Editor’s note: The below recap contains spoilers for Elsbeth Season 2 Episode 12.
Ah, college admission season. I remember it like it was yesterday, even though it was more years ago than I’d care to admit right now. However long ago it was, though, I can definitely attest to the fact that getting into the school I wanted to attend was not nearly as harrowing an experience — or at least, not as much of a financial burden — as it appears to be in Elsbeth Season 2, Episode 12, “Foiled Again,” which follows a college admissions consultant who takes his guarantee to get clients admitted into the Ivy Leagues just a touch too far. Class is now in session, so let’s dive in.
Matthew Broderick Takes Things Too Far in ‘Elsbeth’ Season 2 Episode 12
The episode opens with the consultant in question, Lawrence Grey (Matthew Broderick), who runs Outmatch Consulting, a business that pairs students with a “success trainer” who will not only serve as a tutor but will help them craft their application and admissions essays for the Ivy Leagues when the time comes. Lawrence pitches a set of parents on their services, and while they initially balk at the price, Lawrence tells them that the program is a success, with many graduates going on to prestigious careers, including one who is now the Director of Admissions at Baden University — an in-universe Ivy League. The parents accept Lawrence’s pitch, wanting to give their son the best chance at getting into a good school, and not wanting to waste time. That’s certainly not an issue for them, as it turns out their son Andy is still a toddler, which is apparently common enough around here that Outmatch has a sandbox for them to play in.
As they leave, Carl (James Wilkie Broderick), one of the success trainers, tells Lawrence that a man named Bob Shane called twice, and sounded angry when he did. It turns out, Shane is angry because his son Bobby Jr. was rejected from Baden University after Lawrence assured them that he would get in. While Lawrence tries to backtrack and say there were no guarantees, Shane doesn’t accept that, and warns that if Lawrence doesn’t turn this around, he’ll tell everyone to avoid Outmatch in the future. Carl adds that it looks like Baden is turning down all of the Outmatch students who apply outright, so Lawrence decides to pay a visit to the Director of Admissions to see what’s up.
Ethan Brooks (Rob McLure), the Director of Admissions, is none too pleased to see Lawrence, as he still harbors resentment from the pressure Lawrence and his parents put on him when he was a student. He wanted to go to drama school, even if it meant going to a non-Ivy, but that’s not what his parents wanted, and he was subsequently pushed into picking up fencing as an extracurricular to boost his application. Lawrence points out that at least fencing helped him get his asthma under control, but Ethan still takes that extremely seriously regardless, keeping an air filter in his office and shooing the campus cat out of the window when he pops by. His questionable use of his inhaler makes me wonder if anyone involved with the filming of this scene has ever met a person with asthma, as you’re supposed to inhale the puff of steroids directly into your lungs and not just spray it towards your mouth like a breath freshener.
Lawrence’s attempts at smooth-talking Ethan don’t work, and Ethan tells him that he’s going to use his new position to ensure no Outmatch student is admitted to Baden again, and also to ensure that Lawrence is exposed as a fraud. Lawrence then proposes that the pair of them resolve this in a fencing match. If Ethan wins, Lawrence will leave, and if Lawrence wins, Ethan will give Bobby Shane Jr. a second chance. Why Ethan didn’t just agree to give the application a second chance and then just reject it again for double the satisfaction, I’ll never know, but then I suppose we wouldn’t have an episode. Lawrence stops at home but returns to campus later that evening to administer a practice LSAT, and also to meet Ethan for their fencing challenge. He sets up his student with earplugs and a warning not to get up or the test will be restarted. In the fencing hall, he rubs something on the inside of Ethan’s helmet before handing it to him, then offers to help him adjust it, zip-tying it into place so it can’t be removed. While Ethan naturally does better than Lawrence, whatever he rubbed inside the helmet starts getting to him, and Ethan collapses, struggling to breathe, and unable to remove his helmet. Lawrence watches him die, packs up his own equipment so it looks like he wasn’t there, spreads something on the windowsill, and makes it back to the LSAT student just in time.
