Conviction – Bridge and Tunnel Vision

By: Alex Steele

After it’s highly anticipated premiere, “Conviction” kept the stakes high with its second episode Bridge and Tunnel Vision. It began as we watched each member of the CIU prepare for a day’s work. Starting with Hayes (Hayley Atwell) consistently snoozing her alarm while she lies next to an unknown, half-naked male, moving onto Sam (Shawn Ashmore) going for his morning run. We see Frankie (Manny Montana) completing a circuit of different exercises, Tess (Emily Kinney) at the office alone and early preparing her breakfast (obsessively and compulsively) and Maxine (Merrin Dungey) sits in her car fiddling with her eighteenth month chip. During this montage, Frankie receives a call from an inmate (whose relationship remains a mystery) while Sam gets a visit from Lisa (Sarah Allen). She’s there to follow up their conversation regarding Hayes; she’s determined to break the story about how she got the job over Sam and uncover the true reasons behind it. Sam, surprisingly, remains loyal to his boss swiftly avoiding making a comment by flirting with Lisa. She’s persistent though and she’s not giving up. Elsewhere, Hayes finally gets up from bed to hilarious brotherly sass from Jackson (Daniel Franzese) who doesn’t hesitate in calling her out for sleeping with the help. We also discover that he’s the one running their mother’s campaign.

Walking into the office this week, Hayes demands to know what is on the agenda. Both Frankie and Tess announce why not the case of Virgil Mendez, serving a life sentence for murder. It is also revealed that ADA Conner Wallace (Eddie Cahill) was the prosecutor on said case. This encourages Hayes to broaden the scope of Wallace’s case they choose from; a fact the team caution her about. She doesn’t mind, she’s very well aware of the fact he blackmailed her to take this job. Upon this request, the team start to brainstorm which they’ll investigate and they decide on one of his highest profile dubbed “The Prospect 3.” The case involves three friends convicted of the rape and felony assault of Zadie Daniels (Cassandra Freeman), who have served ten years of an eighteen year sentence. When convicted, the three friends were under the age eighteen yet Conner charged them as adults. As they go through the details of the case (each boy only confessed to the crime after hours and hours of questioning), Wallace arrives to see what case Hayes has selected. She stalls and lies, telling Wallace they’ve chosen the Virgil Mendez case. He isn’t surprised, but the team is – none more so than Sam who immediately calls her out. Unlucky for him, Hayes has a response to everything.

After that close call, Hayes sends Sam and Frankie to the prison to talk to each inmate while Maxine and Tess remain at the office to go over the original testimony. At the prison each of the boys denies they did it, admitting the lied when first questioned. Not only that, after initially believing the evidence was not contaminated, Maxine, Hayes and Tess discover that the boys were alerted to the “brick” used in the crime by the police officers. This means that the confessions don’t necessarily mean they are guilty. During this discussion, Hayes drops a bomb on the audience and Maxine and Tess when she brings up the murder of Tess’ aunt. It seems as though we’ve finally got a piece of the puzzle. So, with the new lead that the confessions may have been coerced, the team go for a different angle by looking at all complaints filed against the boys and see if any smaller crimes can be used as their alibis. During this discussion, the CIU team are joined by none other than Harper Morrison (Bess Armstrong) who has them all fangirling in one way or another. Hayes puts a stop to that by inviting her mother in her office; she asks what case she’s working on while also cautioning her not to make an enemy of Wallace. Not only that, she confesses how proud she is of her daughter and suggests she buy an orchid (she’s there for a photo opportunity Hayes believes).

Soon after Hayes meets with the victim of the crime, Zadie Daniels, to ensure she’s not caught off guard if the investigation hits the news. Additionally, she assures they’ll keep a low profile when investigating. Zadie is okay with all of that, Conner Wallace contacted her earlier to warn her. Oh, sneaky, sneaky. Meanwhile, Frankie and Maxine retrace the steps of Zadie the night she was attacked using he video footage captured by The Prospect 3. Its cut with real time shots of that night, as we follow Zadie and the team as they piece it all together. As they get to the end of their replay, Maxine realizes something’s wrong – they’re missing something because the timeline seems off. After hearing the news that Wallace knows, Hayes is seen watching his Press Conference about the investigation (it seems as though he’s always one step ahead). No words are exchanged and he maintains transparency and honesty by going public, but as he walks away and says “checkmate” to Hayes we know the battle is only just beginning.

