Written By Kevin Fox and Robert Brooks Cohen
Directed By Alex Chapple
Renowned television producer Frank Maddox (Bradley Whitford) is accused of molesting his eight-year-old daughter. His estranged wife (Samantha Mathis) wants to know the truth but refuses to cooperate with the authorities to the point it is suspected to be a ploy to win the public's favor as a revenge for her upcoming divorce and the fact that her own younger sister (Emma Bell) is replacing her as Maddox's wife. The case soon turns into a media circus as the accusations start getting more and more heated.
Tropes
- Bread, Eggs, Breaded Eggs: As the episode starts, Frank threatens to kill off the character of an actor who starts bothering him with questions about his motivation.PA: I'm not sure we can kill him, Frank.
Frank : Why? It's cable. Macho characters die or experiment with their sexuality, or die experimenting with their sexuality. - Casting Couch: when Frank rapes 13-year-old Mavis he explains this is how all his "leading ladies" get their roles.
- Faux Affably Evil:
- in an aversion of the more usual trope Frank's Amoral Attorney goes out of his way to be all sweetness and light to the child complainant while he's undermining her credibility to the jury, feigning friendliness while making her out to be a brainwashed fool who doesn't know the facts of her own life (or a liar).
- also Frank's demeanor on the witness stand as he explains away details from the testimony against him he feels he cannot flatly deny.
Frank: Did I play dress-up with my daughter? Yes. Am I guilty of being a father who wants his daughter to feel like a princess? I am. Did I tell her she'd be my leading lady? I did. She's a brilliant actor. The only problem is she's playing a part written for her by her mother. I understand how this looks to the outside. I'm not naive. I just want to say I'm sorry, Katherine, that we're here. We've loved each other, we've created these beautiful children, and here we are. I want to apologize because I can be arrogant, I can be insensitive. But I've broken no law. I would never hurt my daughter. Why would I do that? Why would I risk everything that I've accomplished. It just - it does not make sense.Declan: He's a better actor than anyone on his show. - Framing the Guilty Party: If Frank is not guilty of abusing Chelsea he is at least involved in an inappropriate relationship with Rose - and guilty of raping Mavis when she was thirteen.
- It's All About Me: For Frank all the complaints about his behavior are just vengeful threats to his career.
- Jury and Witness Tampering: the babysitter, who provides the first smoking gun in the case note mysteriously loses her memory on the witness stand, explaining to Barba with a beatific smile on her face that she focuses on the present, not the past. Barba is so smugly convinced her behavior on the stand won't hurt him that he doesn't lean on her or seek to falsify her testimony.
- Karma Houdini: Frank escapes the court's guilty verdict by flying off to France. He never faces consequences for raping Mavis.
- Patched Together from the Headlines: Frank having an inappropriate relationship with Rose is ripped from the Woody Allen/Soon Yi story, and Frank raping 13-year-old Mavis after fondling her in the swimming pool is taken from Roman Polanski's rape of Samantha Geimer.
- Take That, Audience!: In universe. Mavis goes on a talk show to disclose that Frank raped her when she was thirteen. Having done so she looks away from the tv host she's been conversing with, looks directly through the camera lens, and denounces everyone in the audience who ever believed Frank or went to bat for him, having enabled his sexual predation. Amaro gives Rollins a meaningful glance (Rollins has been going to bat for Frank and supposedly falsely-accused men through the whole episode) so the audience knows where the writers are aiming their barb.
