All Rise – Season 1 Episode 7 Recap & Review

Familial Ties

All Rise returns this week with an emotional episode as we delve deeper into Lola and Mark’s childhood thanks to the introduction of Lola’s Mum. Of course, the legal drama continues too and each week brings us something new, helping the show feel refreshingly original and entertaining to watch.

After finishing one of her trials, Carmichael notices a familiar woman in the gallery – her mother. She invites her into her office where they discuss the reason for her arrival; she’s there to be a character witness for a homeless non-binary, Jax, accused of arson. Mark will be the prosecutor in the case and Choi tells him that they DA wants to send a message to the people about the homeless who shouldn’t use violence to solve their problems.

While in the elevator with her Mother and Judge Benner, Lola experiences a strong earthquake. As earthquakes are quite common in California, Kansky and Castillo both decide they want to be the safety warden in case another strikes.

The trial of Jax starts and on the stand is the hotel owner, who explains that Jax was acting quite suspicious. However, Lopez manages to get the upper hand when she brings to light some previous insurance fraud and the absence of security camera foootage from that fateful night.

After exiting the lift, Lola starts her search-warrant duty and finds herself head to head with the Inspector who wants her to sign one for a mansion suspected to be holding guns. After speaking to the witness, she tells the inspector she’ll have to think about it. However, shortly after she finds out the police raided the place anyway, prompting her to confront the Inspector, who reveals he got the approval from Judge Benner instead.

Jax’s trial resumes and Roxie takes to the stand. When Mark cross-examines her, he asks what her involvement is with Jax. She explains that she works at a shelter and sometimes buys them clothes. However, when she’s asked the last time she bought them some, she refuses to answer which prompts the Judge to find her to be in contempt.

Pleading with her Mum to anser the question, Lola tells her that not answering will hurt them even more. Eventually she agrees to return to the stand where she finally answers the question and admits buying Jax socks which looked similar to the one used to set fire to the building.

During recess, Lola confronts Judge Benner about going behind her back regarding the search warrant. Benner replies that she has known the inspector for a long time and trusted his judgment. An angry Lola tells him this is going to make her job more difficult as she’ll lose respect from the police.

Lopez meets with Jax who is very worried about going to state prison as being a non binary, they worry about their life. Lopez then decides to try pleading for misdemeanour instead to get a better sentence. As the trial resumes, Lopez gives an emotional speech about Jax and how their safety became threatened. She explains that they shouldn’t be trialled for a felony as they didn’t act with malice.

While waiting for the jury’s results, Rosie meets Mark in his office to clear the air. He apologises for sending her to prison, but she understands he was just doing his job. The verdict is in and the Jury find Jax guilty of misdemeanour, which is what they were hoping for. The episode then ends with Mark meeting with his Dad for drinks, trying to build bridges and with Lola and her mother bonding and trying to get to know each other better.

All Rise has been quite consistent so far, offering up interesting legal stories with good character development. While the show does touch on legal proceedings and terms, it never becomes too complicated and actually does gives a good insight into what happens during trials and in the court-house.

The introduction of Lola’s mother was a nice touch too and they both have good chemistry on-screen together. Mark seems to be making some progress in his difficult relationship with his dad too while Lopez and Watkins are slowly growing closer.

While some of the character story lines feel a little predictable, All Rise does enough to remain an enjoyable watch and it’ll be interesting to see what happens next week.