Your Honor – Season 2 Episode 10 Recap, Review & Ending Explained

Part Twenty

Michael, Fia, and Elizabeth open boxes of Adam’s old things as episode 10 of Your Honor season 2 begins. They find the baseball signed by legendary player Mariano Rivera, which reminds Michael of Eugene and the tragedy that befell Kofi. This was, of course, Michael’s fault.

Lee once again instils belief in Eugene by saying just one juror needs to believe he is innocent. She even implies that the jurors might be compelled to sympathize with Eugene for all that he has been through.

Olivia confides in Nancy about her failure. The two women ruefully look back at the missed opportunity to nab Jimmy Baxter and Mayor Figaro. That is how powerful men manage to get away in the end; on the strength of their power. Nancy vows to get them again when they slip up because that is in their nature to do so.

Carmine rejects Gina’s idea to make her the “matriarch” of the family business. His traditional values do not allow him to position a woman at the head of the family and the business.

Monique offers to sell the club to Jimmy in a bid to get over Janelle. Now that she is no longer in her life, she feels it is worthless to keep. Jimmy might benefit from the sale as it could redeem him in Gina’s eyes, who desperately wants Monique gone. In return, she asks the territory of the French Quarters to deal drugs. Jimmy rejects her idea, while Michael is served and appears in court the next day.

The suspense is if he will plead the fifth or give an honest testimony. The Judge makes it clear that Michael’s questioning will only be done in regard to the night of the shooting and nothing more. And unfortunately, Lee gets her first defeat of the morning.

Michael begins his testimony and quite shockingly confirms sighting Eugene shooting Adam. But then, there is a surprise as he ventures on to talk about Kofi Jones, giving Lee the opportunity to bring in the truth about who was responsible for Adam’s death.

Fia is heartbroken to learn the truth and feels betrayed. She leaves the house with Rocco and her things as the Baxter family discusses if they are in trouble yet, but the legal counsel thinks otherwise. That is until Michael comes back tomorrow on the stand.

Fia goes straight into Jimmy’s arms, making Gina jealous. Eugene asks Lee to get him on the stand to make the jurors hear his plea. He gives a passionate, brutally raw and honest account of his life and the circumstances around his actions.

How is it revealed that the Jones family did not die due to a gas leak?

Eugene is understandably emotional talking about his dead family but something he says catches Michael’s attention, after which he asks Lee in the recess to pull out the scripts from Female Jones’ hearing when Michael pressed over it.

That is when Lee starts questioning Eugene about what food items he had in the house that day and what he brought from the supermarket. As Eugene articulates, he realizes that none of the items he bought were able to be cooked.

They were all ready-to-eat items as the Hones family did not have an active gas connection. So how could they have died because of a gas leak? Jimmy acted to kill them after Gina pushed him to. The realization hits everyone and Fia is the most hurt. She storms out of the court. But the Baxter family is now in deep trouble.

Nancy and Olivia work together to confirm on documents that the gas connection was cut seven weeks prior to the fake explosion. Nancy also discovers that Brendan Cusack, a guy on Jimmy’s payroll, headed the investigation of the explosion and he might have falsified evidence. After the court is adjourned that day, Eugene and Michael apologize to each other in a heartfelt moment.

Why does Fia decide to give baby Rocco up for adoption?

Near the end of the episode, we see Rocco being given to Father Jay and he is handing him over to another couple. Fia drives away with tears in her eyes, irreparably heartbroken. But why does she decide to do so? After she comes back from the trial where the Baxter family is implicated in killing the Jones family, they do not allow her to see and hold Rocco.

Fia understands that it is best for Rocco to go to another family because if he remains a Baxter, things will go awfully wrong for him in life.

It also reflects on the earlier conversation Fia had with Father Jay about making choices in life. That also had an impact on the decision Fia made in the end.

How does Eugene avoid prison? At what cost does Eugene earn his freedom?

Olivia steps in to take over the investigation while she can in her position in the Department of Justice. She did so because she felt, all things considered, Eugene did not deserve to go to jail. It is a hackneyed sense of justice but importantly, one that is more morally justifiable than sending Eugene to jail according to the law. That is what the philosophy of law or jurisprudence refers to.

Olivia takes over the investigation and makes Eugene a witness. He is allowed to go free in protective custody. But the caveat is that he can never embrace his old identity again. Remember he came back to the city to rightfully reclaim his identity. His hopes are dashed with this new development. But Olivia makes an argument that he will always be Eugene Jones for what it means to him. His family will always be a part of him irrespective of the name he carries outside.

At what cost does Monique earn the right to sell drugs in the entire city?

Monique’s long game is to force Gina to act on her aggression and newfound hatred for Jimmy and buy out her club. She succeeds but at the cost of giving up her club which had emotional significance in her life. Janelle’s love will never be hers but now the city is, something she had long “Desired” (pun intended). But even when she has everything, it has come at a cost. Monique is empty inside and incapable of ever experiencing life as she did with Janelle. What good would more money and power and dominance do to her if she cannot have love in her life? That is the takeaway from this tangent.

Why does Gina manipulate Carmine to shoot Jimmy?

Gina learns that Jimmy did not agree to buy the club from Monique when he knew how much Gina wanted that to happen. It makes her ironclad in her will to remove him from the family permanently and take over. Gina devises a clever plan to kill two birds with one stone. She is relatively angry at Carmine for not promoting her to the head of the family business just because she is a woman. She manipulates Carmine by saying Jimmy is threatening to land her in jail and an angry Carmine kills Jimmy, something he has long wanted to do.

Gina feels like a new person when she looks over the balcony at her street something she had always wanted to do. And also, something she felt she was entitled to. She is happy not having her family except Carlo, who symbolically took off his tie to mark the end of Jimmy’s reign as the head.

What happens to Michael? Has he redeemed himself?

Michael throws away the ball that belonged to Adam, suggesting he is finally over his death. He bids goodbye to Elizabeth and the reason why Nancy visited him the night before the final hearing is clear. He is going back to serve the time remaining on his sentence, something that is back in place after Olivia revoked his immunity. He came out not to abdicate himself or get his old life back but make things right. And that is why his going back means he has redeemed himself.

One can never undo their actions. Once something happens, it remains like that for the rest of your life. But what one can do is to make sure they acknowledge their wrongdoing and do everything they can to contain their mistake’s contagion.

The Episode Review

The finale of season 2 of Your Honor brings a just end to the story and each of its characters. They all get a send-off that correlates to the themes explored in the show. Quite inconsistently, the finale had heady themes and turned out to be the most compelling episode in the season, which is ironic.

This episode is evidence of how confronting and engaging legal dramas can be, something that Your Honor moved away from in season 2. Watching the scales of justice get even for everyone – in the court and beyond (and at times unfairly) was the highlight of this episode. One would wish for this to have happened way earlier when we were treated with melodrama and filler content.

The best moment for me was that little smiling exchange between baby Rocco and Michael just before he leaves for court. It is such an honest and genuine moment given all that he has been through. The positioning of the camera, the music, the lighting; everything felt perfect. Perhaps a reprieve from the melancholy the show has imbued was at play here more than anything else. What happens to Fia and Jimmy is almost unbearable. Olivia and Charlie faded away from episode 8 and were never as important as they were made out to be.

One thing is clear: the finale does not redeem season 2. The fragile buildup was fraught with half-hearted commitment and convenience. At least, the finale did not feel rushed or random, which is its only saving grace. Even though the finale gets a near-perfect score, it does not change how we feel about the season as a whole.