The Ledger

14.13 Married with Children

In this episode (14.13), a woman is found dead, suspended in the branches of a tree beneath her hotel balcony. Did she fall or was she pushed? She was pushed. And just like the other two episodes with victims who've plunged to their deaths I've watched tonight, guess who the prime suspect is. That's right: the ex-wife. Only this time, the ex-wife is (practically speaking) the ex-wife of the female victim: they were lesbians, squabbling over the custody of their adopted daughter.

The victim was a former Olympic swimmer and a motivational speaker. At first attention focuses on some basketball players she was hanging out with, but then Briscoe and Green shift their attention to a woman who at first claims to be the victim's sister, but then turns out to be the jilted lesbian lover, who flees with the child. Briscoe and Green track down her and the child upstate, and charge the woman with kidnapping, and eventually with murder in furtherance of that kidnapping.

The woman's defense is novel. She claims that because the law in Florida (where she originally lived with the victim) doesn't allow marriage or gay couples to adopt, that law is unconstitutional, so she shouldn't be charged with a crime that wouldn't apply if she were heterosexual. It's a stretch at best, and McCoy offers her a plea bargain, but she and her ambitious lawyer reject it, holding out hope that they will win a court challenge to the law in Florida and be found innocent of the murder in New York. At trial, the defense tries to connect with the jurors of the issue of parenthood, but it doesn't work very well.

The trial judge is Judge Walter Bradley, that that hard-nosed guy who is always acting like he's very angry and in a hurry. He's maybe my favorite judge on the show, because he never takes any nonsense from anybody. Another casting decision I like is that the defendant is played by Lucinda Jenney, who had an unforgettable role in Homicide: Life on the Street as Annabelle Wilgis, the "White Glove Killer" with multiple personality disorder who caused Frank Pembleton (Andre Braugher) so much anxiety for a few episodes.

This episode is notable for its discussion of gay marriage and the laws that govern it. Southerlyn is very much in favor of unrestricted gay marriage, and seems not very pleased with putting the mother on trial. DA Arthur Branch says he's in favor of gay marriage, too, which is a surprising position for him, but he is less sympathetic to the defendant. McCoy closes the episode with by joking that gay people should be allowed to marry too, so '"they can be just as miserable as the rest of us," but Southerlyn is so pissed off, she doesn't seem to think it's very funny.

By the way, the other two episodes I watched tonight that involved plunging female victims apparently done in by ex-wives are Blood and Dazzled.

Posted by adm at February 6, 2004 11:57 PM

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