This episode gives viewers a lot to ponder-- and I believe this is what good television does. It uses a very tragic situation and offers insights into the show's main characters. And as the final shot indicates, this is a close family unit and any pain that one of them experiences, they all experience together. They suffer together, and ultimately they heal together.
The plot focuses on catching an unknown assailant who has entered Cecilia's home one stormy night. After turning the lights off, he enters through a kitchen window, uses a pillow to cover Cecilia's face, then assaults her. The rape scene is brief and is intercut with the Simon boys on separate dates. Abby Marsh is having dinner with A.J., who gets a call from his mother and quickly learns she's in distress. The scenes that follow, where A.J. and Rick comprehend what has happened, and they see Cecilia in her hospital room after she's been examined, are simple but intense. All four of the leads do a stellar job portraying the aftermath.
But the episode is more than just a story about a violent physical act. It's also a mystery, because they have to find out who the culprit actually was. I thought it was excellent the way David Moessinger, the scriptwriter and director, set Rick and A.J. both up on a path of vengeance. Parallels are drawn between their actions and lynchings. At one point, Abby tells them about an officer whose daughter was raped-- a man who killed a suspect shortly before the actual attacker stepped forward to confess.
So we have a mystery about the rapist's identity going on, but we also have Cecilia's two sons attempting to find "evidence" against two separate men they think might have been responsible for terrorizing her-- a handyman with a history of mental illness (A.J.'s suspect of choice); and a chiropractor who's a frequent date of Cecilia's (Rick's suspect of choice). What's interesting is they are both wrong; and we're told it's a third person they know-- someone they never would ever have suspected.
I should mention there's kind of a Freudian angle in Moessinger's story. He does include a scene where Cecilia is at the hospital and tells Abby what it was like being married to Jack Simon. She describes how she sees her late husband in both her sons; and also how she brought the rape on herself. It's excused as something she's saying because her mind might be playing tricks or repressing things. But since the real rapist turns out to be someone much younger than her, someone who felt protected by her, we get a sense that there is a sickness in the perpetrator that is being applied directly to this particular family. This said, I don't think it's a point to get too hung up on; the text can have multiple interpretations. But the most significant one has to be the way this tight family unit heals and moves forward.
The plot focuses on catching an unknown assailant who has entered Cecilia's home one stormy night. After turning the lights off, he enters through a kitchen window, uses a pillow to cover Cecilia's face, then assaults her. The rape scene is brief and is intercut with the Simon boys on separate dates. Abby Marsh is having dinner with A.J., who gets a call from his mother and quickly learns she's in distress. The scenes that follow, where A.J. and Rick comprehend what has happened, and they see Cecilia in her hospital room after she's been examined, are simple but intense. All four of the leads do a stellar job portraying the aftermath.
But the episode is more than just a story about a violent physical act. It's also a mystery, because they have to find out who the culprit actually was. I thought it was excellent the way David Moessinger, the scriptwriter and director, set Rick and A.J. both up on a path of vengeance. Parallels are drawn between their actions and lynchings. At one point, Abby tells them about an officer whose daughter was raped-- a man who killed a suspect shortly before the actual attacker stepped forward to confess.
So we have a mystery about the rapist's identity going on, but we also have Cecilia's two sons attempting to find "evidence" against two separate men they think might have been responsible for terrorizing her-- a handyman with a history of mental illness (A.J.'s suspect of choice); and a chiropractor who's a frequent date of Cecilia's (Rick's suspect of choice). What's interesting is they are both wrong; and we're told it's a third person they know-- someone they never would ever have suspected.
I should mention there's kind of a Freudian angle in Moessinger's story. He does include a scene where Cecilia is at the hospital and tells Abby what it was like being married to Jack Simon. She describes how she sees her late husband in both her sons; and also how she brought the rape on herself. It's excused as something she's saying because her mind might be playing tricks or repressing things. But since the real rapist turns out to be someone much younger than her, someone who felt protected by her, we get a sense that there is a sickness in the perpetrator that is being applied directly to this particular family. This said, I don't think it's a point to get too hung up on; the text can have multiple interpretations. But the most significant one has to be the way this tight family unit heals and moves forward.