Defiance
Following last week’s dramatic episode, For Life slows down for a more methodical slice of drama, one that adds another stand-alone case for Aaron to busy himself with and yet another set-back for his own trial. While this takes place, Cassius continues to spin his web of deceit in the background and Safiya starts to defy her superiors.
Episode 7 of For Life begins with Cassius exerting his dominance over the prison, controlling the pay phones and preventing Aaron from being able to make any calls. Aaron instead talks to his friends around the prison and they plead with him to get on friendly terms with Cassius to prevent worse things happening.
Meanwhile, Frank begrudgingly realizes he needs to work with Wild Bill to keep his drug trade going after his family were held at gunpoint last episode. He tries to find an angle to use against Cassius, which he later finds through setting up Wallace and Cassius against one another in the future.
Before we see much development around this though, Marie teams up with Darius to question Michael at his house about Angelo, begging him to help with the case and give some crucial information Aaron can use in court. It turns out Angelo was lying and they have a name that will help too.
Safiya has issues of her own this week as she finds out her son pulled a prank, which was filmed by his friends and plastered all over social media. Unfortunately this results in him getting suspended for a month from school. While she comes to blows with her partner over the best way to approach this case, Aaron stirs up more trouble inside the prison by taking on a case against the system.
This happens to be for an inmate named Nathan Goodleaf, who was denied the chance to marry his terminally ill girlfriend thanks to an altercation that took place 5 years prior. Aaron intends to sue the prison board on his behalf, with Safiya in as a key witness. He goes in hard at court too, questioning Safiya over just why Nathan’s wedding was cancelled compared to other witnesses who were let off for more. She has no answer for this though but unfortunately the Judge rules in favour of the prison board.
Despite this, Safiya decides to begin family visits at the prison anyway, telling Jerry he can fight her if he wants but this is good for the inmates. The first that’s approved is that of Nathan and his partner, with the wedding taking place inside the prison. Nathan asks Aaron to be his best man and together, they share in this beautiful ceremony.
On the back of this, Aaron realizes how much he cares for Marie and tells her he loves her during their visiting hour, which is where the episode ends.
In terms of overarching plot development, there isn’t an awful lot here but the episode does serve to deepen the feelings Aaron has for Marie and adds some heartwarming drama to the fold after last week’s tense episode. While the show hasn’t quite hit the right tone since its opening few episodes, there’s enough here to make for an enjoyable watch nonetheless.
While this isn’t an outright bottle episode, beyond around 5 or 10 minutes of plot development there isn’t an awful lot else going on here to get excited about. Hopefully next week picks things up as we reach the final act of this series.
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Episode Rating
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Judge Zachary Floyd actually ruled in Nathan Goodleaf’s favor, overturning the decision of the Prison Board and allowing Nathan’s marriage to proceed. That’s why Nathan was so happy, thanking Aaron immediately upon the ruling and later asks Aaron to be his best man at his wedding. Warden Safiya Masry does not have the authority to overturn the Prison Board’s previous ruling particularly if it had been affirmed by the Judge. Quite separately Warden Masry has the authority to allow family visits which she allows at the end of the episode against the wishes of the guard union president McCormick who she advises by telephone message.