With Ethan dead, Elsbeth (Carrie Preston), Officer Kaya Blanke (Carra Patterson), and Detective Donnelly (Molly Price) arrive on the scene to investigate. Their working theory thus far is that he was practicing alone when something triggered his severe allergic asthma. Donnelly tells them that he still had his helmet on when they found him, and in taking a closer look, Elsbeth notes a blue fiber left on the inside. She gets a little too close and sneezes, but tells the others the only thing she’s allergic to are cats. Donnelly tells her there was a cat near the body when they got there, but it ran away when others got closer. The timeline still doesn’t quite add up for Elsbeth, who wonders why Ethan wouldn’t just get his inhaler if he needed it. She’s investigating the residue left on the windowsill when the cable that was connected to Ethan’s suit snaps back into place against the wall, and drives her attention to the scoreboard, which is still displaying the score from his fight with Lawrence. She guesses that someone else must have been there, and chose to watch Ethan die.
Teddy Returns for a Visit in ‘Elsbeth’ Season 2 Episode 12
Back at the precinct, the three of them catch Captain Wagner (Wendell Pierce) and Lt. Connor (Daniel K. Isaac) up on the case. Wagner agrees with the idea of foul play, saying that Ethan would have been the only thing stopping a lot of influential families from sending their kids to their school of choice. Donnelly tells him that they found bruising on Ethan’s chest that doesn’t correspond to a fencing injury, and further determined that the substance left behind on the windowsill was actually catnip. Elsbeth wonders if it was left there to summon cats to then trigger Ethan’s asthma, but that feels unlikely to the team as that’s very hard to control. Donnelly tells them they found a lot of cat dander in Ethan’s lungs and inside the mask. Elsbeth suggests someone put it there intentionally to harm him, but Blanke has another theory: Quad Cat, Baden University’s campus cat who is so beloved she has her own Instagram page.
After they determine they need to return to campus to investigate, Blanke uses the opportunity to tell them all that she just received word that she got all the credits she needed to continue on the detective track. Everyone is happy for her, even Lt. Connor, though Blanke still clearly harbors resentment towards him for making her go back to school at all. Elsbeth invites them all over for a celebratory dinner the next night, saying she could use the distraction of hosting to get her mind off of missing Angus (Ioan Gruffudd), the Scottish musician she had a whirlwind, transatlantic romance with on Valentine’s Day. I’m sorry, though unsurprised, to hear that Gruffudd won’t be sticking around, but guest appearances are always on the table, I suppose! She goes back to her office to get her stuff, and finds Teddy (Ben Levi Ross) there waiting for her. He tells her that he’s only in town to help his boyfriend Roy move into his new place, and Elsbeth invites them both to her dinner party the next night, saying it’s time she met Roy. While Teddy is hesitant at first, he eventually agrees.
In Ethan’s office, his assistant explains that the only letters that were just sent out were those who applied for early admission, and they still have thousands of applications to go through. Elsbeth notes the gift basket left on the table, and the assistant explains that it was from Lawrence Grey, a success coach whose job it is to get kids into Baden, and adds that he and Ethan had a fraught history. Blanke joins them all, with Kelly Davis, manager of Quad Cat’s Instagram account in tow. She tells them all that the cat actually got her name not because she frequents the quad, but because she has four toes on each of her front paws instead of the standard five. They ask her if it’s possible Quad Cat might have wandered into the gym and triggered Ethan’s asthma, but Kelly says it isn’t, as Quad Cat is hypoallergenic. With foul play looking more and more likely, they next turn to those who received rejections from Ethan, all of whom are pissed off about the no’s.
