Original Airdate: September 28, 1999
Characters:
1) Amy Gray
2) Vincent Gray
3) Maxine Gray
4) Lauren Cassidy
5) Peter Gray
6) Gillian Gray
7) Bruce Van Exel
Characters Introduced:
1) Stuart Collins
2) Judge Greta Anastassio
A friend of Amy's, Greta Anastassio, asks Amy if she can take on a jury trial involving a case of a teenage boy killing his girlfriend, in which the parents of the dead girl are seeking monetary compensation from the parents of the boy. Despite Amy never having done a jury trial before, she takes it on, if for no other reason, Greta, who has breast cancer, is unable to do so.
Meanwhile, Maxine has been having car problems as of late, and she finally decides to purchase a new vehicle, which Amy is skeptical of, mainly because the car was the last thing Amy's father bought for Maxine before he died. Vincent finds this moderately annoying, but keeps it to himself. More bothersome, when Maxine finally does give in and start looking for a new car, she asks help from Peter, seemingly to take his advice into more consideration than Vincent's, who was also asked to help.
Lauren has a sleepover planned, which Amy forgot about when she decided to take on the jury trial. Because of this, Amy has her mother agree to watch the the girls coming over, which doesn't work as well as planned, as she disturbs Vincent from his writing and asks him to take the girls out, unconcerned, or just not understanding, that Vincent was in the middle of working.
Amy meets Alex Reames and Stuart Collins, who represent the defendant and plaintiff, respectively. She's surprised to see that Stuart is the same individual she knew back in Harvard, as they shared a class under one Professor Larkin, who they both poke fun at. She asks that showmanship be kept to a minimum, as she wants the jury to base their finds off the facts and not the emotional implications of the trial.
Vincent brings back the children, and is visibility upset at Maxine for not respecting his work, and causing him to lose a whole afternoon of writing. This leads to a tense conversation between the two, with neither backing down, and Maxine telling Vincent that she always felt he had the most potential of her children, but he's squandering it. Vincent tells her that just because his "success isn't happening on her schedule" doesn't mean that he's squandering anything, and he leaves the house angry.
Maxine and Amy then speak about her reluctance to buy a vehicle, which comes not from sentimental reasons as Amy suspected, but due mainly to the fact she's never had to buy one before, as her husband always took care of the big decisions like that. In short, looking for a new car to purchase reminds her of the husband she misses. When Amy asks if she thinks that her dad was happy, Maxine admits that he probably would have preferred a different profession than the one he was in, being insurance (and the business Peter has taken over). Lastly, Amy states that her father would probably be proudest of Vincent, because he "went a different way" than everyone else.
The trial begins, and almost immediately Stuart Collins is reprehended by Amy because of his constant reiteration of the word "murder" to play on the jury's feelings. After both the mother of the dead girl, and the mother of the convicted boy, speak, the decision goes to the jury following the rejection of a $200,000 settlement offer by the defendant (the plaintiff is after $2 million).
Maxine goes over to Vincent's apartment and admits that she doesn't understand how writing is considered work, and has had problems accepting it. She offers Vincent $8,000 so he can quit his dog-grooming job, and focus solely on writing. Vincent declines, stating that he took the career of writing knowing that there would be risk, and asks that Maxine accept that.
When the verdict comes back, the jury finds that the defendant was negligible for the death of Mr. and Mrs. Harper's daughter, and award the plaintiff damages of $10 million. Amy almost lets this go, but ultimately throws out the jury's verdict, and enters judgment for the defendants. After the trial, Stuart confronts her, claiming she was against him from the beginning, leading her to provide a verbal smack down, listed below as the quote of the episode.
Notes:
This episode, as the first did, also speaks on a problems Gillian has getting pregnant, and is the first to show a slight resentment felt between herself and her husband, Peter. While it's just touched on her, it comes up later in the season, so I felt I should point it out.
This was a very fine episode on almost all fronts. The centerpiece was the quite emotional trial, well-acted on all sides. In fact, the actor playing Alex Reames is the same who played a Congressman in an episode of The West Wing, which was another series I was planning on reviewing. Seeing that familiar face, though, and placing it was a nice touch.
Amy's insistence on the facts over the emotional aspect of the case was well done, and her reversal of the jury's verdict was a fantastic scene. Also rather important was the conflict between Maxine and Vincent. Vincent is a favorite character of mine, and as I dabbled with writing in the past, I can certainly understand where he is coming from. Maxine just doesn't get it, but at least by the end of the episode, certainly seems more open to understanding it than she was before, which is a step forward.
Lastly, Maxine's hunt for a new vehicle was a fine subplot, brought together by the scene in which she and Amy discuss Amy's father and her husband. It was a short yet sweet conversation, and when Maxine admits to deeply missing her husband, it really pulls at the heartstrings.
Trial by Jury is the first episode of this show which I felt was overall very well done. Definitely a great story here, and enough emotional resonance to keep people wanting more.
Quote of the episode:
Amy [to Stuart Collins] "I happen to remember something Professor Larkin said about you. He said you had a genius for theatrics, and it would take you as far as you wanted to go, until you hit a judge who was smarter than you. Well, guess what just happened."
Rating: Superb
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