Transcribed by: Barbara
This is an extremely emotional episode... the Bobby and Lindsay parts near the end... you just have to see them to see what kind of pain they're actually in. I was almost crying when I watched it. This is an absolute must see episode... you have to see it to know exactly what they're feeling.
Sorry, I missed the first few lines...
Rebecca is in a jail cell talking to a client, Jan Carson, a girl who killed her mother.
Rebecca: We're not trying to hide what happened. We just have to explain why.
Jan: Why I killed my mother.
Rebecca: (nods) Yes.
Jan: Tell me something good. I need to hear something good.
Rebecca looks down and doesn't say anything because she has nothing good to tell.
Opening Credits.
In the office, Rebecca's yelling at Ellenor about taking the last cup of coffee.
Rebecca: I have to be in court!
Bobby: What's going on?
Rebecca: She just drank the last cup of coffee.
Ellenor: You don't seem to need it, Rebecca.
Rebecca: Oh funny, Ellenor. Do I torment you as you're about to head off for trial?
Ellenor: Torment? Now I'm tormenting you?
Bobby: All right.
Rebecca: Yes, that was the last cup.
Eugene comes out of his office: We ready?
Rebecca: No, we're not ready... I'm gonna have a caffeine headache cause she just swooped in and chugged the pot.
Ellenor: So now I chugged it?
Bobby: (motions to Bec) Rebecca, come here for a second.
Rebecca goes to him
Bobby: You're nervous.
Rebecca: It has nothing to do with---
Bobby: They sell coffee on the way to the courthouse, they sell coffee at the courthouse. You'll get your coffee.
Rebecca: That's not the point.
Bobby: What's the point?
Rebecca: Never mind. (she turns and starts to walk away.) You ready?
Eugene: All set.
Rebecca: (Tu Eugene) She just swooped in and chugged it.
Ellenor throws up her hands in defeat.
At the courthouse.
Jan's sister Brianna is on the witness stand, while the DA cross-examines her.
Brianna: Jan came from New York, I picked her up at the airport. We drove together to moms, we were going to celebrate her birthday.
DA: Your sisters?
Brianna: Yes, and it was just a normal dinner, until the cake. That's when… well it was German Chocolate Cake.
DA: Is that significant?
Brianna: Jan is allergic to coconut. Very allergic, and she got angry with mom, and mom got defensive. She said she remembered there was something about chocolate cake that she though it might be Jan's favourite cake. Well that just spiralled into one of their fights. They started screaming at each other, and I couldn't stay and listen to them.
DA: One of their fights. What were these fights about?
Brianna: Well Jan claims that our father sexually abused her, for years. She thinks mom knew and looked the other way.
DA: Is it true? Did your father sexually abuse your sister?
Rebecca: Objection, foundation.
Judge: Sustained.
DA: Did you ever see your father abuse her?
Brianna: No.
DA: Did Jan ever tell you she was being abused by your father?
Brianna: Not back then, only later, a few years ago, after he'd already died.
DA: Did you believe her?
Rebecca: Objection-relevance.
Judge: Sustained.
DA: Did you ever see and relevance that supported your sisters contention that she had been sexually abused?
Brianna: No.
DA: Back to that night, what did you do while your mother and sister were arguing?
Brianna: I just left. I told them I wouldn't be a part of it. I went out to my car and just sat there… crying actually.
DA: And then what happened?
Brianna: I heard screaming, I ran inside and I saw the blood and over the place, and I found Jan in the kitchen, She couldn't move, she was just sitting there like in a haze, and my mother was lying on the kitchen floor, the knife still in her. (She begins to cry.) She'd stabbed mom.
Cut to: Lindsay is trying on wedding dresses at a store as Helen watches. Lindsay comes running out of the fitting rooms in a beautiful dress and a woman trailing behind her. Helen stands up.
Helen: Oh my god! It's beautiful!
Lindsay: You like it?
Helen: Like it? Lindsay you're the most beautiful-(She starts to cry and walks over to her)
Helen reaches to hug her but Lindsay steps back quickly.
Lindsay: Oh nonononono, pins, pins.
Helen grabs the store lady and hugs her really tight as compensation.
Helen: I'm sorry, she's just so beautiful.
The lady looks scared and tries to get away but Helen won't let go.
Lindsay: Helen... Helen!
Helen: Oh I'm soooo... God you look like a princess.
The store lady looks like she thinks Helen is crazy.
Back at the courthouse.
Eugene is questioning Brianna
Eugene: When you picked up you sister and drove her to your mother's house, did she seem different to you in any way?
