Burden of Truth – Pilot

By: Stacy Miller

The episode opens at Millwood High School where we see there is a soccer match being played by girls of the soccer team. The crowd excitedly cheers for the home team who is winning. But as one of the girls, Taylor (Anwen O’ Driscoll) is performing a cheerleading routine, she collapses to the ground in convulsions.

We go to Toronto to the apartment of Joanna Hanley (Kristen Kreuk). She and her boyfriend and colleague at the law firm of Carver, Thatcher and Stokes are working on his opening statements for an injunction involving their client and an HPV vaccine that it seems that is accused of being at fault for the girls at Millwood High School becoming sick. If they win the case, it would be a huge coup for Carver, Thatcher and Stokes. As Joanna attended Millwood High School, the law firm’s client a pharmaceutical company named Bordox has asked Joanna and not Alan to go to Millwood as the counsel for Carver, Thatcher and Stokes reasoning that she’d have a better chance of winning than Alan.  And if she does win the case, Bordox promises that they will obtain the legal services of Carver, Thatcher and Stokes as their law firm for future matters. However, Joanna’s dad David Hanley (Alex Carter) doesn’t appear too keen to have his daughter return to Millwood.  But Joanna is confident she can score a victory for Carver, Thatcher and Stokes.

Joanna is a clever young attorney and figures out a way in which to question the doctor that treated the Millwood High School girls. Apparently he was her family doctor when she lived in Millwood.  So, Joanna schedules an appointment with him in order to casual ask him about whether he believes there is a medical connection between the HPV vaccine and the seizures of the sick girls.  The doctor reminds that he can’t discuss his current patients due to medical confidentially as it is privileged information.  But Joanna says that she was asking about the vaccine in relation to taking it herself and she wanted to know of the possible side effects.  So course since it is a doctor/patient conversation, the physician answers her questions.

Then it is off to Millwood High School. Walking the halls of her alma mater stirs up memories for Joanna. She runs into her old high school friend Diane (Nicola Correis-Damude). While Joanna moved to the big city to pursue a high powered law career, Diane has remained at Millwood High School all these years as the school’s guidance counselor. She and Joanna get caught up and talk about the symptoms the girls who were given the vaccine are having.  They experience facial twitches and loss of motor skills. She feels that she’s to blame as she encourage the vaccine clinic.  Diane wrongly assumes that Joanna is there on behalf of the high school. When she learns that is not the case, Diane orders Joanna to leave the school.

The next day, Joanna appears in court for the injunction case. And her opposing counsel is Billy Crawford (Peter Mooney), who is the uncle of one of the girls who fell sick. It looks like Billy and Joanna share a past and the courtroom is filled with legal and sexual tension between the two. After both present their cases, Joanna proves the victor and manages to stop the injunction as Billy was unable to convince the judge the vaccine was responsible for causing the illness of the Millwood High School girls.

Since she was able to get the injunction stopped, Joanna’s next step is to offer settlements to all the families of all the sick girls. She contacts Alan to ask him to have the agreements written up. Once Joanna obtains the signatures, the case will be closed and she can go home. Carver, Thatcher and Stokes has offered a $50,000 settlement in order to close the matter. She is successful in getting signatures on the agreement from two of the families.  But when she goes to Mr. Matheson, Taylor’s father, he refuses to sign the document.  Although he could use the money, Mr. Matheson won’t sign a document that releases the company responsible for his daughter’s illness and changing her life get off the hook. As she leaves the house, Joanna finds Taylor sitting on the porch. Taylor blames the HPV vaccine on causing her illness; she’ll have to give up cheerleading because she no longer has the coordination needed. Joanna reminds the girl that there is no medical evidence linking the HPV vaccine to Taylor’s illness. Taylor can’t believe that at only eighteen her life is now ruined. Joanna tells Taylor that with $50,000 she’ll be able to have a fresh start on life and because Taylor is eighteen and no longer a minor, Joanna gets the girl to sign the settlement agreement.

When Diane learns that Joanna got Taylor to sign the settlement agreement, she accuses her of not caring about the girls and their families and only wanting to save her client money and the risk of losing business due to the bad press that the sickness of the girls would bring.  Diane thinks the big city has changed Joanna…and not for the better.

Joanna then goes to a diner for a bit to eat.  After taking her order, the waitress Molly (Sara Thompson) drops a tray and falls to the floor and begins having convulsions. Joanna arrives at the hospital to check on Molly and speaks with Molly’s friend, Luna Spence (Star Slade).  Joanna asks Luna whether the HPV vaccine was responsible for Molly’s collapse. Luna tells Joanna that Molly never took the vaccine. When Joanna questions Molly, the girl verifies what Luna said; she never got the HPV vaccine. Joanna is relieved that Carver, Thatcher and Stokes’ client was responsible for her the illnesses and the vaccine wasn’t to blame.  But now there is a new question:  What is causing the girls of Millwood High School to fall ill?

Joanna goes to see Billy and tells him that since her client wasn’t responsible for the sickness of the girls, he needs to find what caused the girls to become sick. Billy tells Joanna that although his firm is named Crawford and Associations, he is basically alone and doesn’t have the financial resources to investigative what all the girls who became sick have in common. Joanna offers her help.

They go to a bar and discuss the case. Billy tells Joanna about another girl who also became sick. They need to find out who their patient zero is…if they have that information, they’ll have somewhere to start. When Billy leaves the barstool because he gets a call, a woman approaches Joanna and asks whether she is David Hanley’s daughter. When Joanna answers that she is, the woman punches Joanna in the face! What connection does this woman have with Joanna’s father?

Later, Joanna drives past her old house.  A police car drives up and when she tells the cop that she use to live in the house, the cop makes a strange comment about David Hanley. It’s obvious that Joanna’s father didn’t win any popularity contests in the town, but why does everyone in Millwood respond so negatively at the mention of his name?

When Joanna goes back to her hotel room, she finds Taylor waiting for her.  Taylor explains that her parents have been arguing because she signed Joanna’s settlement agreement. Joanna tells Taylor because her client Bordox was absolved of any blame from the HPV vaccine causing the illness, Taylor won’t be receiving any money. So, Taylor asks Joanna to be her lawyer and help her to find out what is causing her and the other girls to fall sick.  When Joanna tells Taylor that is not the kind of law she practices, Taylor accuses Joanna of using her to get her to sign the settlement agreement.

The episode ends with Joanna going to see Billy and telling him that in order to find out what caused the girls to become sick, they’ll need to get CT scans and blood work.  It looks like Joanna plans to stay in Millwood longer than she’d plan and will be working with Billy to uncover the truth.