So Help Me Todd – Season 1 Episode 13 “Wall of Fire” Recap & Review

Wall of Fire

Episode 13 of So Help Me Todd’s season 1 starts with the tragic killing of two construction workers. They were out late at night in the newly built condo building and the roof collapsed on them.

At court, Margaret unexpectedly runs into Gus. He claims his innocence at not having replied to her texts but she sees right through his power play. Gus is in town to represent the city in the case of the two workers dying. They set a date for lunch but it turns out the offer from Gus was to have a sandwich together in the conference room at the firm.

Peter Chen, Susan’s fiancée, comes to the office to ask Todd a personal favour. One of his young assistants, June, is missing. Todd is tasked with tracking down her whereabouts. At lunch, we see that Gus has come with Eugene, the lead engineer in charge of ensuring the soil was good for the construction of the collapsed building. Eugene says that he checked it about two years ago when the construction started and it was fit. Gus offers to have Margaret on board as the lead counsel as she is better versed in local municipal law.

She accepts the task. If they fail, the city will be open to civil lawsuits and the employees will have to pay from their pockets. Audrey, June’s sister, tells Todd that she loved the spin class. When Todd speaks with Thor, her instructor, he learns that June’s car is parked a couple of streets up from the office. But he is not allowed to access the data from June’s wristband that might confirm her location.  In an awkward scene in the firm’s lift, we learn that Susan is representing Peter’s construction firm against the city, which is represented by Margaret and Gus. Lyle acts as the neutral to divide the office into two parts – a firewall – to prevent any conflict of interest in the case.

Margaret goes to Gus’ cabin for lunch but inadvertently falls into the lake. They discuss how they got over their exes and began dating again. The independent test results of the soil are in and the report has deemed the soil unfit for construction. But when they compare it with the original report by Eugene, they discover that the original testing was done at a different location. When they talk to Eugene, he reveals that on the night of testing, a female security guard might have had the chance to change the samples when she was checking his car’s boot. Todd breaks into June’s car and discovers a bank receipt for a deposit. He also discovers red clay at the driver’s footwell.

June deposited an amount of 20k through a personal check from Peter, and the memo line had “kisses” written on it. Todd goes to the office to interrupt the date on Valentine’s day but discovers through Peter that June’s dog’s name was Kisses and he died recently. It was for his chemotherapy. Gus texts Margaret that he has found the security company. She abruptly leaves Allison’s birthday party and so does Todd. There, Margaret and Gus learn that the company does not send anyone during the nights at the construction site. But then who was the security guard?

Peter takes Todd to a site where the soil is red. They find the dead body of June buried on the spot.   Todd and Margaret wonder about the identity of the killer. He calls Allison and she tells him about the GPS data in the fitness bracelet. Todd finds something! June visited Audrey’s house the night she had disappeared. He drops a tracker into her purse as she leaves. Eugene sees her in the parking lot and confirms it is the security guard. Todd chases Audrey in his car and Margaret and Gus tag along. They deduce that Audrey must have some financial stake in the property and could not afford to have the soil test unfit.

She changed the samples to open up the entire property for development. The clay found in June’s car was brought by Audrey, who killed her sister, who suspected Audrey, and drove the car back near the office. They corner her in a departmental store, where she was buying things to abscond. The case stands resolved and the firewall is lifted!

As Gus finally leaves, he asks out Margaret on an official date. But she rebuffs all his attempts, getting back the steering wheel in the courting. Todd emotionally confesses he is weirdly excited and thrilled for Susan. He calls Peter very lucky to have her and Suam and Todd share a moment, where it seems like both want to kiss each other. But reality hits them and Peter picks up Susan.

Margaret sees Todd feeling heartbroken watching Susan go away and draws a heart on a piece of paper from across her cabin to console him.

The Episode Review

Susan and Todd have really grown close over the course of the season. Watching Todd now shows how regret can bite you once you have missed your chance with someone. Right person, wrong time.

Peter Chen finally made a guest appearance; his first of the season. We almost thought he was fictional or running into problems with Susan.

The big question mark here stems from whether Susan is still in love with Todd? The chances of that happening are low but it would be amazing to see them together. Gus has proven to be a likeable character and perhaps there is a future for Margaret and him.

The episode had a few more enhanced elements of comedy too, thanks to Lyle and his strict monitoring of the firewall. This is what we have come to expect of the show.