In the Season 1 episode “Stockholm Syndrome,” the TAC team is taken hostage by a woman (Christina Jackson) who needs help getting her husband, Gordon Guthrie (Driton Tomaj), freed from prison. The main problem is that it was Danny, as an undercover agent, who originally testified against him. This results in a mock trial to figure out whether Gordon was really innocent or guilty.
Unfortunately, part of Bull’s strategy to save the team involves denigrating Danny’s character during the “trial”. He gets a simulated “not guilty” verdict by pointing out that Danny may have been on hallucinogens during her testimony and generally comes down hard on her by getting personal with her.
Bull does it to get his team out of a dangerous situation, later telling Danny how much he believed in her, but it still felt like an extremely cruel, manipulative ruse. His strategy was based entirely around devaluing one of the most important female members of his team, which isn’t a great look for the series anyway considering the controversies “Bull” has dealt with over sexual harassment. It may have been only an exercise so Dr. Bull could get to his endgame but that arguably makes his cruelty to Danny even worse.