Those they interrogate are all still angry about the rejection, but assure the police they only went as far as leaving nasty comments via voicemail, online, or in person. All of them also eventually admit to being Outmatch clients as well, something they’re reluctant to own up to as they’d rather maintain the exclusivity of the practice. With that common element linking them all, Elsbeth and Blanke head to the Outmatch office next to speak to Lawrence. Lawrence says Ethan was one of his early success stories, admitting along the way that he knew about his asthma. While that may not be that strange for someone who’s known him a while, what is strange is that Lawrence seems to know the details of how Ethan died, or at least what the working theory is. This raises Blanke’s suspicions, particularly when Lawrence begins to protest too much, suggesting a second cat might have been present. While Blanke explains that Quad Cat was the only cat to get into the gym, Elsbeth sniffs around Lawrence’s office — literally. She sneezes when she gets too close to his jacket, and explains that the only time she sneezed in the gym was when she got close to the helmet. They ask if Lawrence has a cat, and he tells them that he used to, but that the cat died, and there shouldn’t be any dander left behind on his clothing, as it was a while ago. With the police on his tail, Lawrence returns home to his cat, ominously telling him it’s time to go (don’t worry, the cat lives, but they really had me going for a second).
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Elsbeth is up against the judicial system in Season 2.
Elsbeth Duels for Answers in Season 2 Episode 12
The next day, Elsbeth finds Lawrence in the fencing gym, ostensibly there to pay his respects. She tells him that Carl told her where to find Lawrence, and says she’s come to hire him as a consultant for her future grandchild, after realizing maybe she didn’t do all she could to help Teddy succeed. Though this is all part of her bit, just to get Lawrence talking, as he picks apart Teddy’s career and education, Elsbeth starts to take things more and more personally. Lawrence says that schools these days are less interested in well-rounded applicants, and more interested in “pointy” applicants. That is to say, students who are hyperfocused on one or two things. She asks if Lawrence ever fenced with Ethan, suggesting that she suspects he was there the day of the murder, but Lawrence reveals that he was administering a practice LSAT exam, and the student who was taking it would be happy to corroborate the story. Elsbeth asks him if he’ll teach her how to fence, if only to prove her wrong about how silly a sport it is, and the two of them suit up. The helmet, she notes, is very easy to slide on and off, and after a couple of bouts, she notices that the scoreboard is adding up automatically, just like when Ethan was killed. She asks Lawrence if he has kids, and he says he has a daughter, Mandy, who has yet to go to college as she’s off on a gap year. Mandy is obviously a sore spot, as it throws Lawrence off his game enough that Elsbeth charging at him makes him stumble back and twist his ankle.
Later that day, everyone gathers at Elsbeth’s for her dinner party celebrating Blanke finally getting her final credits needed to become a detective. At Elsbeth’s request, she even brought Cam (Sullivan Jones), her tenant who is definitely just her tenant and nothing more. The fact that they’re wearing coordinated outfits is probably a coincidence. Elsbeth goes into a tizzy when she hears Teddy at the door, as she’s excited to finally meet Roy, but Teddy explains that Roy got stuck at work and will come by when he can. Teddy spies an LSAT prep book on the mantle, and though Elsbeth assures him it was just for her to test an alibi with, it’s clear law school is a sore subject for Teddy. Luckily, he believes Elsbeth’s explanation, blowing past her assurances that he’d make a great lawyer — don’t worry, Teddy, I’ve been there with my parents too — and they all sit down to dinner.
Since academia is on everyone’s minds, that’s where the conversation turns, and Elsbeth asks Teddy if he felt she pushed him enough when he was growing up. Teddy tries to head the conversation off, but when Elsbeth doubles down, he says that in order for her to push more, she would have had to be around more, and less focused on her career, as both she and her ex-husband were. Teddy says his generation prioritizes work-life balance more than the previous generation did, and as a result, he’s also not concerned about losing his job due to taking some personal time to come to the city. Elsbeth and Wagner both warn him not to take the job for granted, and to be careful not to lose it, and accidentally reveal that he didn’t completely get his new job on his own merit, but rather because Wagner made some calls and greased the wheels a bit. Hurt, Teddy leaves the dinner party, and everyone assures Elsbeth that the two of them will patch it up, as she’s obviously a good mother and cares about her son.