Brianna: No.
Eugene: And you said the evening was uneventful until your mother brought out the birthday cake.
Brianna: Yes.
Eugene: So before the cake was served, it would have been unthinkable for your sister to attack your mother.
DA: Objection.
Judge: Sustained.
Eugene: Prior to that dinner, did you have any reason to believe that your sister might be a violent person?
Brianna: No, Jan's always been a quiet person. A gentle person.
Eugene: And when you found your sister in the kitchen, you said she was quote 'In a haze'. Did you say anything to her?
Brianna: Yes, I was screaming at her asking her what happened.
Eugene: Did she respond?
Brianna: No, she just sat there like a zom-sh...
Eugene: Like a zombie? Is that what you were going to say?
Brianna nods her head.
Eugene: Aloud, if you would.
Brianna: Yes.
Eugene: Thank you, that's all.
Cut to the court halls.
Rebecca: I thought that went well.
Eugene: You did?
Rebecca: Well, she didn't say anything that damaging, at least not-
Eugene: Bec, that was her sister, The jury's gonna go back into that room and say her own sister testified against her. Plus, to make insanity, we gotta prove that she was having a flash back of some prior abuse. When we can't even seem to prove that the abuse happened to her in the first place.
Rebecca nods.
Eugene: Now, you ready with the doctor?
Rebecca: Yeah, I'm ready.
Cut to: Lindsay comes into Bobby's office carrying her wedding dress in a garment bag, and a HUGE smile on her face.
Lindsay: It's bad luck for you to see me in it first, but I just want to give you a peek at the material it is so great! (She places the garment bag on his desk and begins to unzip it.)
Bobby: What's this?
Lindsay: my wedding dress, you know, things brides wear at the ceremony.
Bobby: Lindsay, I thought you were gonna wear my mothers wedding dress.
Lindsay: What?
Bobby: We talked about this.
Lindsay: We talked about me wearing your mothers wedding dress?
Bobby: Yes the very night I proposed. I said you'd be walking down the aisle in my mother's wedding dress. I-I've been saving it.
Lindsay: I don't remember you saying anything about-
Bobby: I talked about how beautiful it is.
Lindsay: I don't remember.
Bobby: And how beautiful you'd look in it.
Lindsay: Bobby, I don't remember!
Bobby: How could you not remember?
Lindsay: I'd just been stabbed... and then you proposed... I don't remember you saying anything about-
Bobby: Okay, never mind. This is beautiful.
Lindsay smiles and feels the fabric.
Bobby: I'm sure they'll take it back.
Lindsay: Take it back?
Cut to: Rebecca and Jan are talking in a room.
Rebecca: The detective will be quick. Then we'll out up Dr. Starger, and then you, Jan.
Jan: Okay. Should we go over my testimony again?
Rebecca: Actually, I'd prefer not to. I don't want it to sound rehearsed. But Jan, you'll have to tell your story no matter how painful it is. If you close down up there, we're in trouble.
Jan: Okay. It's going well so far, right? It's going well?
Rebecca: It's a little too soon to tell.
Commercial break:
Helens office:
Helen: His mother?
Lindsay: Yes, he expects me to wear the dress she wore.
Helen: I've seen pictures of his mother. She was built like a dump truck.
Lindsay: (shocked) Helen!
Helen: You cannot not wear the dress you had made.
Lindsay: It's a big deal to him. You know him and his mother, he gets very emotional.
Helen: Have you seen what she wore?
Lindsay: No.
Helen: I'm sure it's hideous. All right let's think about this.
Lindsay: He's been saving it since she died.
Helen: Okay, here's how you play it. Honey, I'd love to wear your mothers dress. Then when you see it, for whatever reason, it just won't work.
Lindsay: Lie to him?
Helen: yes, on this, absolutely. See the dress, love it, you'd die to wear, and since the last one who did, did-
Lindsay: (shocked) Helen!!
Helen: You know what I mean. Make the gesture, it'll make him happy, then wear the gorgeous one you had made.
Cut to: Courtroom, Doctor Starger is on the stand.
Doctor: Jan first came to see me about 2 years ago after the death of her father. She was feeling sleepy and sad. She was having health problems that were interfering with her work. She also complained about not being able to keep relationships with men.
Rebecca: Anything else, doctor?
Doctor: Yes, there were periods of time she couldn't account for. Sometimes minutes, but other times, she lost hours. I found her to be suffering from PTSD.
Rebecca: PTSD?
