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Bryan Cranston’s legal drama series Your Honor, depicting the story of Judge Michael Desiato, has concluded with its second and final season, now available for streaming on Netflix as of Friday, May 31.
Following a successful season 1, the supposedly limited series adaptation of the Israeli TV series Kvodo was renewed for a second season. Starring Bryan Cranston as Michael Desiato, the show follows the life of a New Orleans judge forced to make hard choices after his son accidentally kills the son of a mob kingpin in a hit-and-run accident and lives up to the consequences of those choices.
Season 2, serving as the show’s finale with no Your Honor season 3 in sight, explores the aftermath of Michael’s son Adam’s death. The penultimate episode focuses on the trial of Eugene Jones and Michael's hand in it. The season (and the show) concludes with the ex-judge back in court to confront some bitter truths from his past and make some shocking revelations.
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In the finale of Your Honor, Michael decides he's had enough of living a life filled with lies and decides to tell the truth in court.
Disclaimer: This article contains significant spoilers for Your Honor. Reader’s discretion is advised.
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Did Michael decide to come clean about Eugene in court?
Michael has been conditioned to keep secrets for a long time in hopes of protecting his son. With all the coverups he’s done in the previous season, it’s hard for him to reconcile whether coming clean now would be the right thing to do. As the show nears its end, one of the biggest questions is whether Michael will tell the truth in court.
When subpoenaed, Michael had the opportunity to lie on the stand and deny seeing Eugene during his son’s death. However, realizing that dishonesty would never lead him to freedom, Michael decided to tell the truth.
Though he was sympathetic to the boy, Michael chose to come clean about seeing Eugene Jones at the Baxter Hotel with a gun in his hand. He began his testimony by confirming that he saw Eugene shooting and eventually killing his son, Adam. Michael detailed how he recognized Eugene at the crime scene, as he had seen him earlier the same day wearing the same clothes.
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Why was Michael seen walking back into prison at the end of Your Honor?
Aside from admitting to seeing Eugene at the Baxter Hotel and witnessing Adam's death, Michael made several revelations while he was on the stand. During cross-questioning, he allowed Lee to dig deeper into the history of both the hit-and-run and the Carlo Baxter case because, deep down, he wanted to be free of all the secrets he’d hidden.
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One of the disclosures he made was that it was Kofi Jones who was driving his car on the day following the hit-and-run, and Adam was the one who killed Rocco Baxter.
Despite knowing that his statements would further implicate him, Michael decided to be honest on the stand. Through his confessions, he was found to have covered up a crime, leading him back to prison for his misdeeds.
Although he returned to prison, Michael did so with his head held high, presumably at peace with himself now that he’s no longer bent on covering the truth and violating his principles.
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What did Michael tell Lee that helped her and Eugene’s case?
On the second day of the trial, with Eugene taking the stand to share his version of things, Michael shared a crucial piece of information with Lee that completely changed the course of the case. During recess, Michael asked Lee to pull over the hearing transcripts for Eugene’s mother, Female Jones.
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In those transcripts, it was noted that the family mostly consumed pickles and hot meals. Lee then started questioning Eugene about the food items in their house, and the latter’s answers consisted only of ready-to-eat items, with no mention of any cooked meal.
During Michael’s testimony the previous day, he also mentioned a conversation with Eugene, during which the latter shared that he was looking after his younger brothers and drinking pickle juice and eating cereal because they weren’t able to cook as they’d had no gas for weeks.
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This piece of information contradicts the primary defense of the Baxter family against their charge of killing Eugene’s family. The Baxters claimed that the family was killed in an explosion from a gas leak, which was supposedly an accident.
However, without an active gas connection for the family to cook their meals for several weeks, there can’t possibly be a gas leak to cause an explosion.
Was Eugene found guilty or not guilty at the end of Your Honor?
While Eugene did mistakenly kill Adam, Olivia doesn’t believe he should be charged with first-degree murder. Instead, she thinks that the boy is crucial to the Baxter case and offers to make him a cooperating witness.
At the end of Your Honor, Eugene was neither found guilty nor not guilty. The case became a federal matter, and his trial was discontinued. He was allowed to go free in protective custody in exchange for providing evidence against the Baxters. However, there was one condition—he could never assume his old identity. Although this went against his initial reason for coming back to the city, which was to reclaim his identity, it was Eugene’s only choice to avoid prison.
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In the final episode of season 2, Your Honor concludes with its characters finding justice in their lives, one way or another. Judge Michael is repentant for the mistakes he made, and with Adam dead and baby Rocco put up for adoption, he no longer avoids the consequences of his actions. Meanwhile, Eugene has managed to find peace and a way to find justice for his family.
All the episodes of Your Honor seasons 1 and 2 are available for streaming on Netflix.