Speaking of parents and children, at Lawrence’s place, his daughter Mandy (Cassidy Layton) arrives home from her creativity-driven hiking trip, citing her need to do nothing for a while after getting bored of finding herself. She goes looking for her pet cat, the one whose dander kept clinging to Lawrence’s coat, and is horrified to learn that the cat is apparently dead and already cremated. The next morning, Elsbeth arrives at their building with a gift basket for Lawrence, and is intercepted by Mandy, who’s just arriving home herself. She invites Elsbeth upstairs to chat after realizing she’s the one who injured her father, and the two of them get to talking. She explains that her gap year is now getting closer to being two years off of school, and that both her parents are very successful, leading her to think any success she achieves will just be attributed to them anyway. She also adds that anytime she wants to take a step forward, something bad happens. In this case, learning her cat died just as she returns home, even though he was fine when she was home a month ago. Since Lawrence made it sound like the cat had been dead a while, Elsbeth is instantly suspicious. Lawrence arrives home, and all but kicks Elsbeth out, and she leaves after returning the handkerchief she borrowed from him, confirming it didn’t match the mystery blue fiber they found in the helmet.
Elsbeth and Teddy Patch Things Up, and Judge Crawford Returns in Season 2 Episode 12
At the precinct, Elsbeth and Blanke look over the rejected applications from Outmatch students, all privileged kids who feel oppressed in some way or another when Teddy arrives to speak to his mother. He tells her he’s there to apologize at Roy’s urging, and acknowledges that he’s lucky to have a mom that cares about him. He also assures her that he doesn’t regret not going to a more prestgious school or getting a more “practical” degree, as it all helped make him into the person he is now. Finally, he ends by telling her he brought Roy (Hayward Leach) to the station to meet Elsbeth, and he’s waiting for her in the interrogation room. The location is apt, as the two of them are in there for nearly 90 minutes, with Elsbeth asking Roy every conceivable question about his life she can think to ask. She apologizes for going so in depth, but Roy assures her that he doesn’t mind, saying his parents never talk about anything unpleasant, going so far as to lie when their dog died, saying he was on a farm upstate. That triggers a brainwave for Elsbeth, and she returns to Outmatch’s office to confront Lawrence.
There, she tells him that Mandy helped her solve Ethan’s murder, explaining that she realized Lawrence would have had enough time to kill Ethan while his client took the LSAT practice test, then walks him through how he did it, by rubbing cat dander on the inside of the helmet then leaving catnip on the windowsill to attract and therefore blame Quad Cat. Given how much Mandy said that Lawrence loved their pet cat Veritas, Elsbeth figured he must have given the cat to a shelter instead of killing him, and Mandy managed to track him down, along with his favorite toy, a blue mouse with fibres matching the one in the helmet.
With the case behind them, Elsbeth returns to her office, and there Teddy tells her that Mark Van Ness is being “taken to the cleaners” in his divorce case, now that Elsbeth was able to speak freely about the buried police report. Teddy returns to Chicago, LSAT prep book in hand, and she’s relieved, thinking all these shady dealings are behind her now, but of course, things aren’t so simple. Not with Judge Crawford (Michael Emerson) still out there. In fact, Crawford stops her on the street while she’s out walking Gonzo and orders her to get in the car. There, he makes a few threats towards Elsbeth, and towards Delia, the woman who was acquitted in the murder case he tried that Elsbeth sat on the jury for. Elsbeth turns things around on him, pointing out that he’s too smart to have made the mistakes he did in that case, and guessing he must have some personal stake in it, though what that is, she’s not sure yet. I don’t know why she’d warn him about what she’s looking for, but at least he lets her go after that. As for what the investigation will yield, we’ll have to wait and see.
The first twelve episodes of Elsbeth Season 2 are out now. New episodes premiere on CBS on Thursdays, and stream next day on Paramount+.
Elsbeth
Elsbeth Season 2 Episode 12 returns to business as usual, with another visit from Teddy keeping things interesting.
- Release Date
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February 29, 2024
- Network
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CBS
- Teddy’s back! I love seeing who Elsbeth is when her son is around.
- The mystery surrounding Judge Crawford continues to grow.