Doctor: post traumatic stress disorder.
Rebecca: Could you tell the jury what that is?
Doctor: Certainly. Basically it's a complex set of reactions that lead to a traumatic event. In this case, Jan was experiencing a flashback.
Rebecca: A flashback?
Doctor: We see it in Vietnam vets, rape victims, and plane crash survivors. These flashbacks are short, but intense, and extremely real to the patient.
Rebecca: You mean like a hallucination?
Doctor: yes, but even more real. It's as if they're living inside of the memory, as if it's happening at that very instant.
Rebecca: And specifically, what memory are we talking about with Jan?
Doctor: her being sexually abused by her father.
Rebecca: Did you determine what triggers these flashbacks?
Doctor: It could be almost anything. A sound, a smell, an anniversary of an event.
Rebecca: What about a birthday party?
Doctor: That's certainly possible.
Rebecca: Doctor, did you interview Ms. Carlson after she had killed her mother?
Doctor: You, I spent several hours with her.
Rebecca: Did you form a medical opinion as to what happened that night?
Doctor: Yes, I did.
Rebecca: Can you state it?
Doctor: in my medical opinion, Jan Carlson experienced a post traumatic stress flashback and while she was living inside of that memory of sexual abuse, she lashed out at the one person she then considered to be her most imminent threat.
Rebecca: But her mother wasn't the one abusing her.
Doctor: In that moment, it could have been anyone in the room. Jan Carlson killed her mother without even knowing it.
Cut to Bobby's office, Lindsay is pulling out Bobby's mother's dress and very obviously hates it. She holds it up against herself.
Lindsay: its' beautiful, but it's a little short. I think it's gonna be too short. Oh, what a shame. 9She starts to put it back)
Bobby: I'm told it can be lengthened, no problem.
Lindsay: Oh. (Disappointed) Oh great. Wow. Is it from the 1800's?
Bobby: I think it's Edwardian.
Lucy comes in and looks disgustedly at the dress, then begins sorting through something near the door.
Bobby: Lindsay, you are gonna look so beautiful in it. (gets choked up) I-I mean I feel like I'm gonna cry just seeing you stand next to it.
Lucy looks up abruptly from what she's doing with a 'what the hell?' look on her face.
Lindsay: Me too... I wish I could see it on without having to alter it, because it's just so perfect, I would hate to do anything to it.
Bobby: Lucy?
Lucy: Hmm?
Bobby: Would you try this on?
Lucy: Over my dead body! I mean, Bobby, I wouldn't want to insult your dead mother's body.
Bobby: Please? It'll just take 2 seconds.
Lindsay puts her hand to her forehead, obviously thinking 'oh my god I'm not getting out of this. What an ugly dress!'... When Bobby notices.
Bobby: What's wrong?
Lindsay: Nothing, I'm just so moved. (She tries to smile but can't, and hands the dress to Lucy who takes it angrily.
Courtroom:
DA: You say that in one of these flashbacks, the person has no control over his or her actions.
Doctor: No conscious control, that's right.
DA: Would they have enough control, to say, grab a kitchen knife and use it as a weapon.
Doctor: I think so.
DA: Would they have enough control to open a drawer to grab a kitchen knife?
Doctor: I don't know.
DA: Would a person have enough control over their actions to open a drawer, grab a knife from among a dozen other tools, and pursue a victim throughout the house?
Eugene and Rebecca: Objection!
Rebecca: There's been no evidence of a pursuit.
Judge: The objection is sustained.
DA: Doctor Starger, can you tell us for a fact that Jan Carlson experienced a flashback on the night she murdered her mother.
Rebecca: Objection to the term murder. Murder involves a culpable state of mind.
DA: Can you tell us for a fact she suffered from a flashback the night she killed her mother?
Doctor: It's impossible to know.
DA: Have you ever seen the defendant experience a flashback?
Doctor: No.
DA: You've never seen it, once?
Doctor: No.
DA: So for all you actually may know, Jan Carlson may have made up all these stories of flashbacks and sexual abuse.
Doctor: Look, I have been treating her for a very long time-
DA: has she ever offered you and proof that she was sexually abused by her father- a diary, a doctors note, and police report, anything?
Doctor: I don't cross-examine my patients
.
DA: So you took her at her word.
Doctor: I feel that I can usually tell when a patient is feigning their symptoms-
DA: You took her at her word?
Doctor: Yes, I did.
DA: Thank you Doctor Starger.
Back at the office, Lucy is wearing the dress... Clearly upset.
