TVSquad

I thought this week's episode of Conviction was much, much better than last week's episode. I still think that there are too many storylines in each episode, making it hard to care too much for any particular character. But, the multiple storyline thing seems to be the M.O. for this show. So be it.

This week, once again, an ADA found himself prosecuting someone he really didn't want to convict. Brian Peluso (Eric Balfour) took a grandmother to court over three ounces of heroin found under her bed. Everybody knows it was her drug-dealing grandson's stash, but neither the grandmother nor the grandson would admit it. To make matters worse, Brian's family chooses this case to watch in court. His mother and aunt and uncle are so proud of his victory, and he (understandably) can't admit to them that he just prosecuted a grandma for her grandson's drug possession. We also get to see Brian in action with co-worker Julianne's slut-friend, Hannah. Anybody else sensing sexual tension between Brian and Christina Finn (Julianne Nicholson)?

Speaking of Christina, she is definitely my favorite character on this show. While Brian totally has the bad-boy-hunk factor happening, Christina is a cute, bright prosecutor with zero sex appeal, who is breathing life into this bureau of district attorneys who all seem to be depressed about their jobs. In this ep, Christina pursues a mother who faked her daughter's leukemia. Christina thinks she can prosecute the mother for the daughter's suicide, but her immediate boss, DDA James Steele (Anson Mount), disagrees and suggests pleading the mother out on two misdemeanors. Christina is ready to give up until the brilliant Bureau Chief Alexandra Cabot (Stephanie March) steps in and takes over the case. She shows Christina that you don't only have to prosecute cases you can win. Sometimes you bluff and the other side settles. Although, sometimes it doesn't, as we learned from Brian's drug case.

The other storylines were somewhat meaningless. New ADA Nick Potter (Jordan Bridges) discovers he was at a party where, after he left, his "friend" got busted for cocaine possession. He hands the case off to ADA Billy Desmond (J. August Richards), but doesn't tell him about his personal connection until later. Billy tricks Cabot into pleading the guy out to two years of probation. I really don't like this Billy fellow at all. What is his role in this show, anyway? He saved Potter's butt this episode, but I still don't like him. Maybe that's because we haven't seen his personal story yet.

ADA Jessica Rossi (Milena Govich) gets a very minor role in this episode, where she quickly discovers a woman who claimed sexual harassment is lying. The rest of the episode, she's just there to dispense advice to Potter and get angry with Steele for giving her an earring that he found in his couch. It wasn't hers. Hey, at least this episode didn't end with those two in bed again.

By the way, why was this episode called Breakup?