about it.

She went from being excited about what she could offer and contributing in unique ways to being miserable and missing working specifically on Bulk Beauty with her friends.

She and Claire, lying through their teeth about how well they were doing while Callie and Raj politely tried not to call them liars was funny.

Callie and Raj’s attempt to Parent Trap the group failed. ButCallie’s chat with Mariana inspired her to seek the Fight Club out and apply for the job as a coder, even if it meant she would be an employee instead of an equity partner in the project she spearheaded.

It’s very big of Mariana and speaks to her growth that she was willing to humble herself to Biblical levels by showing contrition and taking this massive demotion and pay cut for her friends.

Is it wrong that I feel like a terrible person for thinking she never should’ve had to do this?

Yes, Mariana violated the Fight Club’s trust with the Evan situation, but the Fight Club was all over the place with this, too.

Callie: What if you asked for the job?

Mariana: I mean going from partner to employee is a big demotion.

Callie: Maybe that’s what you have to do to prove that you’ve changed if you really want your friends back. Mariana: I do.

Callie: Well, then, you might have to humble yourself. And being a coder a BB is better than not being at BB at all, right?

It still doesn’t feel right that regardless of what transpired, they kicked Mariana out of something that they never would’ve even had without her in the first place. The proof of her value is evident in how they’re still failing without her, but now she’s the only one who has to humble herself to work with them again.

In reality, there are many companies with partners who don’t get along, but they can set aside their personal feelings for the sake of the business.

But it’s cute that she’s with her friends again. For drama’s sake, it would be interesting if Evan popped back into the picture again, but who knows?

On the topic of drama, things were a bit awkward and tense for Malika and Dyonte, and Malika only had herself to blame for it.

Why do we do it? What is it that’s so ingrained in women, especially Black women, to continuously pour from a near-empty cup?

Why is there this self-afflicted, internalized prompt to put other people ahead of ourselves?

The situation with Malika was infuriating, but what made it worse as a viewer experiencing it is knowing that as much as I was upset at her the entire time, I would’ve done the exact same thing and have.

It’s down to the wire for this internship, and only one of them can get a full-time position. Malika and Dyonte both want and feel passionate about this, and they’re both deserving, but it’s awkward that these two lovers are in this competition.

I wish I had someone who supported me so I didn’t have to work two jobs.


Malika

Even with juggling another job and other things, Malika is always on the top of her game. She’s been passionate about her mini-campaign to help women, especially single mothers held in jail awaiting court appearances, often for minor infractions.

It’s personal for her after her experiences, and I appreciate the series revisiting this. She has all of these ideas for how she can expand on this and help, so she needed the grant.

And yet, she spent more time trying to uplift, champion, and support Dyonte through all aspects of his idea to her detriment. She inserted herself into his work, repeatedly offered her services despite knowing she didn’t have much to give.

She offered time and energy that she didn’t have, and he took her up on it, and then she resented him when it paid off for him. She set herself up for this step-by-step.

Ironically, she did prove the importance of his passion project about rest and how we live in a culture that glorifies busyness and equates self-care and rest with laziness.

Malika pulled an all-nighter working on both of their grant proposals, including making Dyonte’s the priority, and all after pulling a shift at the restaurant.

Not to be petty, but Isaac would’ve never let her burn herself out like this. It felt unresolved when Malika threw those daggers at Dyonte about how she isn’t lucky enough to rely on Tanya for support as he does.

And while Dyonte did offer something sweet to her, it seemed weird when he cosigned that he has two supportive partners and didn’t have much to say about Malika’s irritation or other behaviors.

The most important thing is not to promise the jury something that you can’t prove or that can be disproved. They’ll remember that, and they’ll hold it against you.


Katheleen

Like, does this mean he’s learned not to take her up on every single offer? Will he pay attention more to how she burns herself out?

It’s interesting because it makes you wonder if things would be different if she were someone’s primary right now. It’s what she’s used to, and this is a stark contrast from that.

But Dyonte did pick up on the chemistry and flirting happening between Malika and Angelica. It was hard to miss, and Angelica was super into Malika at every turn.

So Malika may soon get to fully test the water of polyamory by dating someone else in addition to Dyonte.

Malika’s romantic arc and exploration of her love styles and sexuality continue to evolve.

As far as evolution goes, Callie and Jamie give a person whiplash. The chemistry between them does not go away. It’s arguably stronger now than it was when they were together, which says a lot.

Their setup as fun rivals on opposite sides of a court case has led to some heated moments, defined both ways.

It’s been a game with them, fun, flirty, and sexy, until it gets too real, and that’s what happened with the prosecution torpedoed the case with their witness Christian introducing that damning video.

They should’ve known things would take some troubling turns when the prosecutor’s opening statement changed their timeline, thus stealing Katheleen’s defense right under her.

By the prosecution changing the timeline of when they thought the murder happened, working around the evidence Callie found at the gas station, they could no longer argue that Tommy wasn’t there when Zach died.

Callie: Jamie, what the hell was that?

Jamie: I didn’t know about the video.

Callie: Oh, you didn’t know? Because that’s your go-to answer. You’re on the team, Jamie, I find it hard to believe that you were so in the dark.

It was sneaky, but Kathleen was quick on her feet as usual. The defense had to nail home that the tragic death was an accident and nothing else, relying on reasonable doubt.

She was right about how you don’t introduce or say anything that can be disproven later; otherwise, you’d lose the jury and case.

But the prosecutor walked them right into doing that anyway when he let Christian mention the video he recorded (and they sure as hell knew about it) to work in their favor.

The judge will probably let the tape in, and their chances of the jury finding Tommy “not guilty” are dwindling before their eyes.

As angry as Callie is about this and Jamie’s role in it, she has to know better. It’s been obvious the whole time that both lawyers have used their associates as pawns in this case against each other.

Jamie was as blindsided by the video as the defense. He couldn’t even hide it. At some point, it has to bother him that his boss and girlfriend are using him and keeping him in the dark.

And his girlfriend is always babysitting him, chasing after him to make sure he isn’t saying anything to Callie or monitoring their flirty banter.

It was frustrating that the prosecution pulled this stunt, but it’s also not out of the norm.

But Callie going off on Jamie about his “ethical fluidity” seemed so weird and like she was doing that thing again where she always justifies her self-righteous ventures and indicts someone for other things.

Considering your ethical fluidity, sounds like you landed in the right job.


Callie

I mean, Callie, babe, you said “ethics,” not “morals.” Callie’s ethical fluidity is how she betrayed Jamie, got him fired, and they broke up in the first place, yes?

It doesn’t look good for Tommy, and I’m dying to know if he really did kill Zach (even if accidental), the weird, suspicious vibes his jealous girlfriend gives off, and what all this means for Kathleen.

Over to you, Good Trouble Fanatics!

What are your thoughts on the murder case? Is the showcase over for good? Are you picking up the vibes between Malika and this new server? Hit the comments below!

You can watch Good Trouble online here via TV Fanatic.

Jasmine Blu is a senior staff writer for TV Fanatic. Follow her on Twitter.