Original Airdate: October 12, 1999
While Lauren is going to spend a week with Michael in England, Amy sees it as an opportunity to further her relationship with Tracy Carroll. When a death threat is sent to Amy by an unknown individual, though, and a bodyguard is placed on her, her relationship goals become more complicated to achieve.
Many cases are seen throughout this episode, and the threat could have come from any number of them - a boy who is sentenced to juvie (though the deal he made with his lawyer included no time), a mother whose daughter was raped, Amy having determined a boy who witnessed the crime but didn't report it "not guilty," and a mother whose paranoid thinking caused DCF to take away her daughter.
Maxine runs into an old friend, Simon, and the chemistry they have is obvious - Simon is invited over to Maxine's house later for dinner. Meanwhile, a teenage girl has her child taken away by Maxine when she fails various motherly duties - though Maxine believed her to not be committed enough to take care of the child, the girl's willingness to do all she can to keep the child leads DCF to allow the child to remain in her custody.
Vincent is having some relationship problems himself, though not for long. Chris read a manuscript of his, and, deeply impressed, contacted some of her friends, including a publisher and literature professor, without consulting Vincent. Believing himself to be more of a project for Chris to fix up as opposed to a partner, Vincent leaves her.
Amy's relationship with Tracy took a nosedive itself - not only does Maxine dislike Tracy and his child psychology techniques, Amy was twice unable to actually have sex with him, the main reason being, in her mind, she's not yet ready even though it's been quite some time since the divorce.
Reality returns, however, as in Maxine's garage, the aforementioned paranoid mother aims a gun at Amy - Amy foolishly relieved her bodyguard earlier, not believing the threat to be serious. Luckily, the gun was empty, and the woman wanders away, to be picked up the next morning by the police.
This sparks an intense argument between Amy and Maxine over a variety of things, among them being Maxine's opinionated nature. When Amy brings up Simon, the dinner Maxine had with him nights prior, and states that even years ago, when her father was alive, they all knew that Maxine and Simon had flings. This angers Maxine, who admits that they cared for each other 15 years ago (Simon's marriage was breaking apart and Maxine's husband was depressed), but nothing sexual ever happened between them. The argument remains unsolved as Amy walks away.
Love is not doomed for all, though - Donna, Amy's clerk, asks Amy to perform the marriage rites of her and Oscar Ray Pant, a convicted murderer in prison. Amy agrees, and during their heart-felt vows, Amy can barely keep from breaking down, and admits later to Vincent that she didn't cry as much at her own wedding.
With both Vincent's and Amy's respective relationships over with, they discuss their relationships, and why they both failed.
This was a very solid episode, with two stand-out scenes.
The first one would be the explosive conversation between Amy and Maxine - when Amy accuses Maxine of having cheated on her father years back, you can see the anger in Maxine's eyes. The whole argument was fantastic, but that bit at the end was powerful. Amy's not happy her mother spiritually cheated on her father, and Maxime's steamed that Amy thinks she has any right to judge.
Donna and Oscar's marriage was another one. Donna's an interesting character, slightly bizarre in the way she acts, and the fact that she's marrying a convicted murderer (with the intention of going to law school and proving Oscar's innocence) demonstrates that well. Oscar, despite being a murderer (apparently, he hacked his mother up with a meat cleaver) has beautiful vows to Donna, and when he starts singing to Donna, despite the prisoners in earshot who mock him, that's when Amy (and the audience) really feel their emotional connection.
I didn't care much for Tracy or Chris, so truth be told, I'm not too torn up with the breakup of either relationship. Vincent, I know, wants to be an author again, and get back into writing, but taking the easy way to get there, through connections of his significant other, doesn't appeal to him whatsoever. I'm not sure where Vincent's road will take him, but like he said back in the third episode, it will be his own road.
Maxine's custody case in the episode wasn't overly enthralling, but on the personal front, I don't believe that Simon will become a big character. That said, I'd like to see Maxine eventually get back into the dating sphere, and meet more people. Now that she's working again, trying to complete the circle might be up her alley, if Amy can grow to accept it.
Good stuff here, and while not up to "Trial by Jury" level, this is certainly above average.
Rating: Above Average
No comments:
Post a Comment