So Help Me Todd – Season 1 Episode 20 “More Fang for Your Chuck” Recap & Review

More Fang for Your Chuck

At Multnomah Falls Arena, a news reporter highlights the recent Golden Ticket winners. The lucky recipient of a $1 million prize for the day’s hockey match is announced. Chuck and Todd sit together in the stands, where Todd suggests that Chuck could establish his own P.I. firm with that substantial sum. He humorously mentions that he wouldn’t need to live in Chuck’s garage, despite enjoying it there. 

Chuck asks Todd if he would handle cases involving marital problems, gesturing towards Allison, who sits a couple of rows behind them with Margaret. Meanwhile, Margaret is engaged in persuading Allison to give her marriage with Chuck another chance.

Allison joins Todd and explains that she came to the arena to escape from Margaret. She mentions that her Airbnb is undergoing fumigation, so she’s temporarily residing in Margaret’s condo. Meanwhile, Todd enthusiastically cheers for his team and notices Susan seated across the stands with her fiancé, Peter. 

During the break, Todd has a brief encounter with them. Curious, Todd discusses his relationship with Amy and that she’s probably going out for dinners with future judges and lawyers who don’t live in garages. Later, while Todd and Chuck discuss the name of Todd’s new P.I. firm, two FBI agents interrupt and take Chuck away for interrogation.

When Chuck’s calls are ignored by Allison, and Todd’s texts are ignored by Margaret at her home, Todd arrives and delivers the news. Subsequently, they all leave for the FBI headquarters.

Agent Fox is interrogating Chuck at the headquarters, who remains unaware of their suspicions. Chuck mistakenly believes they are interested in his golden lottery scheme and seek further information. While being questioned, Chuck elaborates on his method of selecting lottery winners with the assistance of darts.

Margaret and Allison abruptly interrupt the interrogation just as Chuck admits his sole involvement in the lottery scheme. Margaret meets Natalie Harris, her nemesis from episode 17, who is assigned to the case.

Margaret and Allison arrive at Chuck’s office, where Chuck and Todd are also present. Margaret is interrupted by Beverley, who needs Margaret’s immediate help with a case. Margaret rescues herself, telling Beverley she has her own case to attend to. She discusses the case with Todd, Allison, and Chuck and mentions that they must investigate Chuck as the FBI would. They conclude that the FBI is implicating Chuck in a case that involves fixing the lottery prize and receiving kickbacks from the winners.

Margaret asks Lyle to reach out to Alex, a financial expert, to investigate the financial accounts of Chuck. When Lyle encounters Alex, the latter requests Chuck’s information, including tax filings, investments, and other account details. Lyle appears flattered by Alex, causing him to become flustered and momentarily forget the directions to the conference room. 

Todd meets Misty Mulgrew, one of the lottery winners who is now financially broke. She informs him that she had to agree to cash the check and put half of that amount in a blue bag with the initials C.G. (as in Chuck Grant) monogrammed on it to win the lottery. She disagrees with disclosing further details as, apparently, she has signed a non-disclosure agreement with Natalie. 

Later, Chuck tells Todd that he has a blue gym bag with his initials on it. He also adds that the bag went missing about a month back from his office. Todd and Margaret suspect that the mastermind is someone from Chuck’s office. They reach his office and find the blue bag missing.

Margaret discovers that the stadium chart with the darts is visible to everyone in Chuck’s office; anybody could have known the winners and committed the crime. They also suspect his secretary, Beatrice, who has been working at the company for the past 37 years. 

While leaving, Margaret notices Natalie standing alongside Beverley. Curiosity piqued, she approaches and unintentionally discloses the specifics of Chuck’s case to Beverley, who appears unimpressed with her working on a personal case during office hours. Margaret asks Natalie to give her time till the next giveaway to solve the case, which Natalie agrees to. On investigating, they find that all the lottery winners had a credit score of less than 250, which means they are bankrupt. 

They also find that they all have been associated with Huckleberry Johnson, a financial accountability fellowship leader. who later turns out to be Chuck’s college roommate. If that wasn’t enough, Chuck has multiple offshore accounts set up outside his knowledge.

Todd and Margaret visit one of the debtor camps organized by Huckleberry, disguised as anonymous debtors. When prompted to introduce themselves, they attempt to conjure up fictional details that result in hilarity, especially as they end up describing each other instead of their own lives. Following the meeting, Margaret interrogates Huckleberry about the scheme, while Todd arranges a setup with Tangey, who happens to be one of the golden ticket winners.

Todd and Margaret find themselves near the coffee truck outside the stadium, awaiting the arrival of the contact they acquired from Tangey. However, the person fails to appear. Adding to their predicament, they don’t have tickets for the game scheduled that night. Undeterred, it can be seen that Todd reached out to Susan and Peter, and secured their entry to the stadium. They are also excited to be part of a hockey sting. 

Todd and Margaret are on the phone when Margaret finds that the lottery-winning seat is empty. They speculate that the mastermind got cold feet because of the sting. Todd’s attention is caught when he hears someone placing an identical beverage order as the one from earlier at the coffee truck. To his surprise, he realizes that the order is for Beatrice, Chuck’s secretary. 

Watching the situation unfold, Todd witnesses the server deliver the drink to Beatrice, who promptly hands it over to Bumpy, Chuck’s boss. Todd concludes that Bumpy is the mastermind and is heading over to the ice for the prize announcement. The winner’s seat is still empty. 

Margaret sits in the winner’s place, assuring Todd that she can get Bumpy to confess. As Bumpy announces the winning seat number, he is surprised to see Margaret, Todd’s mother, to be present in the seat. As she receives the prize amount, she gets Bumpy to confess his crime and he gets arrested by the FBI. 

Margaret reconciles and patches things up with Beverley while Lyle bravely admits his affection for Alex. Additionally, it is noted that Alex places Lyle’s pen with his fingerprints in her purse.

Later, Allison reaches out to Susan and wants her to represent Allison’s divorce case. During their conversation, Allison discloses that it was her mother, Margaret, who had chosen Chuck as her partner, and admits that she had realized her own unhappiness with the marriage right at the altar.

As the episode closes, Margaret apologizes to Allison for pressuring her and now wants to see her happy.

The Episode Review

The episode is well crafted with all the ingredients of a fun dramedy as ‘So Help Me Todd’ is. We once again witness the unity of Margaret and her family as they diligently collaborate and invest considerable effort in resolving the case, all with the aim of rescuing Chuck. 

This was one of Chuck’s first major appearances in the series. His characterisation brought some lighthearted moments but the lack of serious discussions about his future with Allison was disappointing. We would have liked to see the couple having a heart-to-heart discussion, embracing the vulnerability of their situation.

Allison’s side of the unhappy marriage has been constantly pushed in the past few episodes, but this time there’s a decent opportunity to get Chuck’s side across, which didn’t happen. Chuck’s naivety to everything was somewhat kitschy but loads of fun. 

Margaret and Allison’s jostling over the latter’s marriage and the former’s control freak was finally resolved in this episode. It was a bittersweet moment for Margaret, who even though came to rally behind her daughter’s life decisions, left feeling jittery about the future.