Need a refresher? Read the recap for the last episode here."The moment I was accused of Rosemary Lynch's murder the world saw me as a different person. I wasn't Madeline Scott anymore, I was someone else. I was the party girl, the sex maniac, a killer. I was also the innocent victim, the wrongly accused, the girl in trouble. But however they saw me, inside I felt the same. Eventually, the inside changed too. When you live day to day behind prison bars you begin to forget who you are. You lose yourself. One day you realize, you've become someone else."
Madeline is recounting her own experiences with being wrongfully accused and hunted by the media on the innocence podcast. Interspersed with scenes of her in her day-to-day life are those of a convict in prison experiencing the harshness of jail life. I think we can safely assume he'll be the focus of this week's case.
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| Cr: Jean Whiteside/FOX |
Over in Easy's corner of the world, he is departing church when his pastor stops him and asks for his help with a case. He is with a woman whose nephew, William, they believe had been wrongfully imprisoned for the murder of a liquor store owner. He was a kid when he was sentenced but its been five years now. They want Easy to try and overturn the conviction but it won't be simple, William confessed to the crime.
Visiting William in jail, Madeline and Easy find out he is a quiet man with a talent for drawing. He explains the gun that got him convicted was given to him by a man named Rabbit, a man the police believe he made up. While interviewing William, Madeline has flashbacks to her own interrogations with an agitated Gore Bellows.
The team meets to discuss William's case. He was only 14 at the time an yet interrogated for 20 hours, his aunt was working three jobs and consented to a single interview. The key evidence was that William had the gun but since he claims it was given to him by Rabbit, he was only turning it into the police to help them. His trial lasted only a day but the jury took four days to convict, which means there was a hold out. They need to know who that juror was which means poor Violet has to go on a date with Radcliff the Madcliff - a jury administrator whose been trying to take her on a date for months. It's the fastest way to learn who the holdout was.
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| Cr: Jean Whiteside/FOX |
Violet's honeypot scheme works and they're able to get the holdout juror on stand. Turns out, there was media ran on the case about Wan Lee Kim (the man who was killed) and it convinced her to change her vote. Considering it was an act of misconduct, the judge rules William can get a new trial.
And her date with Radcliff involves a lunch with a bird named Curveball since Radcliff is obsessed with them.
Back at the offices, Violet questions a suspect on Madeline's board, a mysterious man named "Jim". In a flashback we see it was someone Rosemary once dated, a man who should have been a key suspect but it was impossible to find him at the time. Violet offers to try and dig him up.
At home, William's case is hitting Easy particularly hard as he can't help but see the similarities between him and his own soon - who was caught with a fake id. He grounds his son, trying to teach him a lesson about the difficulties of being a black boy in Chicago.
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| Cr: Jean Whiteside/FOX |
The next step in the case is to go after the detectives who coaxed the confession, Det. Folino. Not great news because the guys a jerk but juries love him. He does okay on the stand, with Bellows cross-examining. Folino is adamant that the confession was a real one but has no proof because the videotape file got corrupted.
Easy is going hard on the team afterwards. Clearly he sees his son in William and he's letting it affect him on a personal level. They have a photo of William from the day of at a comic store, Violet, an admitted closet geek, agrees to look into it and see if they can get him an alibi for the time of murder.
And Easy's bad mood continues at home where he snaps at his son for playing video games while grounded, he's pushing his son away by being too overprotective.
Taking a break from her work, Madeline goes on a date with the reporter, Dylan, the two share a kiss. This complicates things for Dylan when his boss asks him for an update on Madeline's case and he seems hesitant to give anything up. Something tells me Madeline might mistakenly let slip Levi and Rosemary's former romantic relationship at some point.
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| Cr: Jean Whiteside/FOX |
But she doesn't get to relax long since she's soon back out on the frontlines, advocating for the new attorney general nomination. Bellows watches from a television in his office with Susan Alders, a television personality. He still thinks Madeline and her brother are guilty and is planning to bring it back up by going on Alders show with Rosemary Lynch's parents where he can remind the public of why Madeline is famous.
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| Cr: Jean Whiteside/FOX |
Checking in Levi, the Husbands are AWFUL as per usual. Remember how Brian Husband came at Levi with a baseball bat? Well now Heather signed a sworn affidavit that Levi was the one who used a deadly weapon! They're going to pursue a maximum of 25 years in prison for Levi. Here's hoping Madeline can prove them liars. Ugh I hate Heather's smug face.
A search of William Hurston's cell reveals his artwork, all of it violent and relaying the night of the crime scene. A forensic evaluation says the drawings can be tantamount to a secondary confession. But Madeline points out the drawings could actually be an exploration of his imagination and the injustice he has faced, basically the opposite of a confession.
Finally the team gets a lead, sort of. Bodie tracks down Rabbit but it turns out to be Rabbit's brother. Rabbit died a year ago. Uh-oh.
Bellows is making ground on his bill idea. He wants to pass a law in Rosemary's honor to make it harder for "guilty" people like Madeline and Levi to get exonerated. Mr. Lynch believes they're innocent and is firmly against being used to pander to Bellow's political crowd but Mrs. Lynch remains convinced of their guilt and is happy to help Bellows out. (The Lynchs are divorced).
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| Cr: Jean Whiteside/FOX |
Bodie is able to secure the police report about Rabbit, (through a er, interesting arrangement he has with a cop). The guy has a rap sheet a mile long and guess who his arresting officer was for the assault? Detective Folino. Back in trial Easy nails him hard with proof Folino knew who Rabbit was all along. He claims he didn't pursue it because the case against William was tight but Easy's rebuttal is simple: "It was tight because you made it that way."
Next up is Violet's work at the comic book store. They get the owner on the stand and he testifies that William was there that day at a signing, though Bellows points out he couldn't possibly remember exactly if William was there the entire time.
Afterwards, Easy is approached by William's aunt and Pastor White. They want William to get on the stand and Madeline agrees, having a chance to tell his story might be what the jury needs to hear but if he loses it on the stand, it could backfire tremendously. Easy and Madeline have a terse stand-off over their differing perspectives.
At least Easy does the right thing and visits a therapist to talk about his issues concerning this particular case and how he's internalizing it at home.
The talk helps Easy get his emotions under control, he and Madeline make amends. They want William to take the stand so they try and prepare him the best they can for what he might face on the stand. He draws a sweet picture of Madeline and Easy as a Superman/Superwoman duo.
On the stand, William has a rough time, first with Bellows who just berates him and tells him he's a liar over and over again (just like he did to Madeline) and then with Madeline where he begins to cry because all he wanted was to go home, the cops told he would be a hero and he believed them so he confessed. Madeline is adamant Easy do their closing argument. He found them for a reason and it needs to be him that closes the case.
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| Cr: Jean Whiteside/FOX |
Back to Rosemary's case, Violet found the mystery man... it's Levi. That means Rosemary was afraid of him at one point. Could he really have killed her after all?
Preparing for the closing in his case, Easy gets a chance to bond with his son and remind him how much he loves him despite having to punish him sometimes. His son is his inspiration to give an excellent closing.
The verdict comes back! William is found not guilty. Unfortunately, Bellows and his wife are ready to go nuclear with their Rosemary bill. They break out their big gun, Barbara Lynch, to appeal to the media.
Post-case, Maddie arrives home to find Levi has broken into her home and he has questions about her murder board. Levi realizes Madeline is afraid of him, he's acting like a criminal. She doesn't give him a chance to explain his case. Honestly, I don't think Levi is the killer but I'm definitely invested in finding out who is.
A new episode of Proven Innocent titled "The Shame Game" premieres March 8th on FOX.