Lucy: Don't say a word to me.
Jimmy: I think you look great.
Lucy: Never mind!
Lindsay: You know, Bobby, it's a beautiful, beautiful dress, but I think it was designed to be worn by a shorter person. Plus, the pressure of living up to your mother's memory-
Ellenor: She hates the dress.
Lindsay: I don't hate it!
Ellenor: Why don't you just tell him? It looks like wallpaper.
Lindsay: Ellenor!
Bobby: What?
Jimmy: It looks more like a doily to me.
Bobby: What?
Lindsay: Jimmy!
Jimmy: You know those things you put on the arm of a chair.
Lindsay: Yeah I know what a doily is, but it doesn't look like that. Bobby, it's beautiful.
Bobby: Well, Lindsay why don't you want to wear it if we can have it altered?
Ellenor: She hates it!
Lindsay: I don't hate it!!
Bobby: Lindsay, do you hate it?
Lindsay: Well-I would just rather wear the other one.
Bobby: (Looks shocked) No... I-I want you to wear this one. (He leaves to his office and Lindsay angrily follows.)
Lindsay: Bobby, with all due respect to your mother, the decision of what I wear should really be my decision.
Bobby: Lindsay, this is very personal to me.
Lindsay: I get that, I really do-but a wedding dress, it-it's personal to the bride, too.
Bobby: Lindsay, I don't ask for much-one concession.
Lindsay: You don't ask for much? You insist on a catholic wedding.
Bobby: I'm catholic!
Lindsay: Well I'm not. Y-you picked out where we'd have the reception-
Bobby: It's a place near the church.
Lindsay: What we eat-
Bobby: You said you didn't care!
Lindsay: on the dress, I do care.
Bobby: I can't believe you're doing this.
Lindsay: Bobby, is this a partnership or do you just dictate everything?
Bobby: I'm not dictating, I'm just asking for one damn thing!
Lindsay: This is not one thing!
Bobby: Oh! It's typical you'd be so stubborn.
Lindsay: (Angrily)You have made every decision without consulting me and now you're telling me that I have to wear your dead mother's doily? Well I'm not. I'm wearing the dress I picked out. If I have to eat communion, you can swallow this. (She storms out of the office)
Cut to the courtroom:
Rebecca: Can you describe these flashbacks for the court?
Jan: Well, the most common one, I'm in my bed looking up at where my mother painted a clouds and a blue sky. And then the door opens quietly, and I know it's my father. I keep staring at the clouds, imagining I'm high above everything. I don't look down, I never look at him. But I feel him. And then he's inside me and it burns. I tell myself to thing about the clouds, to think about heaven and how much better it's be to be up there. Then I hear my mother's footsteps stopping right outside my door. I scream but nothing comes out. I try to punch and kick but my arms and legs won't move. (Her voice cracks) There's nothing I can do, and then the footsteps start to fade away, and I'm there alone with him again.
Rebecca: Jan? Did you hate your mother?
Jan: No! I loved her, I wanted her to love me! To save me!
Rebecca: And when she didn't?
Jan: I don't know. (She starts crying). I never wanted to kill her! I just wanted her to love me.
Rebecca: The night your mother was killed, do you remember anything?
Jan: I remember her bringing out the cake. There were candles.
Rebecca: You don't remember picking up a knife?
Jan: No. One second there's a cake, the next she's dying. I have no memory of what happened.
Rebecca: Was there something about the cake that would have triggered old memories?
Jan: I hated my birthdays. He's always come in on my birthdays.
The DA is now crossing her
DA: You used to work as a drafts person for a firm called Madison and Company.
Jan: Yes.
DA: And in 1995 you quit, could you tell us why?
Jan: Their office had fluorescent lighting that gave me migraines, which ultimately became incapacitating.
DA: You spent the next 3 months working for the architect Dylan Wolfe.
Jan: Freelance.
DA: And according to records there, you left for fear of developing an ulcer.
Jan: I was working 18 hours a day. It was extremely stressful. I was worried about an ulcer.
DA: And 3 months ago you filed a workman's compensation claim against your employer Baxter Design Corporation. You couldn't work there because you hurt your arm and shoulder.
Jan: it's called Thoracic Outlet Syndrome. It happens to architects too.
DA: In fact Ms. Carlson, you were about to be fired at Baxter Design.
Jan: No.
DA: You went to 3 specialists and none could find a medical reason for your pain.
Rebecca: Objection. What's the relevance of this?
