Conviction – Not Okay

By: Marie Thong

“Conviction” returned this week with their episode Not Okay. We pick up straight off the last episode with Hayes (Hayley Atwell) and Wallace (Eddie Cahill) spending the night together after losing the Earl Slavitt case in Indiana.

Back in the city now, Hayes has a new case for the team – Sophie Hausen (Jordan Hayes), a rape victim who is serving a life sentence for the murder of Travis Carter (he was shot), a college basketball star and her rapist. Despite brushing off her colleagues concerns, it is clear Hayes is still shaken and pissed off by the outcome of CIU’s last case. Her belief and faith for the criminal justice system is withered, if not completely gone. She doesn’t believe Sophie was wrongly convicted, but rather believes she doesn’t deserve to be in jail: “If the state can execute and innocent man, why shouldn’t a rape victim take justice into her own hands?”

Sophie’s case was seemingly open and shut: she had motive, no alibi and her DNA was found on the murder weapon. The team are at odds. But, irrespective of this, Hayes is going ahead with the case. She requests her team to look for evidence of jury bias, judicial overreach, anything that could possibly get Sophie out of prison. Despite their apprehension, the team get to work.

Wallace visits the CIU headquarters running in to Hayes they discuss her newest case, make small talk and eventually Hayes cracks by asking Wallace about Naomi at the last second as he was walking out the door. He reveals they are taking a break due to his workload and Hayes questions whether it was because of what happened between them in Indiana. But as Wallace so elegantly puts it, “What happens in Indiana, stays in Indiana.”

Hayes goes to visit Sophie in prison and like all before her, she profusely denies having any involvement with Travis’ murder. Hayes is quick to side with her (not that she was ever not on her side) and she informs Sophie that she believes she doesn’t belong in prison and is going to do whatever it takes to get her out.

Meanwhile at CIU, Sam (Shawn Ashmore) voices his concern for Maxine (Merrin Dungey), which gets a hostile response from her (“Should I pee in a cup?!”). She assures him that she’s got a handle on it before going in to talk to the detective who worked the case. He informs the two of them that it was hard to build a case and prove she was even raped as she reported the attack weeks after the event. This meant all physical evidence, bruises, drugs etc. would have been long gone.

Elsewhere at CIU HQ, Frankie (Manny Montana) brings Matty (Alex Mallari, Jr.) up to see a surprised Tess (Emily Kinney). After having not seen her at his coffee cart recently, he decided to bring the cart to her (collective “Awww”). He asks her out too, which she accepts.

Frankie is able to find evidence that the DNA testing on the murder weapon wasn’t carried out correctly. Investigators didn’t follow proper protocol and the forensic material that the results relied on was too small. After re-running the DNA Frankie finds that the results were only a partial match to Sophie meaning her DNA on the gun could very well be explained by something as minute as her being in that bedroom on that night she was raped.

Tess and Frankie go to the frat-house bedroom to recreate the crime to test if Sophie’s height matched the trajectory of Travis’ wounds (I always love these recreations, they’re so cool!). While Sophie was the right height, the duo locates something even more interesting – the murderer couldn’t possibly have escaped through the corridor like initially thought. Because a down pillow was used to muffle the sound of the shots, feathers are scattered all over the room and sticking to the body due to static caused by the shots. This meant that there should have been a trail of feathers out the door, but there were none. This prompts the two to figure out the murderer left out the window, as there is a barbed wire fence it is a high possibility whoever murdered Travis got hurt pretty bad.

Sophie was arrested less than 48 hours after the murder without a cut or mark on her body so unless she had super-healing, she couldn’t have killed Travis. With doubt now cast over Sophie’s guilt the team turn to another suspect – the campus cop John Bianchi (Shane Daly) who’d sliced his hand the night of the shooting. Plus, the university fired him after Travis accused him of harassment. Bianchi explains his innocence and provides an alibi. The team let him go, but not before he makes them aware of Travis’ other victims.

Bianchi points the team to Elyse (Melanie Nicholls-King) who is a rape counsellor that Sophie and Travis’ other victims had turned to after their attacks. Sam and Maxine visit Elyse to get the names of the other girls, but she relents. She doesn’t want the girls sent to prison like Sophie was.

While Sam and Maxine come up empty, Frankie and Tess do some digging and are able to find the names of the other three girls. With this new information, Hayes goes back to the prison. Hayes is optimistic over the three new suspects; however, Sophie doesn’t see things the same way. These three girls (one of which is her friend) are victims and don’t deserve to be in prison any more than she does.

The girls have now been brought into CIU where Tess and Frankie talk to them about Travis. Each of the girls recount the attack, matching Sophie’s almost perfectly. Travis picks them up and begins to flirt and “woo” the girls, each of them in awe that the college basketball star “picked them.” He invites them to a party at the frat-house where he pours them countless cups of punch and then he brings them back to his bedroom where he proceeds to rape them. By the end of it, Frankie (who has been a bit of a skeptical ass this episode over the “alleged rapes”) has switched his stance.

The team find another suspect in Maya’s (one of the rape victims) father, Oscar Zapala (Louie Ski Carr) who is a former gang enforcer. Finding out his daughter was raped could have sent him into quite a frenzy. Sam finds him at a workshop where he questions him over Travis’ murder. Unbeknownst to Sam, Oscar is unaware of his daughter’s rape forcing Sam to break the news to him.

With another suspect cleared from suspicion, the team go back through the files (“again”) to try and find something new. After a talk with Jackson (Daniel Frazense), something clicks in Hayes’ head and she’s off to find evidence supporting her revelation: a new suspect, the counsellor Elyse.

Meanwhile, Matty finds Tess at CIU having gotten a text from her to come by (whoop, she’s about to come clean *shrieks*). Not able to keep it in anymore, she spills the beans and admits to him that she was the one who sent him to prison. He’s shell-shocked, hurt and betrayed. When Sam diverts her attention for a minute, Matty slips away (swift like a fox).

The team are now working on the new suspect, the idea is pretty secure in Hayes’ mind who is trying to convince Sam, “Elyse knew all the girls’ stories. When the system didn’t protect them, she decided to” (hook). Maxine walks in and informs them that Elyse was the victim of a brutal rape in 1999, her attacker was never caught (line). While Elyse’s financials don’t show that she went to an ER or patched herself up suggesting she may not have climbed over the barbed wire, Tess finds a picture of Elyse two weeks after the murder. Elyse stands with her arms around two girls, her bandaged wrist in full view (and sinker).

This doesn’t prove that Elyse murdered Travis, but Hayes is able to use it to get a confession. Visiting Elyse at her offices she tells a few white lies and is able to get Elyse to confess to murdering Travis, having wanted to get justice for the four girls. Case closed. But we in classic Hayes fashion, she’s not quite done just yet. During a tour of the new campus facilities she makes it known to prospective students, parents, investors and Provost Chambers just how she feels about the treatment of women/rape victims alike. Sophie is released and is greeted by the three other victims.

The episode ends with Hayes and Wallace agreeing to give their romantic relationship another shot.