All Rise Season 3 Episode 14 Review: We Are Family

On All Rise Season 3 Episode 14, “We Are Family,” we have our requisite major and minor cases of the hour, but they mostly play second fiddle to what goes on outside of the workplace.

The cases do take up most of the first half of the episode. That is because the  people involved as complex as ever, but it’s also because Lola manages to miss the attempts of several characters to get her to leave her office in time for a surprise party.

These attempts are not subtle in the slightest, culminating in Mark spilling about Robin’s spat with Andre to get her to storm home. I can only credit her missing all these signs to her understandable stress about her judicial recertification courses.

The more prominent case involves a sushi chef accused of attempting to kill his former protégé. What would be sensationalist on most legal dramas is heartfelt here. As ever, the writers work to make both sides sympathetic.

After some back and forth about whether the poisoning even happened, we learn it did, but accidentally. Caught in covid-related brain fog, the chef used a knife traced with blowfish venom. Amy and Sara’s clients literally hug it out in the end.

The second case is equally poignant, though with a slightly less happy ending. Emily’s client struggles with anger issues after the death of her husband, having once slashed a fellow mother’s tires before the accident she’s in trouble for now.

Emily does her best, negotiating a decent deal. Yet what the woman really needs is emotional support, and she refuses all suggestions of help. It’s sobering but realistic to see someone who could truly benefit from therapy view it as an insult.

Soon enough, everyone is ready to blow off some steam, and what better way than the party that takes up most of this episode’s second half? What could go wrong with throwing every single character on the show together?

Well, first, Lola’s initial belief that Mark was joking about Robin is dispatched when he confesses the truth. And then there’s the fact Rachel, secretly in love with Dre, doesn’t show up to the party at all after years of epic bestie celebrations.

Lola does manage to have fun despite all this, and she and Robin even air out a few more things they’ve needed to address for a while. Yet there’s no denying that Dre and the storyline around him are probably sticking around against the wishes of many.

Everyone else is similarly subject to drama. Sara confirms she’s dating her former client, and while I’d personally root for them, Emily’s warning against it has me worried. Does it still count as crossing a line when she’s not working on his behalf anymore?

Emily has more to worry about than her friend’s love life—like the fact she may be pregnant despite not really wanting kids. Besides the “fun” conversation we get between her and Luke about it, I have a bad feeling about what the test result could spell.

Finally, Mark accidentally invites the entire HOJ to his wedding. This honesty seems like a non-issue. Neither he or Amy are on great terms with what little family they have. Who else is going to show up but all the people they’re already partying with?

More of an issue are the unread texts he keeps receiving from his father. Promos for the season have already hinted that he really shouldn’t be ignoring them. If we are moving toward a wedding in the finale, what sacrifices might arise before the happy ending?

 

What did you think of this episode of All Rise? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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All Rise airs Saturdays at 9/8c on OWN.

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