DA: It goes to pattern. Every time the defendant is responsible for her behaviour, she finds a mysterious medical condition to blame.
Rebecca: Objection! Move to strike that!
DA: Get fired from the job, blame Thoracic Outlet Syndrome. Murder your mother in cold blood, it's Past Traumatic Stress Disorder.
Rebecca: Objection!
Judge: Sustained!
DA: Ms. Carlson, your mother left you an estate valued at 2.3 million dollars. Are you a beneficiary of that inheritance?
Jan: I inherit with my sister, yes.
Cut to Rebecca and Eugene are going into the elevator:
Rebecca: It's consistent with abuse survivors. Ulcers, migraines… I'd say we recall Doctor Starger.
Eugene: It won't help, it looks like she's making excuses. What about her pediatrician?
Rebecca: Her pediatrician?
Eugene: We gotta show abuse occurred-we still haven't proven-
Rebecca: But he never reported anything!
Eugene: They didn't in those days. (They step out of the elevator and start leaving the courthouse.)
Eugene: But there's evidence of symptoms in her medical records. Look, she has urinary infections, weight loss-
Rebecca: Those symptoms don't conclude abuse, and the pediatrician would just testify that he didn't see anything to report.
(At this point you see a man approaching them)
Man: Excuse me, Ms. Washington? My name is Steven Hatfield, I'm Brianna's husband. She's your clients sister.
Rebecca: Yes, how can I help you?
Steven: Well, I'm not very comfortable coming to you like this, but I understand that Brianna testified that her father never abused her.
Rebecca: Yes?
Steven: Well, I believe that to be a lie.
Commercial Break
Rebecca and Eugene are in a room talking to Steven
Steven: I don't think it's deliberate, I think she's been lying to herself.
Rebecca: About her being abused as a child.
Steven: Yes, I knew her dad. A nicer guy you couldn't want. And I didn't want to believe Jan's accusations about the guy. But it got me thinking about some of the problems Brianna and I had been having.
Eugene: What kind of problems?
Steven: In the bedroom. Every time I'd try to bring the subject up, she'd accuse me of being over sexed. It got to a point where she wouldn't even let me touch her. Than about 6 months ago she filed for divorce.
Eugene: Mr. Hatfield. There could be a lot of reasons why you and Mrs. Hatfield had sexual problems.
Steven: Yes, but she had this reflex to being touched. Sitting in a chair or lying next to me, if she saw that I was about to tough her, she'd be okay, not relaxed, but okay. But if I ever came up on her from behind or touched her when she didn't see it coming, just a touch on the arm and her whole body would contract. I always thought it was possible she might be the victim of some abuse. I tried to get her to talk to me about it, but she wouldn't go there.
Cut to: Jan, Brianna, Eugene and Rebecca are in a room talking.
Brianna: He's lying. He's just trying to get back at me or something.
Rebecca: What motive would he have to make this up?
Brianna: I don't know. He's lying, it never happened.
Jan: Brianna, did it?
Brianna: No, Jan, he's lying!
Jan: Brianna...
Brianna: Jan, you know Steven, he's got to find blame for everything. It's just his way of saying that the marriage failed because of me. You know Steven.
Cut to: Same room but instead of Brianna, Doctor Starger is in her place.
Eugene: I don't believe her.
Jan: I believe her, but maybe she's repressed it.
Rebecca: What if you hypnotize her? Would that bring out-
Doctor: It doesn't sound like she wants to be treated, and if so I certainly can't force her.
Eugene: But we can force her to testify.
Rebecca: But what good would that do? She would just deny-
Eugene: How convincing did you just find her?
Jan: I don't want you to be brutalizing my sister!
Eugene: Jan, her testimony stands to convict you.
Jan: She had to testify, she was subpoenaed.
Eugene: It doesn't matter, what she said was damaging, plus this is no time to be protecting her, we gotta recall her.
Rebecca: And do what?
Eugene: Whatever we can.
Cut to D,Y,D+F
Lucy: You didn't have to get anti-Catholic.
Lindsay: I wasn't anti-Catholic. I was referring to the length of the ceremony, which I wanted to be short.
Lucy: Still, you take shots at his mother and religion?
Lindsay: don't you have work to do?
Lucy: Why is it no one wants my counselling?
Bobby enters the main part of the office from his office.
Bobby: Lindsay, in my office. (Starts to head back in.)
Lindsay: No!
Bobby: (turns around.) Excuse me?
Lindsay: I said no. This is a personal matter. You don't order me around on personal matters. That's what you need to get, Bobby.
