This review contains spoilers!
This week we finally got a new Conviction episode again, and although now we know that there will be only 13 episodes in season 1 of Conviction it doesn’t take away from the fact that it was great episode of a great show, that let us learn more about Frankie, Hayes and what makes them tick.
Let’s start with the case of the week that CIU was tackling this episode, since this is a legal procedural. The team was reviewing a young man’s case, who is in prison for murdering the mom of the rich family, that took him under their wing. And of course, it was Hayes initiative to take specifically this case, because it seemed that after her interview she is set on helping those less fortunate than her. But what Hayes didn’t expect was, that the case will hit close to home, because it was about a rich family that had a lot of problems. In the end, CIU obviously resolved the case, although I have to say, that it wasn’t the resolution I was expecting. If on shows like CSI or NCIS I often can predict who will be the killer early on in the episode, so far on Conviction that really hasn’t been the case. And maybe that is why this show seems so interesting and fresh to me.
In this episode we also saw Hayes dealing with the fallout from her interview, meaning, that she tried to get back into her brother’s good graces and make up with Conner. The whole episode we say Hayes struggle with this, calling Jackson each morning after she wake up from spending another night on her office couch, as well as trying mend her relationship with Conner by bringing him a bottle of pain killers for all the agony that she has caused him. In the end, Hayes even sought her mother’s advice, and the conversation between the two woman revealed what the show has been hinting about from day one, that Hayes loves Conner. It was interesting to see Hayes sit-down with her mother, because it was a scene where Harper Morrison was actually mother to Hayes, not he politician who only cares about her image. So we saw Hayes’s relationship with her mother improve at least. And of course her brother also forgave her at the very end, but it looks like Conner won’t be that quick to forgive Hayes. However, I really hope that by episode 13 we will see at least some happier scenes between Conner and Hayes.
The second CIU member, whose background we delved into was Frankie Cruz, the forensic technician of the team. In the previous episodes we already saw glimpses of his past by Hayes revealing that he had spent time in prison and by seeing Frankie visit somebody in prison and holding hands with that man in secret. But this episode we found out, that this man was Frankie’s cell mate and that Frankie does in fact love him. However, everything isn’t black and white with this situation, as Frankie admitted to Hayes, that although he still loves his former cell mate Rey, he isn’t sure that Rey should get out of prison. We clearly saw a huge conflict in Frankie and Manny Montana, who plays Frankie, did an amazing job at delivering these scenes and the agony that the character was feeling. I wonder if at the end CIU will end up taking Rey’s case, or there will be a totally different resolution to this situation.
Highlights of the episode:
• How Hayes chose the next case for CIU
• Frankie’s story line this episode
• Tess caring for Frankie
• Hayes bringing Conner a bottle of pain killers as an apology gift
• Hayes’s apology calls to her brother
• Hayes’s and her mother’s conversation
• Conner announcing that he had hired a lawyer who is Hayes’s and his ex-girlfriend
• Jackson forgiving Hayes
• Hayes’s and Frankie’s conversation at the end of the episode
Let-downs of the episode:
• Conner not forgiving Hayes
• Will taking the blame for Sean
Quote of the episode:
Conner: I hired outside counsel.
Hayes: Great! Anyone I know?
Conner: Naomi Golden out of Chicago. (Hayes gasps) You have a problem with that?
Hayes: She’s my ex-girlfriend.
Conner: Mine, too.