Original Airdate: October 5, 1999
Characters:
1) Amy Gray
2) Lauren Cassidy
3) Vincent Gray
4) Maxine Gray
5) Peter Gray
6) Gillian Gray
7) Bruce Van Exel
8) Judge Greta Anastassio
Introduced:
1) Chris Osborne
2) Susie Nixon
3) Judge Fowler
The General Attorney sends a case to Amy, which she is in no position to decline, about a ten-year old comatose boy named Thomas Bell under the custody of his grandmother who touts him as a saint, with the ability to heal the sick and wounded. DCF claims that the constant exposure to outside factors are damaging to the health of the child. Reluctantly, Amy goes to see the child, and is informed that some of the wounds on his hands (appearing to be stigmata) were inflicted by an outside source, and not God.
Maxine, now back at work for DCF, goes head-to-head with her supervisor, one Susie Nixon, who is working hard to remove an underfed child from her mother and place her in foster care. Upon examining the case and meeting the child in question, however, Maxine recommends a different route - mandatory counseling for the mother and child, along with followup visitations from DCF. Susie disagrees completely, and ignore's Maxine's report.
Vincent, while in a hardware store with Lauren, meets Chris Osborne, a slightly-older painter and wood-worker, who entices Vincent to come over to her place. When there, she offers Vincent a job - write catalog descriptions of her work, which he takes without issue. She also lets him know, quite openly, that she is interested in dating him.
The media all over the case, Amy is forced into a difficult decision after hearing from both physicians who feel that the child is being harmed, and from a priest who claims that Thomas inspires faith in people, and that alone helps them to heal. The day of the judgment, though, Amy is approached by Attorney General Victor Pascal, telling her that the state is withdrawing the petition. After some veiled threats from both of them, Amy drops the case, allowing Thomas to stay with his grandmother. It later seems as though that is not the final call she wished to make.
Maxine approaches the mother of the case in question, and informs her, rather harshly, that unless she wises up, she is in serious danger of losing her child. Judge Fowler, who has worked with Maxine many times in the past, hears both from Maxine and Susie on their disagreement over the case. He chastises Maxine for abrasively speaking to the mother (who has since sued DCF), but lets it known that because of the lawsuit, the child will be allowed to stay with her mother. Maxine is told after Susie leaves that while Susie may be more a radical when it comes to placing children in foster care, Judge Fowler is not, and insists that Maxine have faith in the system.
The next morning, Vincent meets Chris' daughter, either late high school or early college age, which opens his eyes about Chris' age, which he hadn't either noticed or considered. After an open conversation to Chris about this, he agrees that he wants to date her, but now "might not be the best time." They agree to see each other again that weekend.
Maxine ponders over Vincent's new relationship, and asks Amy to find out what's going on. Beforehand, though, Amy decides to watch Lauren sleep, lightly stroking her hair in thought.
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| Amy confronting Attorney General Victor Pascal |
Victim Soul is a decent episode, but a definite downgrade from Trial by Jury. While the case forced upon Amy is interesting enough, the fact she is not allowed to determine the outcome due to the Attorney General is greatly bothersome (both to us as an audience and Amy as a character). This mixed with the stress of the media following her every move and her daughter telling her that if she removes the child from the home, she'll go to hell, Amy has quite a trying time.
Vincent has a bit more luck, finding a wonderful lady whom he is attracted to deeply. The Graduate reference notwithstanding, it's obvious that he quite enjoys her company, and when he opens up to her about his early success in college and subsequent meltdown and European journey, it's clear to see he's comfortable sharing that information. Even after meeting Lori, Chris' college/high school-aged, Vincent is willing to continue the relationship without too much worry.
Maxine's conflict with Susie was quite interesting, and perhaps my favorite subplot of the episode. Maxine's belief that there must be very compelling reasons to remove a child from a family flies in the face of Susie's belief that even when other alternatives may exist, it is always best to move the child into foster care. The conflict is unique, and shows no sign of subsiding in future episodes, as Susie remains Maxine's supervisor. Judge Fowler, on the other hand, seems a decent person, and while I am unsure if we see him again, I placed him in the characters introduced just in case.
Lastly, Bruce, upon being chided by Amy, opens up briefly to her. His calm, distant composure has mostly been consistent, and while it's slowly disappearing, I too would like to see more of Bruce as a friend as opposed to a cold court services officer. Slowly, yet surely, I expect him to open up.
The episode was okay - Amy's case was decent, but the segment as a whole was just barely above average. Vincent meeting Chris was good for the character, but I get the feeling that Chris won't be around for too long. The highlight, I feel, is Maxine and her argument with Susie over the direction of their case - both sides make compelling points, and more importantly, you can tell both sides are trying to do what they feel is best for the child, albeit in different ways. Of this conflict, I am highly interested in seeing more. Overall, though, the episode was average.
Rating: Average
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