Burden of Truth Season 3 Episode 5 Review: Crisis of Faith
Leora W at .Joanna faced three major revelations on Burden of Truth Season 3 Episode 5.
She learned she's dealing with a broken system, a possible cover-up, and an even more possible tiny human.
Burden of Truth Season 3 Episode 4 ended with Joanna realizing that the system might be broken. She followed all the rules, and Kodie still lost out.
Joanna has always relied on the law; it was the one thing in her life that always made sense. Now the law has let her down, and she's asking questions.
It is terrifying when the thing you have always relied on turns out to be a load of horse dung.
When it comes to child apprehensions and family services, the law doesn't seem so fair, and justice doesn't seem so just. Joanna sees the law allowing things that shouldn't be allowed, and she feels powerless to stop it.
Burden of Truth has always been about Joanna's journey more than anything else.
She is not good with human emotions, but when she has a revelation, the audience feels it. We all want to believe in the system. We want to believe that the system is fair and people are generally good because if they aren't, what can we do about it?
Learning that you can't trust the system would be hard for anybody, but with Joanna, it is so personal that it is visceral. She may not always let on how much she feels, but when she allows herself to feel, she feels so deeply.
The good thing is that when Joanna feels deeply, she fights. And if the Burden of Truth has taught us anything, it is that when Joanna fights, she wins.
It does take a while for her to win. There are three more episodes this season, and we can assume that a lot is going to happen before this case is resolved. However, for the first time, we have hope.
Joanna found a lead that could allow her to break the system and make it work the way they want it to. And what led to this great revelation? Why a positive pregnancy test, of course.
Joanna: You should, uh, tell Owen how you feel.
Diane: That's not important right now.
Joanna: If you don't say anything, and he does something stupid its contributory negligence.
Diane: I have tried to talk to him, believe me. It's like I'm not even here.
Joanna: You ever feel like being with someone is a game of Russian roulette.
Diane: Whatever you're feeling right now, is okay.
Joanna: What?
Diane: It's positive. You're pregnant.
Joanna: Freezing. How did I fail the other pregnancy test? I have never failed a test in my life.
Diane: Don't tell my students this, but sometimes it's not the answers that are wrong. It's the test itself.
Joanna: Oh my god!
Diane: What?
Joanna: What if Kodie didn't fail that test? What if the test itself is broken?
That's right. Joanna is pregnant. The test she took previously was a false negative. Joanna has a baby on board. Can we talk about that?
I'm still struggling to react. On some level, I know Joanna will be a good mother.
Someone who was denied proper parental love and affection can strive to be better. Nothing motivates a potential parent like wanting to fix the mistakes their parents made.
Also, while we didn't see it, Joanna and Billy have been living together for a year now, so they seem pretty solid.
But Joanna is still learning how to be a person. She and Billy also have very demanding jobs.
Billy might be willing to stay home with the kid. However, because their firm is holding on by a thread, and that they are massively in debt, they sort of need all hands on deck.
The show could do an abortion storyline, but I don't think it is likely. It would be a lot to cram into three episodes. It is also a very uncommon choice for television, even in this day and age.
I can only think of two shows in recent memory where a character went through with an abortion. One of those shows is Canadian, though, so maybe.
I guess I just feel like if they didn't want Joanna to be pregnant, they would have left the test negative.
Another story possibility is adoption. However, given everything they are going through with Millwood Family Services, I don't see either of them putting the child up for adoption.
Billy: I am never having kids.
Joanna: I'm pregnant.
Before this episode, I would have said Billy would be more on board than Joanna, but now I'm not so sure. He's become disenchanted with how the law treats children and parents alike. Plus, like Joanna, his own parental experiences weren't exactly stellar.
Both of them have a younger someone in their life.
Billy had Molly, and we know he was the best uncle, but we also haven't seen her in forever. Plus, being an uncle is very different from being a father.
Joanna has Luna, and while they met late in life, this episode highlighted how much that relationship has grown. I didn't realize that Luna hadn't been back to Millwood since she was exonerated.
Her memories of home are now tainted with arrest. Hearing her explain that to Kat was heartbreaking.
Luna: You sent me to Millwood Police Station, where I was falsely arrested.
Joanna: You think I was being insensitive. You think I was only thinking about the case. I knew how hard it would be for you to ever come back here. That you wouldn't do it without a push. You are one of the strongest people I know Luna. I knew you could do it. If I didn't believe in you I wouldn't waste my time.
