So Help Me Todd season 2 episode 3, "The Queen Of Courts," opens with a man, Leon Dinks, putting a carton of eggs in a shopping cart and walking down a grocery store aisle. He looks in the aisle to make sure no one is there, then drops the eggs on the floor. He backs out of the aisle then comes back and deliberately slips on the broken eggs. An employee named Cory (Miles Merry) comes around the corner and sees Leon on the ground. But, before he can help Leon up an entire shelf falls over onto Leon, killing him.
Money problems
The scene cuts to Todd (Skylar Astin) walking on the street behind Susan (Inga Schlingman), calling her name. She tries to ignore him, but he catches up with her. She tells him she has an important meeting and needs to go, but Todd persists.
On the side of a bus that passes by is an ad for Belinda Tuttle, a personal injury attorney with a bad reputation who is called the "Queen of Courts" for her courtroom antics and her record of wins. Todd worked for her in the past when he was desperate but thinks he's above her now. The bus pulls away and there is Belinda Tuttle (Sandra Bernhard), calling Todd's name.
Todd is stuck talking to Belinda while Susan slips away. Tuttle needs a lawyer herself, and she wants Todd to get her a meeting with Margaret.
At the office, Margaret (Marcia Gay Harden) is facing the realities of her new position. She fires the office manager, but the firm is still bleeding cash and a stack of final notice bills that must be paid. Susan's big meeting is with Margaret to discuss Susan becoming Senior Associate. Margaret knows Susan deserves the promotion, but she can't afford to give it to Susan right now.
When Todd brings Belinda to the office Margaret refuses to take her case because she thinks that representing Belinda will taint the firm's reputation. But Belinda offers double Margaret's fee in cash up front, so Margaret takes the case.
Scam queen?
Belinda is being prosecuted for manslaughter. Leon Dinks' sister told Russo her brother was working with a scam ring headed by Tuttle. Belinda swears whoever the head of the scam ring is, it's not her.
Todd and Lyle (Tristen J. Winger) start to track down evidence that will clear Belinda. That means Lyle gets to consult with his girlfriend, forensic accountant Alex Parker (Vinessa Antoine), to figure out where the settlement payments are going. Figuring out who is profiting from the cases will lead them to the real scammer.
Todd goes downstairs to the gift shop for coffee and meets the new barista, Judy Maxon (Heather Morris). Judy offers some unique perspective to Todd and there are definite sparks between them.
The sting
Lyle and Alex track the money from the settlement payments to a particular bank, but the bank refuses to give out a client name. They also uncover five cases of slip and falls that were settled out of court by Belinda Tuttle. Each slip and fall occurred at a different grocery store, but Cory was always the worker who was on-site when they occurred.
Figuring out that Cory must be part of the scam ring, Todd uses Margaret to help him stage a slip and fall. He gets Margaret to spill some milk in the grocery store where Cory is working. Then he slips in it and falls. When Cory asks him if "it" was today, Todd says yes but he forgot the name of the doctor he's supposed to see. Cory tells him it's Dr. Batten.
Todd takes Allison (Madeline Wise) with him to Dr. Batten (Chris Cope), who suggests all kinds of injuries that Todd might have as part of his fall. He gives Todd Belinda's business card and tells him to call her.
Will the real Belinda Tuttle please stand up?
Belinda's trial gets underway at the courthouse. Her former assistant, Debbie Richards (Teagan Vincze), testifies for the prosecution. She didn't want to testify against Belinda, but under oath had to admit that sometimes Belinda encouraged people to exaggerate their injuries to get more money.
The jury does not like Belinda at all. Margaret tries to get a continuance so they can continue tracking down the real scammers but the judge refuses. When the court adjourns for the day Margaret, Belinda, Lyle and Todd gather in the conference room at the law firm to plot strategy.
During their conversation Todd pulls out the business card that Dr. Batten gave him for Belinda Tuttle. Belinda looks at it and says it looks just like her card, but the phone number isn't her number. Margaret immediately calls the number and a woman answers and says "Belinda Tuttle." Someone is impersonating Belinda, but who? Through a process of elimination they figure out it's Debbie Richards, Belinda's old assistant.
Despite this new information and Margaret requesting a continuance to track down the Debbie, the judge refuses and the trial keeps going. Margaret resorts to using Belinda's delay tactics to give Todd time to catch the fake Belinda. She spills water on her papers. Belinda yanks off her pearl necklace so the pearls fall on the floor and she takes her time gathering them up.
Todd and Lyle set up fake alerts from the bank that are sent to Debbie's phones. When she shows up to find out what's going on with her accounts, she says she's Belinda Tuttle, which Todd records on his phone, proving that Debbie is really the one behind the scam. Margaret reveals the scam and the scammer to the judge and the assistant District Attorney, resulting in the charges against Belinda being dropped.
New episodes of So Help Me Todd air Thursdays on CBS, with previous episodes available to stream on Paramount Plus.