Bobby: Well, you want to talk about a personal matter in front of everyone else?
Lindsay: No, but I don't want to be ordered.
Jimmy: Why don't we pick a neutral-
Bobby: (Angrily) Stay out of this!
Jimmy: I'd love to, tell me where's a good spot.
Lindsay: Jimmy, shut up!
Bobby: You think you're funny?
Ellenor: Hey, hey! Don't jump on him.
Lindsay: You stay out of it too Ellenor!
Ellenor: Look, we don't want to be in it, so take it to another room.
Bobby: I tried to!
Lucy: Yeah, but you ordered her.
Bobby and Lindsay: Be quiet!
Lucy: Bite away!
Lindsay: (Throws down what she's working on and picks up her coat, standing up) I'm leaving.
Bobby: Oh! There's a mature response just-
The door slams as Lindsay exits.
Bobby: Leave. (He looks extremely surprised that Lindsay actually left)
Cut to: The courtroom, Brianna is once again on the stand.
Eugene: Do you know what the term loss of consortium means?
Brianna: I suppose.
Eugene: Your husband Steven Hatfield claims your marriage failed because of loss of consortium- you wouldn't have sex with him. Is that true?
Brianna: No, it isn't.
Eugene: In the 3 years since your father died, how often did you have sex with your husband?
Brianna: (To the judge) DO I have to answer these questions?
Judge: I'm sorry, you do.
Brianna: I don't know, every few weeks.
DA: Objection, what relevance is there?
Eugene: I'm trying to establish a history of sexual dysfunction.
Brianna: That's not true.
Eugene: I understand you don't want to believe it.
Brianna: I don't want to believe it, counsel, because it isn't true.
Eugene: Do you consider your sister to be an honest person?
Brianna: yes.
Eugene: Ever known her to lie?
Brianna: No, except for this.
Eugene: This being her claim that she was sexually abused.
Brianna: Yes.
Eugene: And why would she lie about that?
Brianna: I have no idea.
Eugene: No motive to your knowledge? Did you ever think, well, maybe it happened?
Brianna: No.
Eugene: It ever happen to you?
Brianna: No!
Eugene: He never opened your door and came into your room?
Brianna: No, he didn't.
Eugene: He never crawled into your bed?
Brianna: No!
Eugene: If he did and you never said anything, I guess you'd feel a little responsible for him moving onto your younger sister.
Brianna: He never did that.
Eugene: Did what? Come into your room or hers?
Brianna: Either! It never happened!
Eugene: You know for a fact it didn't happen to Jan? Now how do you know that for a fact?
Brianna: I don't believe that it happened.
Eugene: So it is possible?
Brianna: No! It's not possible.
Eugene: So you know for a fact again.
DA: Objection!
Brianna: I know for a certainty.
Eugene: And that's different than for a fact.
DA: You honor!
Judge: All right, Mr. Young.
Eugene: Mrs. Hatfield, previously you testified that when your mother and Jan started to argue, you left the house. Why?
Brianna: I didn't want to hear them fighting.
Eugene: You didn't want to stay in the house and hear about your father sexually abusing Jan?
Brianna: That's right.
Eugene: So you just ran out of the house, didn't want to deal with it.
Brianna: No.
Eugene: Do you love your sister Jan?
Brianna: Of course I do
Eugene: Somebody you love claims she was sexually abused and you don't even want to talk about it. You run from the discussion.
Brianna: I don't believe she was sexually abused.
Eugene: Well, did you ever counsel her to get help? I mean, if she thinks she was sexually abused or lies about it did you ever try to help her or see that she got help?
Brianna: No.
Eugene: Truth is, you didn't want to go near the subject, did you Brianna? You had to run our of the room every time it happened because he touched you.
Brianna: No he didn't!
DA: Asked and answered!
Eugene: Just like you want to run out of the room now.
Brianna: He never touched me!
Eugene: She's on trial for murder here, and you're gonna let her go down just like you let him go into her room.
Brianna: Stop it!
Eugene: Why can't you admit it happened?
Jan: (Jumps up). Why didn't you make him stop? You could have made him stop!
Judge: Carlson, sit down! Enough!
Jan: I didn't have to fell alone.
Eugene: You gave your sister to him, Brianna!
DA: Objection!
Brianna: No I didn't!
Judge: Mr. Young!
Brianna: I didn't do anything!
Eugene: You let him crawl into her bed just like he crawled into yours.
Brianna: Get away from me! You get away!
She starts to cry and turns away.
