Two and Twenty (Season 25, Episode 4)
Premise: A Wall Street boss is bludgeoned on his way to his helicopter, and the associate who killed him claims his boss’s abuse left him fearing for his life.
- Air date
- Season/Episode
- Season 25, Episode 4
- Detectives
- Det. Vincent Riley (Reid Scott)
- ADAs/DA
- Exec. ADA Nolan Price (Hugh Dancy), ADA Samantha Maroun (Odelya Halevi)
- Guest stars
- Patrick Voss Davis as Nick Rossi, Alano Miller as Brad Addis, Eric Lange as defense attorney Chris Damaso, René Zara as Sara Geller, Gilbert Cruz as Ron Moffit
- Director
- Martha Mitchell
- Writers
- Rick Eid
Summary
The Investigation
“Two and Twenty” begins on a Saturday at Higson Capital, where associates grumble that their boss, Jon Geller, will not even say hello. Geller is soon found near the East End helipad, struck ten or eleven times in the head; the medical examiner finds foreign DNA under his nails. Associates Brad Addis and Nick Rossi say Geller stopped in that morning, angry their deal had not closed, carrying a custom putter he called life-changing.
Geller’s assistant, Matt Thomas, admits the two were dating and planned a weekend away, and says Geller had a heated call with his wife the night before. Sara Geller says the fight was over holding their son, Shane, back a grade, and points to Addis, who threatened to sue after Geller passed him over for CEO. Addis admits lying out of habit and has a thin alibi. Coffee cups taken from the firm’s conference room produce a DNA match, but Addis drinks no coffee; the match is Rossi. The putter turns up in a dumpster, video shows Rossi out of the office at the time, and in interrogation he calls Geller deeply disrespectful before asking for a lawyer.
The Trial
Defense attorney Chris Damaso calls it “Battered Banker Syndrome,” a version of the abused-person defense. The prosecution argues the law covers intimate partners, not bosses, but the judge lets the jury decide. Addis testifies that Rossi hated Geller and once threatened to beat him, while defending the industry’s brutal hours. Outside court, Geller’s widow and Rossi’s family trade insults.
A colleague testifies that Geller threatened to beat Rossi with a bat and plays a recording of Geller mocking Rossi’s Italian heritage until he cries. Ron Moffit says his son Ted died at his desk after working through the flu for fear of being fired, though cross-examination brings out a heart condition. Rossi, who found Ted’s body, testifies that as a Fordham graduate without an MBA he felt unable to quit, and that he left the office meaning to kill Geller before Geller killed him. Addis then backs out of rebuttal testimony, and is accused of using the trial to undercut the firm’s new CEO. Maroun, who sympathizes with Rossi as an outsider, raises a lesser charge, but Price refuses.
Spoiler, the ending: On cross-examination Price recasts Maroun’s own observations about feeling out of place among elite colleagues, arguing that Rossi killed out of resentment, and Rossi shouts that he wanted Geller dead. The jury deliberates only briefly; the verdict is not read on screen. Price later tells Maroun she is no impostor.
Why it stands out
- The defense coins “Battered Banker Syndrome,” trying to stretch New York’s abused-person defense from domestic partners to an employer.
- Price’s decisive cross-examination borrows Maroun’s private remarks about not fitting in, and the episode closes with him reassuring her about her own place in the office.
- DA Nicholas Baxter (Tony Goldwyn) sits this episode out, leaving Price and Maroun to run the case on their own.