Joy Johnson is murdered in her home. She and her husband Larry had ten adopted children, all with disabilities. The Johnsons were competing with Belinda Alvarez, who made the news for a large multiple birth, over which of them would get to be the focus of a new reality show. Larry ultimately won, but Belinda claims that Joy had not wanted to go through with it.
As the investigation progresses, Larry looks increasingly suspicious. But he has explanations for everything and it is difficult to get concrete evidence against him. One of his children confirms that, on the day of the murder, he brought them home from school then made them wait outside in the car - normally, they would just go inside. He is arrested.
Artie Kramer, the show's producer, knows Rubirosa from college. He asks her to be on the show in exchange for relevant tapes of the Johnsons' audition. McCoy and Cutter encourage her to do it because it will make a positive case for the prosecution. At the trial, Larry's lawyer tries to convince the jury that Joy was either killed by her and Larry's son, or that (since said son's house keys were stolen) someone else could have got into the house.
Cutter makes the case from audition tapes that Larry was eager to do the show, but Joy didn't want to. The defense responds by playing Belinda's audition tape where she said she "would kill to be on the show." Kramer tells the court that he expected Belinda to be unpopular with viewers, and wanted to give the show to the Johnsons. Joy kept saying no, so he gave Larry a 24-hour ultimatum to return the contract - the day before she was killed.
Cutter and Rubirosa discover Larry owed money to Sammy Shiner, a violent loan shark implicated in several murders. Cutter plans to get Larry to say on the stand that he didn't care about the money, and then bring in Shiner as a witness against him. But by the time Larry testifies, Shiner has fled the country. Rubirosa realizes the defense was tipped off when she was caught on camera with her notes visible. Larry excuses it as a legitimate business transaction with a company he didn't know Shiner owned.
The jury hangs, so the judge declares a mistrial. Ultimately, Larry and Belinda agree to do a joint reality TV show in which they and their families move into a mansion together while the public votes as to who killed Joy. When Cutter mentions that former DA Branch has been asked to appear as a judge on the show, an exhausted McCoy says he hopes that's a joke.
- Ambiguous Situation: Joy's killer is never definitively identified. While Larry is definitely the strongest candidate, there is no smoking gun and there is the possibility Belinda did it.
- Artistic License – Law: Connie is forced to participate in the reality show under the threat the production company will refuse to release the footage of Joy objecting to the show under First Amendment grounds. While they can make that argument, it won't be the long drawn out fight they think it would be. The footage is evidence in a criminal trial and not protected by the First Amendment because the government isn't trying to censor or coerce the rights of the company.
- Don't Split Us Up: The public is very sympathetic to Larry partly because his children risk being sent to separate foster homes.
- Genre Savvy: Lupo and Bernard ask Joy's son why he didn't call the police upon finding his mother's body. He replies that in every crime show he's ever watched, the person who found the body is always the suspect.
- It's All About Me: Larry and Belinda, in spades. Belinda even suggests she went ahead with her multiple pregnancy (despite the inherent risks to herself and the children) just because she could use the children to get on TV.
- No Such Thing as Bad Publicity: In spite of their two stars being the most prominent suspects in the murder of Joy, the network shows no hesitation in moving forward with giving Larry and Belinda a show. In fact, Larry receives a lot of public support for being the father for ten special needs children regardless of the accusations, and after the case is declared a mistrial, the network even plans to let the upcoming show's audience vote on "who they think killed Joy". McCoy is unsurprisingly unamused to hear this.
- Karma Houdini: Larry (or Belinda) apparently gets away with Joy's murder. Not only that, the two get everything they wanted; Larry gets his Reality Show, Belinda gets to be his co-star, and both of them are set to move into a mansion paid for by the Network and receive a lot of money on top of it.
- Ripped from the Headlines: Based on news stories over "Octomom" Nadya Suleman, and the reality show Jon & Kate Plus Eight.
- Please Wake Up: Joy's son says he tried to do this.
- Take That!: To Reality Shows in general, but especially ones that feature children front and center.
- The Ghost: Loan Shark Sammy Shiner is a key figure in the trial, but never appears onscreen. He flees before he can be detained as a witness by the police and is not tracked down before the episode ends.
- You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: McCoy's hilarious deadpan reaction to the new reality show is the last moment of the episode.
- Younger and Hipper: When Joy seemed apprehensive about doing the show, the network suggested Larry let a woman named Belinda be his co-star if Joy wouldn't sign on. On the day of the murder Belinda claims she went to visit Joy to make the argument she was clearly "younger and prettier" before saying Joy completely agreed with her that she should do the show with Larry with her blessing ... something the detectives seem very dubious of.