Eugene: Look at your sister Brianna. (She doesn't turn) You can't even look at her. She needs you to remember.
Brianna: (Crying) Please get away from me.
Cut to: Bobby and Lindsay's apartment.
Lindsay is walking away and Bobby's chasing her.
Bobby: It's a dress!
Lindsay: Exactly, so what's the big deal about me wearing it?
Bobby: Well that's my question! What's the big deal to you if you know how important it is to me!
Lindsay stops and turns around to face Bobby
Lindsay: (Angrily). Why the hell isn't important to you, how I feel on my wedding day!? Did you ever stop to consider that, Bobby, th-that it's my day too? Or is it only your day? Like it's only your marriage?
Bobby: What's that supposed to mean?
Lindsay: It means that you don't look at this like a partnership, or if you do, you consider yourself a senior partner. Well if it's gonna be that Bobby-
Bobby: Lindsay: What is wrong with you?
Lindsay: What's wrong with me?
Bobby: Yes, you're acting like a crazy person! I mean, is this just stress?
Lindsay: (Throws up her hands angrily and starts to walk away) Don't blame this on stress! Or PMS! Or whatever other label you want to have on to justify-
Bobby: I'm just trying to talk to you and you're screaming at me!
Lindsay turns around and stops
Lindsay: (Screams at him) I hate the way you proposed to me!!
Bobby is taken aback and pauses. Lindsay suddenly calms down when she sees the hurt look on Bobby's face. Bobby swallows hard and looks away.
Lindsay: (calmly) It came at a time of trauma, and that's-I-you're so guarded. I mean you keep your emotions in a vault! It took some catastrophe to set them loose when I got stabbed but that was just a fluke! (Her voice cracks) I mean, do I have to get on a deathbed for you to unlock…
Bobby: Lindsay, what is going on?
Lindsay: When you lost your mother-I don't know I-it must have been some kind of pain.
Bobby looks down, already regretting the conversation.
Lindsay: (Appears to be trying to swallow her tears) From what I gather, you-you…
Bobby puts his hand to his head.
Lindsay: (On the brink of tears) I don't think you'll ever risk getting hurt like that again. I don't think you'll ever let anyone become the centre of your life… you-you'll lose too much control or something.
Bobby: What are you telling me?
Lindsay: You don't want a partner-you-you want an accessory to compliment you life, not…(Something dawns on Lindsay) I don't want in on that. I don't want to end up… (her voice cracks) marooned on your island. (Her lip trembles) Maybe we should call this off.
Bobby: You-you don't want to-you don't want to get married?
Lindsay: No.
Bobby stares at her, not believing what she has just said.
Commercial Break.
In the courtroom, Rebecca is giving her closing:
Rebecca: Imagine you're 9, it's your birthday, and your mother brings out your birthday cake and tells you to make a wish before you blow out the candles. Do you wish for a new bike you saw at the toy store? Jan Carlson wished that her father would stop forcing her to have sex with him. She prayed for someone to protect her from him, but not long after she blew out her birthday candles, her father would creep into her room with one last gift to give her.
Cut to the DA's closing arguments:
So, she picks up a knife and murders her mother. Not her father, the one who supposedly committed these horrific acts, her mother, and then trots out 'Hey, I have Post Traumatic Stress disorder" and that's a good one. We see al kinds of imaginative defences these days. We have Rape Trauma Syndrome, Battered Wives Syndrome, Steroid Rage Defence. There are as many disorders as there are crimes these days, and they all amount to the same thing. Escaping responsibility.
Cut to Rebecca's closing again:
This isn't something she invented. You heard the expert medicals testimony. Jan Carlson's mind was gone that night. She was suddenly re-living an awful memory, a horrible memory of sexual abuse. You listened to Jan, you listened to Dr. Starger, and you listened to her sister Brianna, didn't you? The power of a mind to fight off a memory. For 3 years Bernard Carlson entered Jan's room. For 3 years her mother knew and did nothing. On February 9, Jan's mind caught in that memory, just snapped! She snapped.
Again to the DA:
DA: And after snapping she stands to inherit more than 1 million dollars. She either did it for the money, or for revenge. Either way it's murder one.
Cut to the firm of D,Y,D and F.
Helen comes storming in
Helen: Where's Bobby?
Lucy: He's in his office.
Helen: Tell him I'm here. (She doesn't give Lucy even a chance to pick up the phone before she storms into Bobby's office.)
Helen: What are you gonna do?
Bobby: Helen, she left me there's nothing I can do.
