Conviction – Pilot

By: Alex Steele

The opening scene of “Conviction” sets the stage for what will be a layered, high-stakes, criminal drama with Hayley Atwell at the helm. The scene sees a man in a business suit, walking through office buildings and prison alike while cut with a female, in a prison cell, growing and dancing, dressed in heels and a leather jacket. As the camera reveals each character progressively, we get our first exchange between Conner Wallace (Eddie Cahill) and Hayes Morrison (Atwell). It’s full of banter, witty, back and forth. The episode then cuts between their exchange and his speech to a giant crowd of press in which he introduces the new Conviction Integrity Unit that will be looking back into old cases, righting the wrongs. Meanwhile, Hayes debunks everything he has to say. We learn that she’s a high-rated lawyer, former first-daughter and a bad girl with headlines and sex scandals in her past. Their discussion ultimately leads to an ultimatum; she takes this job or the next scandal (being arrested for cocaine possession) could affect her Moms’ poll numbers and senate race. Not only that, he assures her that all the criminal stuff in her past will disappear. So, as he finishes his speech by singing her praises, he introduces the new Director of the Conviction Integrity Unit, Hayes Morrison.

Before getting to work, Wallace gives her the run down; she’ll get five days to work on each case. The budget is small and her team has already been picked. She; however, insists she picks the cases. Cut to the office and we meet Hayes’ team; Sam Spencer (Shawn Ashmore), Wallace’ golden boy, paralegal Tess Larson (Emily Kinney), the forensic specialist Frankie (Manny Montana) and Maxine Bohen (Merrin Dungey) who is lead investigator. Getting straight to work, Hayes immediately lets Sam take the helm, instructing her team to think of her more as a figurehead. They cycle through possible cases and Hayes, after hearing just two options, vetoes them both (she thinks Sam is moron). Instead, she suggests they go for a bigger fish and get Wallace his happy ending. How? Getting Odell Dwyer (Maurice Williams) out of jail after 8 years convicted of a murder he didn’t actually commit. With minimal physical evidence against him, weak eye witness testimony and the fact that he had an all white jury it leads the team to believe that justice may not have been accurately served. Hayes gives them all their assignments, while she leaves.

Maxine and Frankie are next seen at the prison visiting Odell. He continues to insist that he didn’t kill his girlfriend, Ana. That and his alibi seems to be strong; he was playing football that night. He proclaims that he still loves her even and admits that his attorney didn’t take it seriously. Another interesting piece of information was that Ana was killed too far away for him to have been the one to do it. But when Maxine notices the scars on Odell’s chest she immediately leaves. Could she have picked up on something? Sam and Tess, meanwhile, are talking to ADA that prosecuted Odell Dwyer who has a solid reason each black juror was left off the jury. And even so, when Tess challenges him, Sam steps in to support the ADA. He says the case was an easy open and shut case because there was physical evidence and DNA so there was no doubt in his mind that Odell did it. Hayes arrives at an apartment (who we soon learn is her brother’s) to vent, and complain and moan. With a little pep talk and support, maybe she’ll find her feet.

Back at the office, it looks like Sam is a little annoyed that Hayes took his job. He’s discussing that fact with Wallace and threatening to leave if things don’t change. When Wallace asks him to keep an eye on her (with the possibility of working for him when he’s Mayor), Sam backs off. The team is brainstorming possible scenarios when Hayes arrives back, a fact that doesn’t sit too well with Maxine. And when Hayes still refuses to take the lead, Maxine pulls out the big guns; she took possession of the plastic bag Hayes disposed earlier and identities it as a police evidence bag with an arrest number. With that, Hayes finally steps up. She also reveals that the night before she was busted for cocaine possession and also the deal she made with Wallace. The speech seems to break down a barrier with the team, but when she continues to call Odell a “black poster boy,” a comment his mother hears. Hayes may have some more work to do…Fortunately, Hayes gets the mother on their side and assures her that they’ll stay on the case but that doesn’t mean they’ll win.

Tension between Sam and Hayes continues to bubble, especially when he makes a place to take over the case. She is fine with being stabbed in the back, but reminds him to make sure it’s for himself and not Wallace. As the team gets deeper into their investigation, they discover that Odell was quite aggressive during questioning and also that he could have been taking anabolic steroids (note the acne scars). They take these new leads somewhat and follow them up. Maxine tracks down the steroid dealer who admits to not only selling Odell steroids, but also that the young man wanted to buy a gun. Elsewhere, Hayes has gone to question Ana’s mother. Not speaking much English, the mother still believes that it was Odell and is not appreciating the questions. She becomes extremely emotional. Hayes is shaken and emotionally affected by the confrontation, leaving in a hurry. It’s what leads to a volatile and somewhat telling conversation with Wallace. She encourages him to fire her; she doesn’t want to do it as the job is not for her. He resists and that is when she reveals a line of cocaine on the desk. Not seeing any other way out, she snorts it and asks whether now he’ll fire her. He walks up, holds her close (with obvious sexual tension from both parties) before putting her finger in the leftover dust and licking it off her finger. It’s not cocaine and he’s not playing games, go do your job he utters. In the meantime, Frankie and Tess discovered that Odell would have had time to kill to Ana and get back in time for the football game.

