Everybody's a Superhero is the sixth episode of the first season of For the People.
Short Summary[]
Allison defends a man accused of stealing supplies intended for victims of a devastating island hurricane and goes up against Celia Chavez, a tough Assistant U.S. Attorney for whom losing is not an option. Sandra defends a peculiar client accused of assault, but with an altered view of reality and on the other side, Kate is being sought after by an ATF agent in need of legal advice for an unlikely suspect.
Full Summary[]
Arturo Marquez is running through a forest. He enters his house and tells his daughter to hide, but he's quickly found and dragged away once he's identified.
Allison slips on her slippers and then sees that Sandra's not home, so she plays the playlist for that occasion. She goes through her morning routine of making breakfast and orange juice. She powers up her computer and learns there's no internet connection.
Allison tells the internet company she tried restarting and she can't hold because she's late for work. Sandra's no in her office, but she finds her in Jay's. She tells Sandra about the internet situation and says she called and did what they said. The ride in also wasn't good for her. It's one of the top three worst days of her life, but she's turning it around. Lemonade. Sandra asks if that means she's going to make lemonade from lemons or she's going to play lemonade. Allison just says yes. Sandra has to go and asks Jay if it's cool if she leaves her stuff there. She leaves before he can respond. Allison tells him that's how it starts.
Seth asks Kate for ten minutes of her time and then brings it down to five minutes. He just wants her to sit in a meeting with the ATF and agree with him.
Deputy Director Ellis is angry at Seth for trying to tell him not to arrest someone. He sees Kate and asks who she is. Seth says she's his colleague and Kate says that's a good point and she agrees. Seth then says they have enough to arrest McAllister now and he's the one they want, so why wait. Seth looks over to Kate expectantly, but she stays silent. Anya Ooms than says they want to work on it from the bottom up. If they cut off the head, it'll grow back, so they had to dismantle the lower rungs. Kate agrees and explains that someone low enough, no one will think twice if he disappears. They get evidence without compromising the investigation.
Seth's upset that Kate didn't agree with that he said. She tells him he should say better things. He says he's never asking her for help in a meeting again and she says that's a better thing. After Seth leaves Anya approaches Kate and thanks her. Then she asks for her number in case anything comes up.
Leonard watches a news report about Arturo being arrested for piracy for boarding a relief ship and taking supplies.
Leonard asks Roger if the piracy case is in the Southern District. Roger can't comment on that. Leonard says he wants the case. Roger can comment on that and says no. Instead, he gives Leonard another case. Leonard opens the file and sees that it's an assault case. He's not happy, but Roger says it's not just any assault case. People like this guy are creating a real problem for the city and it's not just any opposing counsel. Leonard looks at the name of the opposing counsel and smiles.
In court, Leonard tell the judge what the defendant, Freddie Morris, is being charged with. According to the complaint, he charged at a tourist and broke his collarbone. Leonard then apologizes for referring to him as Mr. Morris and asks if he'd prefer Captain Shadow, his "superhero" alter-ego. He says Captain Shadow. Sandra says he had a good faith belief that he was stopping a kidnapping. Leonard says the victim was chasing his toddler. He entered a plea of not guilty and he was released on a $5,000 bond with a curfew of 8 PM. He also had to hand over his costume. He's upset at having it referred to as a costume. Leonard tells Sandra to come by his office to work out a deal. She says he can come to her. He could, but he won't.
Jill comes into Allison's office and looks around. She asks about her living with Sandra. Allison says she's much neater at home and even lives out of a bag. Jill had a go-bag when she was married and used it. She asks if Allison has seen the news. Allison says she doesn't have internet, but Jill says there are papers. Allison isn't interested in reading the paper. She tells her about Arturo Marquez, who is being charged with piracy. It's a real thing with a life sentence. Jill says she's handled her cases well, but this is of a different magnitude. She'll understand.
Arturo is taken from his cell and into a room where he meets with Allison. She tells him she's her attorney and he can speak to her because she's representing him. He's surprised to learn he's in New York and being charged with piracy. He says the ship was sitting outside of port for days. People were dying. They went out to the ship once and they wouldn't talk, so they went back with guns. They took everything they could. His daughter survived, but his son didn't. He asks her where she lives. She says she lives in New York, nearby. He asks if she has water where she lives and she says she does. He tells her they needed water.