Helen: Listen to me. When you and I were dating, I got this sense that you had life all figured out, how it would be, how it should be. And when you found somebody who fit into your little life plan, you'd get married. Now I knew that I would never be the one to fill that slot-
Bobby: (Stands up from behind his desk and gets up to usher her out) Thank you Helen, I'm not interested-
Helen: (Grabs his arms) Would you listen to me? I might not have another chance to interfere, okay? Lindsay's not going to slide into any slot either. And your life may not fit her any more than your mother's dress, but if you love her-
Bobby: Helen, if you don't let go of me-
Helen: (Yells) Bobby, do you want to spend the rest of your life alone? As much as I love her, she's not the one I'm worried about. She's the greatest woman I know. She'll find somebody. Probably better than you.
Bobby: Thank you.
Helen: But you're not going to find anybody better than her. I know it and you know it. Let her be your partner Bobby. Not just because it's what she wants. Because it's what you need.
Bobby drops his head in defeat, knowing Helen's right.
Rebecca, Eugene and Jan are in a room waiting for the verdict.
Jan: How much longer?
Eugene: We don't know. There's no way of telling.
Jan: Tell me something good, Rebecca, I need to hear something good.
There's a knock at the door and Brianna enters.
Brianna: I'm sorry. I'm sorry I made you feel so alone.
Jan: (Stands up) Do you remember?
Brianna: I don't know, Jan. But I think I need someone to help me.
Jan: You remember.
They both start crying.
Brianna: I'm sorry Janny.
A man enters.
Man: Jury's back.
In the courtroom:
Judge: Will the defendant please rise? Mr. Foreman have you reached a verdict?
Foreman: We have your honor.
Judge: What say you?
Foreman: On account 42113, murder in the first degree, we the jury find the defendant Jan Carlson, not guilty. (Jan breathes a sigh of relief) On the account 42114 murder in the second degree, we the jury find the defendant Jan Carlson, not guilty.
Jan starts crying.
Judge: The jury is released with the thanks of the court. We are adjourned.
Jan hugs Rebecca tightly, and won't let go.
Cut to: Lindsay's at home sitting on the couch when the front door opens and Bobby enters. Lindsay sits up straight as Bobby comes to stand in front of her. Lindsay looks around waiting for him to say something.
Bobby: I haven't totally figured out how to let people in my life. Everything you said… the things you fear, probably all true. But this idea that I-I don' want a partner? That I reject. I love you Lindsay, whatever I have to do to convince you of that, (He almost starts to cry) to earn the right to go on loving you, (voice cracks and he bites his lip) for the rest of my life, I'll do it. (Lindsay by now has tears in her eyes). Please. Marry me.
Lindsay stands up and takes a step towards him.
Lindsay: I won't wear that dress.
Bobby: (Smiles.) Forget the dress.
Lindsay: (Laughs, then turns serious.) You have to let me in.
Bobby: I will.
Lindsay: (Smiles.) Okay, lets get married.
Lindsay walks over to him and they hug, Bobby looks truly happy, and he sighs as he runs his hands through her hair.
Cut to: The street.
You hear police sirens and see that there has been an accident. The area is surrounded by yellow tape and police are stopping people from going in. Rebecca and Eugene are just arriving. They see the DA that was prosecuting their case and go up to him.
Eugene: What happened?
DA: They picked up some food for dinner. Brianna came out of the restaurant, started walking to the car. She says she saw her father, and just gunned the accelerator. 10 people witnessed it.
You see a body on the floor covered in a sheet, with blood starting to seep through.
Rebecca: She ran over Brianna.
DA: Congratulations. She really does have a disorder. You get her off, you couldn't have get her some help?
Rebecca goes to see Jan, who's sitting in the back of a police car.
Rebecca: Jan.
Jan: I don't remember. I saw him, then-is it really Bri?
Rebecca: Yeah.
Jan: Is she gonna be okay? She's gonna be okay, right? Tell me something good, Rebecca., I need to hear something good.
Rebecca again looks away because she's got nothing good to tell her.
Jan: Tell me something good... tell me something good.
The End
Now that my second transcript is done... I'm just waiting for a good episode to come along that I want to transcribe. I caught Evil Doers on tape last night and I think I might do that, but for now my hands hurt and I'm tired. If you don't understand something, please email me. Also, if you have half finished transcripts that you don't feel like finishing, please send them to me, and when I get the episode I'll transcribe it. Thanks for reading, and keep transcribing.
Barbara, matthewperrylover@hotmail.com