The next day, Hayes does a full 180 and suggests they look at the case in a way that sees Odell as rightly being put away. Frankie doesn’t agree, standing up for Odell and stepping up to Hayes. He insists she doesn’t know what prison is like and calls her out asking, “How could she know if he’s innocent or not when she hasn’t even seen him?” He goes further to call her entitled, but before it continues Hayes calmly yet strongly tells Frankie to take a walk. Shortly after, she orders Tess into her office. We don’t yet find out, but somehow I believe it’s connected to a case especially when Hayes tells her to seek absolution on her own time. Hayes is next seen at her mother’s fundraiser, dressed in a beautiful red dress (Make note of the fact Ana’s promo dress was red. Could this be a tribute to the victim or just an act of rebellion of Hayes part?). She shares a dance with Wallace, more of their history being revealed. What would have happened if you never left Chicago? Interrupting is Hayes mom, Harper (Bess Armstrong), who would like a moment with her daughter. We discover through this exchange that Harper orchestrated the deal with Wallace to save Hayes, a fact that doesn’t make Hayes too happy. It doesn’t matter though because if she doesn’t make this job work, she’ll be charged with possession with intent to distribute. Harper continues to say that she wasn’t the best mother, but she does love Hayes. And more than that, she’s smart and brave and amazing. The gradual build in emotion from Hayes in this scene, illustrates the deep human nature to her. She might be all bad-ass, tell jokes and be self-deprecating, but in this scene we see she’s just as vulnerable and fearful and broken as everybody else.  Meanwhile, Maxine and Tess made some progress with a Detective that was on the case years before. Initially defensive, he agrees to let them look at the police reports and statements.

The episode hits its climax in the last few beats and after the rousing pep talk from her mother, Hayes finally pays Odell a visit. She’s honest and hard on him, but for the right reasons. He admits to wanting a gun to look cool while still maintaining Ana wasn’t writing about him. As Hayes continues to push, still not convinced. Odell mentions mistakes – that everyone makes them, even her. Back at her apartment, Hayes is greeted by Maxine who is waiting with some news. It seems as though those case files have gone missing or aren’t in the evidence room. Talk about shady, Maxine and Hayes decide to pay McNally another visit and when they arrive find him leaving his ex-wife’s house with a box. Maxine does her best to talk him around, Hayes even offers to flash the guy, but he’s not budging. Instead, he throws a lighter on the files and burns them. This means the eyewitness testimony is out and then the day Sam also debunks the leaf evidence. They’re making progress, and now that Hayes believes he is innocent the entire team have a newfound push for justice.

Frankie and Tess return to the scene of the crime with a dead pig in tow. He’s going to test the time of death on the pig to see if it was accurate and to solve whether Odell I responsible. Using one half for the day and the other during the night they’ll be able to prove innocent or guilty. Meanwhile, Hayes goes over Ana’s diary and photos from the investigation attempting to find a missing piece or an important piece of information. She finds something; informing the team she used code words in her diary when she was young and wonders what if Ana was doing the same. What if “HE” was code for someone else. They’ve got photos of a man seemingly close to Ana and when looking through police reports discover his name is Hector Esparia. They’ve got a suspect. Taking this lead and running with it, it leads to another young girl, Cindy, who has history with Hector. After questioning her and also revealing how Ana died, Cindy shows them a handgun that belonged to Hector. There’s the missing piece.

With that, and all the other evidence, Hector is arrested while Odell is released. Hayes and Wallace discuss their first happy ending to which she confidently states (threatens) she’ll be coming after his cases, too. She also makes a point of noting that he and her mother can no liver control her anymore. That she’s not the fox that guards the hen house, but rather the wolf that mauls the fox. Talk about badass! We then get to see a little background into each of her team; Sam meeting with the Daily Times, Frankie visiting a friend (boyfriend) in prison, Tess ripping up an article about eyewitness testimony proven wrong and Maxine giving McNally an ultimatum to retire or the video of him burning files goes to IAB. And in closing, we witness the CIU receive an influx on new cases. So, who’s next?