Proven Innocent Season 1 Episode 12 Review: In Defense of Madeline Scott, Part 1
Jack Ori
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Gore Bellows has always been ruthless, but I didn't know he was THAT ruthless!
From the beginning, he's done the absolute wrong thing while believing he was justified because he can't fathom the possibility that an arrested person could be innocent.
And on Proven Innocent Season 1 Episode 12 he burned his most important bridge in an attempt to win his case.
Bellows' singleminded pursuit of Madeline might well turn out to be his Achilles' heel -- if Maddie and Easy can avoid him pushing their buttons too much.
Until he revealed that he'd granted Levi immunity to testify for the prosecution, his ability to get under their skin was his only shot at winning.
There still may be a fatal flaw in his plan, though: his treatment of Isabel could backfire on him.
Related: Proven Innocent Season 1 Episode 11 Review
There's no line Bellows won't cross in his quest to get Maddie locked up, but there's no telling what Isabel is capable of now that he screwed her over.
She has been nothing but loyal to him for her entire life, even going undercover to get Levi's testimony when the whole thing made her uncomfortable.
But now that Bellows screwed her out of the second chair position and fired her, she has no reason to be loyal to him.
Why should she be? She considered him family, and he used her, then threw her away.
Isabel, I pulled you out of obscurity and I can put you right back in.
Bellows
And despite Bellows' threats, he stands more to lose if she exposes his questionable ethical practices. He threatened to have her disbarred, but she could easily do the same to him, and she could also rat his strategy out to Easy and Madeline.
She was his right-hand woman, after all. She knows EVERYTHING.
Oh, how I hope that happens! Karma will be so delicious when it finally catches up with Bellows.
Bellows was overconfident and underprepared at the hearing, too. He must have been 100% convinced he was going to win his case, which is always a dangerous conviction to hold.
Good morning. This morning I executed a warrant for the arrest of Madeline Scott for the murder of 17-year-old Rosemary Lynch. Her conviction was unfortunately vacated 10 years ago, but I have always believed she is guilty. As a prosecutor, it is my job to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. I promise you I will do that. This time we have the murder weapon. The Lynch family will finally have closure. Because the monster who murdered their loved one will spend the rest of her life behind bars.
Bellows
Bellows SHOULD know better than to be caught unawares and should have a plan for every contingency.
But then again, he's so convinced that every defendant is guilty and that Maddie is in the business of getting people off the hook who belong in jail that it's no surprise he assumed she and Easy were playing games to disguise her guilt.
No wonder he never prepared for the possibility of the defense having a plausible alternate theory!
Maddie needs to let Easy handle her case, though.
It's hard for her to shut off the lawyer in her, but it was getting her in trouble with the judge.
Bellows may be overconfident, but he's not stupid, and he's going to keep baiting her until the judge has had enough of her interrupting when she's the client and not the attorney this time.
Maddie doesn't need to get held in contempt or for her behavior to influence the judge's opinion. So she needs to learn to be quiet right now!
Easy wasn't much better than she was. He couldn't resist arguing that Bellows was doing this whole thing as a publicity stunt for his campaign, causing the judge to get annoyed enough to order he come back in three days with evidence in hand!
No matter what he thinks of Bellows' motives, he'd better not keep sniping with him. That's a strategy doomed to prejudice the judge against his client, and nobody needs that.
Related: Proven Innocent Season 1 Episode 1 Review
Props to Easy for taking on two cases at once, though!
Hector's case SHOULD have been open-and-shut, but wasn't thanks to immigration laws.
I appreciated the commentary on the inhumanity of the current situation. Lots of shows have dealt with both family separation issues and the issue of people who have lived in America their whole lives getting deported but never quite like this.
The case of the four-year-old boy being asked to represent himself was, unfortunately, realistic.
Toddlers and young children are often expected to defend themselves in immigration court even though they have no idea what's going on. This is one of the many problematic aspects of current immigration policy, and it needs to stop.
Easy: Easy Bordeaux substituting for the petitioner's immigration representative, your Honor.
Judge: Are you here on other business, Mr. Bordeaux?
Easy: I am, but I'm stepping in here to bring some common sense back to this proceeding. Why are you asking a four-year-old whether he understands this proceeding? I move for the petitioner to be reunited with his parents.
Riley: That's against immigration policy.
Easy: Your Honor, that policy is nonsense.
I was glad the judge sided with Easy on that one -- in real life, some immigration judges claim that young children are perfectly capable of representing themselves in these proceedings.
The attorney for the government was certainly snide and heartless, and she deserved to lose on all counts. Too bad Easy had to agree to keep Hector in custody pending his trial to keep Hector in the US.
But who was reporting Easy's clients to ICE? That was a loose end that was never tied up. Was it unimportant or will we find out later?
I wasn't a fan of Bodie and Castro's storyline, possibly because I'm not a fan of Castro.
I felt sorry for Castro's sister and I'm not convinced she's incapable of staying clean or that she is a danger to Nathan. Ten months clean isn't enough time to get full custody, but it seemed reasonable to allow her supervised visits.
That's all a judge is likely to give her anyway, and supervised visits would stop her from kidnapping Nathan and then heading off to a crackhouse.
What did you think, Proven Innocent Fanatics?
Will Bellows succeed in sending Maddie to jail for a murder she didn't commit?
Who really killed Rosemary?
And am I the only one who found this latest Bodie/Castro conflict annoying?
Watch Proven Innocent online and then hit the comments with your thoughts!
Proven Innocent continues to air on FOX on Fridays at 9 EST/PST.
Jack Ori is a senior staff writer for TV Fanatic. His debut young adult novel, Reinventing Hannah, is available on Amazon. Follow him on X.
