Directed by Don Scardino
Written by Christine Roum & Michael S Chernuchin
At a prestigious drama school, a student named Priscilla Blaine collapses and dies from a drug overdose. Logan and Cerreta learn that Priscilla's mother pushed her into a stage career and then into working in porn - even signing her up for a leading role in a hardcore movie against Priscilla's wishes. Stone reluctantly agrees to bring charges of criminally negligent homicide against Mrs. Blaine, on the grounds that Priscilla wouldn't have killed herself if not for her mother forcing her into porn.
The DA's office must now prove that Mrs. Blaine knew her actions were making Priscilla suicidal. In order to get vital testimony from Priscilla's psychiatrist, they successfully petition a probate judge to appoint Priscilla's older sister Patricia as executor of her estate in place of Mrs. Blaine. At trial, Stone produces a tape that Priscilla recorded before her death, in which she performed a dramatic monologue where her character tells her mother of her intention to commit suicide. Mrs. Blaine had seen the tape a week before Priscilla's death, evidence she knew her daughter was suicidal. Robinette recalls that at the probate hearing, Mrs. Blaine stated that she had encouraged Priscilla to ask her co-worker for drugs in order to relax her enough to have sex on camera. The judge admits Mrs. Blaine's testimony from the hearing as evidence, and her lawyer agrees to a plea deal for manslaughter. Later, Stone and Robinette reflect that Mrs. Blaine did love Priscilla but will probably never realize why she was wrong.
This episode contains examples of:
- Abusive Parents: Mrs. Blaine was emotionally and psychologically abusive to her daughters.
- All Art Is Autobiographical: Discussed. Priscilla performs a monologue telling an abusive Stage Mom about her intention to commit suicide. The DA's office uses this to argue that Priscilla's mother knew she was suicidal two weeks before her death and did nothing. They're ultimately not sure, though, if Priscilla was suicidal or overdosed by accident.
- Armor-Piercing Response: As usual, Stone is the master of this.Mrs. Blaine: But I loved her. She was my life!Stone: No, she was your daughter. She had a life of her own.
- Confess in Confidence: Doctor-patient privilege plays a key role in the Courtroom Drama portion of the story, as the prosecutors try to find a way to allow Priscilla's psychiatrist to testify.
- Corrupting Pornography: The detectives automatically assume that appearing in pornographic films made Priscilla suicidal, the fact that Mrs. Blaine knew about and supported her (adult) daughter appearing in porn is taken as prima facie evidence that she was an abusive parent, and the only other pornographic actress the characters speak to has recently tested positive for HIV.
- Driven to Suicide: For much of the episode, the theory of the prosecution is that Priscilla was suicidal. Even at the end, they're not sure she wasn't.
- I Have This Friend: Since Priscilla's psychiatrist refuses to break with patient confidentiality (and her mother, who would need to give consent for a warrant, refuses to do so), Robinette uses this trope to encourage him to speak about a "hypothetical" patient.
- Important Haircut: Priscilla did this as a way of rebelling against her mother.
- Lesser of Two Evils: The probate judge deciding Priscilla's estate says that he doesn't think either side has the moral high ground; but, given the murder charges against Mrs. Blaine, reluctantly grants the DA's office their request to have the sister take over.
- My Beloved Smother: Mrs. Blaine dominates her daughters' lives to the point that one refuses to speak to her and the other commits suicide.
- Never Speak Ill of the Dead: Priscilla's Best Friend Jasmine initially refuses to tell the detectives about Priscilla's involvement in stripping and porn for this reason.
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain!: Mrs. Blaine testifies under oath in probate court that she told Priscilla to deal with her anxiety about shooting a hard-core sex scene by speaking to her co-star Angel. When her lawyer gets Angel to testify that Mrs. Blaine kept Priscilla away from her because she knew she used drugs, Stone uses that to argue that Mrs. Blaine arranged for her daughter to get the drugs that she then accidentally overdosed on.
- No Such Thing as Bad Publicity: Invoked. Mrs. Blaine believed that the controversy from having starred in porn could help her daughter launch a mainstream acting career.
- Outliving One's Offspring: Mrs. Blaine goes on trial for being criminally responsible for the death of her daughter.
- Porn Creator Going Mainstream: The victim's mother was pushing her to do porn
so that she could later invoke this trope and use the controversy to bolster her career, modeling after "other famous actresses" who had done the same (whether for legal reasons or pragmatism, no actual examples are named in the episode). The mother is put on trial for murder for basically driving the girl to suicide when she didn't want to be involved in porn at all. Seeing a video "performance" that served as a suicide note actually swayed the jury to conviction. - Replacement Goldfish: Mrs. Blaine tried to mold Priscilla into a star actress to replace Patricia after she quit, despite Priscilla not being as talented or interested in performing as her sister.
- Sadistic Choice: Invoked by the probate judge deciding the executor of Priscilla's estate, who explicitly states that he doesn't think either of the applicants are capable of being the executor and is also well aware that the prosecution had something to do with setting up the hearing in the first place. However, he also notes that with all that said, he can't in good faith ignore that one of the applicants is accused of murdering Priscilla.
- Schiff One-Liner: Not delivered by the trope namer this time, though.Robinette: Somehow, I don't think she'll ever realize what she did was wrong.Stone: No, you're probably right, but it's scary.Robinette: What is?Stone: That an emotion like love can do so much damage.
- Sports Dad: Logan tells a story about one he knew as a kid, whose son deliberately injured himself because he couldn't take the pressure his father put on him.
- Stage Mom: Mrs. Blaine was a very dedicated example, who drove her older daughter away and her younger daughter to suicide:Patricia Blaine: My mother couldn't decide whether I was Martha Graham
or Helen Hayes.
Phil Cerreta: Who were you?
Patricia Blaine: I was Patty Blaine. So I got out before I wasn't. - Suicide, Not Murder: Zig-zagged. Priscilla's death was either a suicide or an accidental overdose, but either way, Stone and Robinette still find a way to charge someone with murder.
- Technician vs. Performer: Priscilla was a technician when it came to acting, while her sister Patricia is said to have been a performer (before she gave it up altogether).
- Tragic AIDS Story: Priscilla's porn co-star Angel has recently tested positive for HIV.
- The Un-Favorite: Patricia became this to her mother when she quit acting, to the point where she was kicked out of the house and had not spoken to her mother in years.
- Vicariously Ambitious: It is mentioned that Mrs. Blaine had wanted to be an actress, but had to give up her dream when she had children.