The Paper Chase
Season 2
19 episodes
- S02E01
Outline Fever
The second year begins with Hart and Ford moving to an off-campus apartment, while Bell is still at the dorm as the advisor for the 1-L students. Some of the 1-L students hound Hart for his Contracts outline, until Ford and Bell auction it off (against Hart's wishes). Meanwhile, 1-L Connie Lehman shows a personal interest in Hart ... or is it only his outline?
- S02E02
Birthday Party
Kingsfield's friend and former student, now the Attorney General of the United States, asks him if he would accept a nomination to the Supreme Court. Hart decides to celebrate Kingsfield's eightieth birthday, even though it is known that the professor disapproves of such festivities.
- S02E03
Spreading It Thin
Hart has a feeling that a popular law professor has plagiarized an article for Law Review, and tries to prove it, to the detriment of his schoolwork. Lehman suspects he is just jealous because she greatly admires the professor.
- S02E04
Cinderella
Connie attempts to help a returning student, now a single mother with no child care, and recruits Hart and Bell for assistance. Ford is assigned to an older woman's case against a slumlord.
- S02E05
Commitments
When Hart's girlfriend Conny Lehman devotes all her time to an extra assignment from Kingsfield, the relationship is strained enough that Hart cheats on her and sleeps with a singer he met at the tavern. Dorm-Adviser Bell ignores the pleas for help from a first year student.
- S02E06
Plague of Locusts
Recruiters descend on the campus, much to Kingsfield's irritation, offering summer employment to promising students. Hart, at the top of his class, is inundated with offers, particularly from two very different law firms. Bell despairs of landing a job because all his interviews go badly. Ford considers turning his father in for violating the school's recruiting rules using illegally obtained grade information when selecting interns.
- S02E07
Snow
As usual, the Law Review is behind schedule, but this time Golden is sidelined with pneumonia. Second-in-command Shaw seizes the opportunity for a power play, but it predictably backfires. Law Review activities are further complicated when, while their new computer is being installed and tested, a power failure threatens their precious deadline - until they enlist the help of the 'Wonks'.
- S02E08
Mrs. Hart
Hart's girlfriend receives a scholarship offer in England. Hart tries to presuade her to stay with him, she suggests he come to England, which he refuses. Awaiting her decision on whether to accept the scholarship or stay there with Hart, she asks him to go with her to Kingsfield's empty classroom which she describes as a ""temple of reason"" (you knew then which she had chosen). Hart leaves angrily, but Golden talks him into seeing her before she leaves. As she leaves, Bell is there to comfort his friend Hart. True to form, Hart announces that he needs to check on what assignments Golden has for him and then he will study for Kingsfield's seminar.
- S02E09
Tempest in a Pothole
Bell sues the city for damages and lost wages when he rides over a pothole and breaks his arm. Kingsfield has difficulty coping when Nottingham, his secretary, transfers to another office.
- S02E10
Labor of Love
Love is in the air. Hart drags Golden out of the Law Review for a drink in Tavern where they meet two ladies (who are from another school and are on 'the hunt' for rich-lawyer husbands). Hart likes one, but is so busy that Ford steps in and dates her too. The other finds an actual attraction to Golden hindered by his focus on the Review.
- S02E11
Burden of Proof
Working in the public defender's office, Hart has to defend the perpetrator who assaulted and robbed Kingsfield. The violence on campus puts student on edge.
- S02E12
War of the Wonks (aka Machine)
A minor incident between Golden and an engineering student about a parking space causes hostilities between the law students and the engineering students (or ""Wonks"" as they are called on campus). Golden has the Wonk's car impounded and the Wonks retaliate by moving Golden's car into the Law Review office (which is in a basement...). A romance between a law student and a Wonk is strained by the conflict. The matter is settled by a contest of legal knowledge between Kingsfield and a computer.
- S02E13
Limits
Ford's classmates want to petition for the replacement of a longtime professor they suspect of becoming senile. He strongly resists due to painful memories of his own aging grandfather being dropped from the family law firm by his father. Hart tries to develop a better relationship with his ultra-competitive (and beautiful) Law Review rival, Harriman.
- S02E14
Hart Goes Home
Hart, returning home for his sister's wedding, ends up having to ignore family and boyhood friends because he has to spend every minute on the phone editing last-minute changes to his amicus brief notes he did for Kingsfield to give to the US Supreme Court. He recognises for the first time how much he's changed due to law school. Returning to his apartment, he tells Ford "for the first time, I feel like I belong here".
- S02E15
Judgment Day (aka Tenure)
The students fear they will lose a popular professor when he becomes eligible for tenure but lacks significant publication credits.
- S02E16
My Dinner with Kingsfield
A snowstorm stands Kingsfield, forcing him to spend the evening with Hart while Ford and Bell get to know Nottingham in a local bar.
- S02E17
The Advocates
Hart and Harriman compete to represent the school in the national moot court competition. First-year student Vivian struggles with speaking up in class.
- S02E18
Not Prince Hamlet (aka Rashomon)
A grieving father struggles to understand why his son committed suicide.
- S02E19
Billy Pierce
Stressed-out first-year students prepare for Kingsfield's final. When the final exam is stolen, Bell is charged with finding the students responsible.
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