Heat check: Anna Deavere Smith is one choice and Joanne Woodward another, with Woodward’s screen time questioned. Robards is too prominent; Ed Rendell is floated.
That guy: Ridgely, Cassel, Dowd, Napier, John Bedford Lloyd and Anna Deavere Smith are candidates; Andy’s brother, Lloyd, is the selection. Chandra Wilson receives a shout-out and Dowd’s recognition is discussed.
Aged worst: three Joe homophobia scenes may be too many; the bar scene is the suggested cut. The pharmacy confrontation is defended as containing lived truth despite the screenplay’s contrivance.
Aged worst: cutting Andy–Miguel scenes leaves their relationship thin. The missing-file sabotage and partners’ firing decision are underexplained, weakening the courtroom mechanics even if the broader argument works.
Anna Deavere Smith’s paralegal testimony raises racial workplace discomfort but shuts the issue down too quickly; Wesley imagines the fuller response a contemporary playwright could give her.