Jay says he doesn't like pirates, but Allison says there's nothing not to like about Arturo. Next to her, Sandra says there's nothing to like about Leonard Knox. They think the other would do better with their case, so they swap. They take a moment to look over each other's cases and then swap back. Sandra has to face Leonard and Allison can defend Marquez. Sandra reminds her that she's undefeated, but she got beat in her own first case by Leonard Knox. Jay also lost his first case. Jay says it's Allison's turn to lose, but that wasn't Sandra's point. Allison wonders why the case is even in the Southern District. He's not from there. The ship wasn't. Nothing related to New York.
Nicholas asks Celia Chavez when the government plans to produce discovery, so they can set a trial date. Allison interrupts, saying that's premature as she intends to move to dismiss on jurisdictional grounds. Celia argues that if they let pirates go free, that sets a precedent. Byrne decided not to dismiss the case and told them to move forward.
Sandra and Leonard meet to make a deal. Leonard offers six months and Sandra counters with probation and a $1,000 fine. He says three months, no fine. Sandra says the guy Freddie attacked doesn't have a scratch on him, but Leonard says he has a broken collarbone and the charges could be upped to aggravated assault. Sandra wants one month, but Leonard is firm on three. He tells her to sell it to her client, because it won't get any better and she doesn't want to go up against him again.
Kate is at home in her pajamas, working and watching His Girl Friday, when her phone rings. She answers it and it's Anya, calling to ask for legal help. Kate says she can't advise on personal matters, but Anya says she's on the job. Kate suggests she call Seth, but Anya doesn't know who Seth is, so Kate tells her she doesn't have enough to make the case, so she needs to send an undercover agent in to get the information. Anya asks Kate to come during the sting. Kate says she doesn't think she should, but Anya doesn't trust anyone else.
Kate goes to Roger to get permission to go on the sting. He says it's too dangerous to send a rookie AUSA because people end up hurt. Maybe they could send Seth. Kate says if she doesn't go, there's a good chance they won't succeed. If it is, they'll line up at her door and not bother him about it. Roger tells her to be careful.
Jill comes in and talks to Allison about her case not being dismissed. Allison's okay with it because she knows how she's going to defend Arturo. Intent. Arturo's intent wasn't personal gain. He took the supplies to help people. She has to go through discovery, but it's shaping up. Jill looks around and asks if she's been there all night. She has. Jill unrolls a newspaper with a headline about Arturo and hands it to Allison. It's the first headline of many.
Anya shows Kate the five agents available to go undercover for the case. Kate immediately dismisses three of them and she and Anya disagree about which of the remaining two should be chosen. Kate challenges Anya on it, but Anya tells Undercover Agent Pierce that he has the job and tells Kate she has a masters in Criminology.
In Anya's office, she asks Kate if she wants to take a break and get something to eat. Kate says they have work to do. Anya asks Kate what her deal is. She asks her about there life, but Kate says those sound like the things you talk about on a break. Anya then asks Kate what she's working on. She says a brief and then starts to explain what that is, but Anya stops her and says she went to law school, too. For two days. Then she dropped out, bought supplies, and hiked the Pacific Coast Trail. She needed to reset and figure out what she wanted in her life. She asks if Kate has found what she's looking for. Kate just says she'll put her headphones on now.
Freddie asks if Batman would take that day. Sandra's not sure, but says it's a good deal. If he goes to trial, he could get twelve months or even more. He says he keeps the streets safe. The police don't do their jobs. He has a friend who films the police when they stop people, to force them to do the right thing. He and his crew are vital to the city's safety. Freddie says he knows he can't fly. He's not a real superhero. But he likes who he is. He's Captain Shadow. Batman wouldn't take the deal.
Sandra goes into Allison's office, where she's changing her outfit. Sandra zips her dress for her and Allison says her case is falling apart because Arturo lied.
Allison shows Arturo an invoice that shows he sold some of the supplies he retrieve from the ship. He says he had to sell some of the supplies to pay off the cops and gangs to keep them from taking the supplies. He did those things and other things he never thought he'd do because they were the things that had to be done. Allison says she's trying to tells a story, but if it doesn't make sense ... Arturo interrupts her and says what happened doesn't make sense. Burying your child doesn't make sense. It can't make sense. It's not simple. It's ugly and messy. He wishes she could understand, but he can't tell she can't. She says he doesn't know her, but he asks what he needs to know.
Leonard comes to see Sandra. She asks if he sold the deal. He offers to sit down with her and her client and convince him to take the deal. Sandra says she'll bring him to Leonard if Leonard can sell him on two months. Leonard says he doesn't like it there. Sandra says they don't like having him as he leaves.
