This Conviction episode a couple of our characters had to face the hard truths about the world. One needed to admit that making mistakes is part of life. And another had to realize, that no matter what she does, power and status will always win over friendship. It was hard, but it made them stronger. So let’s get on with the review, of this Conviction episode.
Warning, spoilers ahead!
Conviction’s case of the week
Conviction episode 8 was a big one for Sam, because the CIU was reviewing a case that he prosecuted. On top of that, it also wasn’t the easiest of cases, since the team had to figure out, who really kidnapped a girl 10 years ago. They, of course, resolved the case and put the real kidnapper behind bars, but it wasn’t an easy road to get to that point.
The case was to review a conviction of a man that was imprisoned for kidnapping and killing a 16-year-old girl. And it came up, because the girl, who was thought dead, turned up after 10 years of being held captive.
It took a lot of worry and self-doubt from Sam, to be able to resolve this case. At first, when Maxine and Tess suggested, that he might need to take a step back from the case, he was confident that there is no need for that. But as the episode went on and as he realized, that he might have put an innocent man behind bars for 10 years, he started to see, why that might have been a good idea.
However, Hayes convinced him, that actually, it is better if he stays on the case, because he needs to learn how to deal with being wrong. I think it is a valuable lesson for anyone. In life, we often make decisions that have negative consequences aka make mistakes, and we need to learn to live with them and to get over them. Otherwise we will end up going crazy. And since it seemed, that Sam hadn’t learned this, yet, it was about time for him to do that, what whit working in a unit, which reviews other people’s mistakes on daily basis.
Secondary story lines
Besides the case, this episode we also saw Conner dealing with the investigation, which was called upon him after the news of him bailing Hayes out of jail and giving her a job broke. We saw this story like being resolved, with a little help from Hayes, but it didn’t drive Hayes and Conner closer. On the contrary actually, because after Hayes realized that her parents had went behind her back and offered Conner a job, if he said that he was responsible for one of Hayes’s past mistakes, she was furious.
I got to say, this power match between them is kind of getting old. We understand, that they are two strong-minded and stubborn individuals, who don’t always agree with each other. But we don’t need to see them sparing every single episode. It’s not what this show’s about. Unfortunately, I have a feeling that it will continue, at least until the season 1 of Conviction comes to a close.
The other thing we saw in this episode was Maxine’s continues battle with her addiction to pain meds. I was really disappointed, when I saw Maxine take that first pill, but I got why she did that. It couldn’t have been easy to witness a man shooting himself. But it looks like there is more to this than that. And we will just have to see, how long it will take for somebody to notice, that Maxine had started using again.
Last thoughts
I love how Conviction highlights the dark side of the U.S. judiciary system. We are so used to seeing television shows, that are about putting bad guys away, but we rarely see shows, that portray the aftermath of that. And since the law isn’t an exact science, the seemingly easy convictions might turn out to be wrong. And thank God there are people similar to CIU that work to serve justice, where it was lacking the first time around.
Episode highlights:
- Sam being the one who put Josh away
- Hayes and Conner’s flirting this episode
- Naomi being back on Conviction
- using state-dependent memory retrieval to help with the case
- Hayes confronting Sam in the bar
- Jackson being back and straightening up Hayes’s office
- Sierra hugging Josh when he got released from prison
Episode let-downs:
- Maxine continuing to take the pills
- Conner going behind Hayes’s back and accepting her parent’s offer
Quote of the episode:
Sam: *Hayes throws a dart that flies right past Sam’s face* “What the hell are you doing?”
Hayes: “Well, clearly, you want to punish yourself. I figured I’d help!”