Luna: Thank you.
Joanna; And now you know you can come home.
Luna: So you're saying you did this for me and not for the case? Maybe both?
Joanna: You can head back if you want. But do you remember what you said to me when you found out we were sisters? It was stay. You asked me to stay.
Luna is a fighter, and Joanna knew it. She knew exactly what she was doing by sending Luna to the Millwood Police Station. Luna had to overcome her past.
Now she can come home. Her mother probably still lives in Millwood, and Joanna is always going to have a connection there. Plus, there is Molly. Maybe Molly again someday. Please?
Not that I didn't enjoy Kat and Luna's kiss. I had thought something might happen between them at some point.
I think part of my doubt was because of all the time jumps. I keep forgetting Luna isn't some high school kid anymore but a fully consenting adult.
Kat: It's time for a reclamation tour.
Luna: A reclamation tour?
Kat: You walk straight into the places that hurt you the most and reclaim them as new memories. Starting with the cop shop.
Luna: I like that. But I think I need to face the police station on my own.
Still, Kat is her superior. I respect her for drawing a line.
Because maybe Joanna would be cool with it, but maybe she wouldn't. People need to learn to stop hooking up with co-workers and people above them, even if they would make a cute couple.
When Joanna sent Luna to the station, she also knew that Owen would have Luna's back. I had forgotten about their connection and how great it was. Burden of Truth does that a lot, allows relationships to go in the background for a bit, so we forget about them.
Kind of like Owen and Diane. They were in the background for most of Burden of Truth Season 2, but now we're seeing them front and center. They are living together. They have this whole life. And now Owen's leaving.
We knew he would do something drastic, but I wasn't expecting this. That fight was pretty heated, as was that kiss. Couples on this show may not always be front and center, but when they are, they deliver.
Side note, how did Owen never find out it was Mercer who smashed his skull in? He never put that together? And why can't they go to someone?
How did the system get so broken? Why is there nobody out there protecting people from scum like Sam Mercer and his cronies? Owen tried to be that guy, but now he's leaving. Who will protect people from Mercer with him gone?
I'm a little foggy on Billy's storyline this episode.
Billy was reluctant to trust Kodie and believe her story.
It seems like the writers are using this subplot to put Billy and Joanna on the same page in regards to the corruption in Millwood Family Services. It also gives the audience another case, so we see it isn't just Kodie.
The problem is this woman came out of nowhere. I'm not even sure what her name was. They connected the dots eventually, but it was hard to follow along with Billy playing good samaritan with this stranger.
That being said, it was in character. Billy can't let a cry for help go unheard. That's why he'll make a good, if reluctant, father.
Catherine: Our headmaster is unavailable. You'll have to make an appointment for another time.
Joanna: This school has the highest child apprehension rate in Millwood, and he can't even talk to us?
Catherine: I don't appreciate what you're insinuating.
Joanna: I'm not insinuating anything. I'm asking. Your school survives off children in the system, yes or no?
Catherine: Hey, we have to have pupils. Family Services survives off apprehending children. You would starve without clients.
Joanna: Are you saying that Millwood Family Services is financially incentivized to break up families?
Catherine: Their funding is dependant on apprehension.
Joanna: That is a blatant conflict of interest.
Catherine: Take it up with a judge. Everything we do here is by the book.
As for the corruption in Millwood Family Services, it turns out they are just as corrupt as Sam Mercer and his boys. Family Services, The Police, The schools, The medical labs -- where don't we find corruption in Millwood?
The good news is that Crawford Chang knows where the corruption is now, and they have a plan to fight it.
The bad news, Chang is pregnant with Crawford's baby, and they have to deal with that while winning this trial. Can they do it? Probably. Will it be easy? Probably not. But that's why we watch.
Kodie: Right, so how do I fight someone who's above the law?
Joanna: I think you've been trying to tell me. The system isn't broken. It's working exactly as it was intended. So we don't need to fix the system we need to break it. We sue Cleardon Labs, we break a chain in that system. Then we take the decision back to family court, and we prove that family services stole your kids. This is my arena Kodie. I can see a way through this now. This is how we win.
What do you think of Joanna being pregnant? Do you ship Luna and Kat? Where was Taylor this episode? And were you surprised by how corrupt Millwood and "the system" truly is?
Let us know in the comments, and do not forget, you can watch Burden of Truth online right here via TV Fanatic.
Leora W was a staff writer for TV Fanatic..