Anya explains the plan to Kate. Kate takes a pen and marks the map to make the plan better. She moves it to the other side of the street and adds a camera. She also studied criminology. And she took a film class to fill a distribution requirement. Anya is happy Kate's revealed something about herself, but Kate says it was in the context of work. It feels a lot like a break. Pierce comes in and asks if they're ready. Anya says yes, they were just taking a break.
Rafael Silva is questioned and testifies that he bought supplies at a 150% markup from Arturo after the hurricane. Allison asked if he knew what he intended to do with the money from the sale. She asks if it's possible that he used it to buy more supplies that people actually needed. Rafael says yes, but he doesn't believe that's what happened.
Sandra gets a text that's just a picture of a bench. She asks Jay if she can leave her stuff there and leaves before he can answer.
Sandra meets Allison at the bench, where she's pouting. She asks if she's a horrible person. Sandra asks if she brought her a sandwich. When she says no, Sandra says she is. She feels like a fraud. She's getting destroyed in the courtroom. When she loses, she'll go home and be sad, but she'll move on, but Arturo will spend the rest of his life in jail. She's close to her clients, but she doesn't truly understand them. Arturo risked his life and she's never taken a big risk in her life. Sandra says she's a horrible person, right in this moment. She's whining about her privilege when she's taken her entitlements and used them to help people. No one cares more than she does. Sandra says she's beautiful and she's trying. Allison doesn't feel like she's trying hard enough, so Sandra tells her to try harder. Take a big risk. Do the most extraordinary thing she can do. Allison hugs her.
Allison calls Arturo to the stand.
Outside the courtroom, Jill understands that Allison is going for jury nullification. She knows it's risky and almost never works.
Allison questions Arturo, who explains the details of what happened, starting with the aftermath of the hurricane, when his cousin collapsed from dehydration. His son died in the hospital five days after the hurricane. The hospital's now a morgue. So Arturo decided to board a relief vessel and take the goods. He sold some of the goods and used the money to pay people off to disturb the supplies. Some of the money went to buy more supplies that people really needed. He makes no apology for that. He admits that he stole and held a gun to do it. He's never hurt anyone in his life, but he had to do what he could to stop the suffering around him. He kept only a small amount of the money, a few hundred dollars, which he used to bury his son.
Sandra makes Allison breakfast, which she says is the same thing her father did for her the morning before every big test through college. Sandra says Allison is going to kill it.
Kate is in the surveillance van with Anya. She's surprised this stuff really exists. She likes it. Anya says they should do it again sometime. Or she could teach Kate to shoot. Kate says she knows how to shoot, but Anya doesn't believe that. They see a soccer mom hovering near Pierce. Anya comments that she hates soccer moms and then apologizes if Kate's mom was a soccer mom. Kate says she didn't play soccer and didn't have much of a mom. Anya tells Pierce to take a few steps away from the soccer mom, but they're shocked when she speaks up. She's the suspect. She wants him to kill her daughter's abusive partner. Once she asked him for the man's head in a box, they had enough to make the arrest.
Leonard tells Freddie the he has 13 witnesses willing to testify about what he did to the victim. There's also surveillance footage. He also admitted it on tape. Leonard then says she he was a kid, he didn't have a lot of friends. He had play dates with suitable children, arranged by his mother. But he was often alone. He loved Superman and actually thought he was Superman. He decided to prove to everyone that he could fly. He went to the roof of his school and tied his cape around his heck and jumped. He broke both ankles and shattered his left leg. He couldn't fly. The towel was not a cape. He gives Freddie his costume back and tells him he's worth something without it. Reality always catches up to fantasy. He's facing his consequences now, but he doesn't have to go to jail for a year when he can take a month. Leonard encourages him to take the deal.
Jill tells Allison that she deposed an Army bomb disposal expert. He said the top guys in his field are so sure of themselves, their heart rates go down then they run toward explosives. Allison says she's not disposing of a bomb. She's throwing one.
Allison gives her closing statement, going through everything that happened to Arturo during and after the storm. She implores them to show Arturo the goodness of America by sending him back home.
Freddie is told he has a week to get his affairs in order then report to jail to serve his sentence.
Sandra says she's impressed with Leonard. For a moment, she thought he had a soul, that he could related to another person. He asks why she's speaking in past tense and she says it's because he's exactly who she thought he was. He never jumped off a building pretending to be Superman. He's disgusting, but Leonard says he's also undefeated against Sandra. He says he did what he had to do so they'd both get what they wanted.
Anya tells Kate they did it. Kate thinks it was all Anya, but then agrees to take some credit. They shake hands.
Arturo's verdict is in. Theresa Wood asks how they found him on count one and the foreperson says not guilty. Arturo is relieved.