With three days to go, the tension of the deadline is being felt. Hayes lashes Sam out for spying, which is the last thing Sam requires to fire off a text to Lisa about finally talking. Not only that, Sam calls Hayes out and the two continue their tit for tat dual. After realizing something was off, Maxine and Frankie discovered that Zadie’s routine the night she was attacked changed. This leads them to investigate Zadie and her story. First, they question her boss who left around the same time that night. After Maxine calls him out for acting a little shady, he reveals that he and Zadie had sex that night. Rough sex, in the bathroom of a bar. He also reveals that Zadie broke her watch and they left the bar at 9:30pm. These pieces of evidence are key if they are to prove the innocence of the boys, but at the same time hurts Zadie. Maxine and Hayes confront Zadie about lying and that she wasn’t in fact raped. Even after pleading with Hayes through tears, Hayes unfortunately tells Zadie she has no choice as she has to continue with the case.

Breaking the bad news doesn’t stop there – Hayes is next seen informing Wallace that Zadie wasn’t raped and that her team has a completely new timeline for the night she was attacked. Wallace was sure the convictions were solid and it might have been so if Brian’s juvenile record was accessible back then as it shows evidence of aggressive behavior. Hayes reminds Wallace that this is all or nothing, that if she does this she needs to prove Brian (Stephen Scott Scarpulla) is guilty while the other two are not. He encourages her to go ahead, but when breaking the news to her team Hayes is met with a little challenge. The team can’t see it working, but Hayes is insistent they look at Brian alone (while she attends another one of her mother’s functions). The team, after brainstorming, make a move to look at the police wagon transport from that night. What it shows and proves is that the other two boys are innocent while Brian is quite possibly guilty. Meanwhile, Hayes is doing her best to be sociable, but she Jackson admits to not being the one to send their mom to Hayes’ office so the two women have a standoff. Hayes knows all remember so when she questions her mother as to whether Wallace sent her, she isn’t surprised to learn that he did. Hayes, not happy and being summoned by breaks in her case, leaves.

Back at the office, we discover Brian’s history. It seems he assaulted his foster sister when he was young, supporting a pattern of behavior. Not only that, when replying his testimony footage Hayes notices Mardi Gras beads on his wrist, similar to those that had been handed out at the bar Zadie was earlier on the night of her attack. Taking this, Hayes confronts Brian and when she threatens to break the beads he lunges forward and grabs her wrist. She’s okay, maybe even better, because she tricked him. They weren’t even Zadie’s beads as those are being tested for his DNA as they speak. Taking this win to Wallace, she informs him that Brian confessed while still feeling the effects of his attack. Wallace notices and gets closer, checking to see if she’s okay. The two have undeniable chemistry and when he edges closer to kiss her (and thank her), she edges closer, too. She stops short though and strongly states that he needs to find another spy because she’s never sleeping with someone already in bed with her mother.

As the episode closes, Maxine approaches Tess with an apology about her aunt and everything that followed. She continues to admit the cop in her couldn’t not look into it. And, in fact, she tracked down the guy Tess wrongly put in prison with her testimony. Not liking this, Tess powerfully tells Maxine to mind her own business. Frankie visits his friend(??) in jail again who is a little upset the CIU didn’t take his case/appeal. Meanwhile, Hayes gives a press conference in the hopes of lessening the pain Zadie will face now being labeled an adulterer. Additionally, Lisa and Sam finally sit down for a drink, but again Sam is a brick wall giving no comment and Hayes? Well, she’s back at her apartment, alone, watching television. When Jackson arrives home, again we see a different side (vulnerable, broken and struggling) to Hayes as she deals with the aftermath of the case. She admits that she can’t do this, but Jackson knows she can. And he also knows what will make her feel better… dancing.