Kate is watching a movie when her phone rings. It's Anya, asking for advice on asking a woman she works with to do something dangerous.
Kate fires six bullets at a target. She hits the center each time. Kate admits that she likes it and Anya says she likes it, too. Anya has her lower the gun and they face each other. After a moment, Anya leans in, but Kate pulls back. Anya apologizes, saying she doesn't want to put Kate in an awkward position. Kate then leans in and kisses her.
Allison comes home and Sandra tells her they have had all their equipment replaced, so they're getting faster speeds. She also wants to order takeout on her. Allison instead wants to go for a walk and end up in a place they've never been and eat food they haven't looked up before. Sandra asks if she's okay and she says she's great. Sandra agrees to the walk and they both leave their phones behind as they go.
Cast[]
Main Cast[]
- Hope Davis as Jill Carlan
- Ben Shenkman as Roger Gunn
- Jasmin Savoy Brown as Allison Adams
- Susannah Flood as Kate Littlejohn
- Wesam Keesh as Jay Simmons
- Regé-Jean Page as Leonard Knox
- Ben Rappaport as Seth Oliver
- Britt Robertson as Sandra Bell
- Anna Deavere Smith as Tina Krissman (credit only)
- Vondie Curtis Hall as Judge Nicholas Byrne
Guest Stars[]
- Thomas Lennon as Freddie Morris
- Caitlin Stasey as Anya Ooms
- Joseph Melendez as Arturo Marquez
- Olivia Sandoval as Celia Chavez
Co-Starring[]
- Al Coronel as Rafael Silva
- Gillian Brashear as Soccer Mom
- Mark DeCarlo as Anchor
- Lisa Temple as Judge Erin Engel
- Rahvaunia as Theresa Wood
- Ryan J. Burwell as Undercover Agent Pierce
- Frederick Lawrence as Deputy Director Ellis
- Michelle Castillo as Foreperson
Legal Cases[]
The United States v Freddie Morris[]
Freddie Morris was arrested and charged with assault after, in superhero garb, he attacked a man on the street believing he was stopping a kidnapping. He pleaded not guilty. He was released on bond on the condition of an 8 PM curfew and that he surrendered his costume. Sandra and Leonard met to make a deal and Leonard offered three months. Sandra tried to get Freddie to accept the deal, but he wouldn't. Leonard asked to meet with Sandra and Freddie to try to sell the deal. Leonard made up a story about breaking his ankles jumping off a roof and offered him a deal to serve a month in jail instead of going to trial, where he could get a year. Freddie took the deal and was given a week to sort out his affairs before reporting to jail to serve 30 days.
The United States v Arturo Marquez[]
Arturo was arrested in Córdoba and charged with piracy for boarding a relief ship after a hurricane and taking supplies. He met with Allison and told her he took the supplies to get them to people who needed them because the ship had just been sitting in the middle of the water. Allison argued lack of jurisdiction and asked for dismissal, but it was refused. Allison then decided to build her defense on intent because Arturo took the supplies to distribute them. Allison then learned that Arturo had sold some of the supplies instead of distributing them. Arturo said he had to do so to pay off the cops and gags to keep them from taking the supplies away from people who needed them. She put Arturo on the stand to make an emotional appeal, in order to prompt jury nullification. Arturo testified to the circumstances that led to him to take the goods from the relief ship. He also testified that he sold some of the goods, to pay off people to have the supplies distributed and buy more supplies. He used a gun to steal things and he knew it was wrong, but it was the only thing he could do to stop the suffering around him. The only money he kept was a few hundred dollars, which he used to bury his son. The jury returned a not guilty verdict.
Music[]
| Song | Performer | Scene |
|---|---|---|
| "ICY GRL" | Saweetie |
|
| "Loungin'" | Guru |
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| "Stay in My Corner" | The Arcs |
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Notes and Trivia[]
For The People 1x06 Promo "Everybody's a Superhero" (HD)
- This episode scored 2.04 million viewers.
Gallery[]
Episode Stills[]
Behind the Scenes[]
Quotes[]
See Also[]
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A complete overview of this episode's crew can be found here. |
| Season 1 | |||
| #01 | "Pilot" | #06 | "Everybody's a Superhero" |
| #02 | "Rahowa" | #07 | "Have You Met Leonard Knox?" |
| #03 | "18 Miles Outside of Roanoke" | #08 | "Flippity-Flop" |
| #04 | "The Library Fountain" | #09 | "Extraordinary Circumstances" |
| #05 | "World's Greatest Judge" | #10 | "This is What I Wanted to Say" |
| Season 2 >> | |||