“Accused” Episode 11 shows how sometimes the truth isn’t what it seems and is in fact rather far from it. The fact that it doesn’t involve a crime is what makes it far-reaching. Promises often keep us from accepting the truth, but in the end, the truth emerges victorious. This is the case of Jiro Tamura.
Spoilers Ahead
Bad Guy
Jiro Tamura is at the Federal Circuit Court in Sacramento, California. He has denied the state’s repeated offers of a plea deal on his charges. Why? We do not know. Maybe because he knows what he did was right and is ready to accept the charges. But can he afford that? After all, he has a family.
Jiro, his family, and his specially-abled brother Sam are at their mother’s funeral. She took care of Sam for the rest of her life after the car accident that made him so when he and Jiro were kids [Jiro also broke a couple of ribs], while Jiro lived with his family someplace else. Now that she is gone, Jiro shifts him to Wildwood Gardens, a home for the specially abled. This doesn’t mean that he didn’t love Sam. Jiro loved him with all his heart but believed that Sam needed professional care. He would visit him now and then to make sure he was doing okay. During one such visit, Jiro comes across a guy whom Sam describes as “bad.” He also finds bruises on Sam’s right arm. Sam, who has trouble communicating, seems to say that it was the “bad” guy. Jiro asks Sam’s caregiver, Leon (an aged man), who tells him that it is possible that the “bad” guy he saw earlier could have put his hands on Sam. His name is Kyle “Kip” Tanner, and he and Sam had a heated argument the previous night. Leon assures him that he will take care of it.
Back at home, Jiro gets a call from his boss Ashley from the PR firm he works at. It manages a football team whose best player, Videla, has gotten into some trouble for mocking handicapped people, the video of which has gone viral. At the press conference, Jiro manages to turn the situation around by stating that Videla’s words were a result of an intense practice session as well as his readjustments to a new culture, being the immigrant that he is. He also makes Videla apologize for his behavior. It is then that Jiro finds out from Leon, on the phone, that his brother fell down the stairs. He has received stitches on his forehead, but there hasn’t been any internal injury. Sam never faced problems using the stairs. Jiro begins to think that Kip might have pushed him. He decides to look into Kyle’s past.
Snap
The prosecutor tells the jury that while Jiro Tamura may have been trying to protect his brother, it cannot be denied that his actions were consequential. They were dangerous and reckless. Jiro made a choice, and it was the wrong one.
He visits Sam at Wildwood Gardens. Sam tells him that the “bad” guy took his tablet [that was gifted to him by one of Jiro’s daughters]. Jiro barges into Kyle Tanner’s room and starts looking for it. Kyle doesn’t like it and tells him to get out of his room, his territorial nature getting the better of him. Jiro is adamant, and he knows that his brother isn’t lying. However, before he could find it, Leon brought him to Ms. Weatherford, manager of Wildwood Gardens. Jiro asks her about Kyle but finds out that information about the residents is private and cannot be shared by anyone.
The prosecutor makes Ms. Weatherford read the email she sent to her company’s counsel stating her concern that Jiro Tamura is paranoid that his brother is being abused and he may turn violent soon.
Legal Battle
At a practice session, Jiro asks Videla why he hasn’t been taking his sensitivity training like he told the press. Videla tells him that he told it to the press because that’s what Jiro wanted him to say. He asks Jiro not to talk to him as if he has “brain damage,” another dig at specially-abled people. Jiro snaps at him for behaving in such a derogatory manner in front of the other players. He then tries to apologize, but Videla walks away.
Once back at home, Jiro finds out that his request to access the legal records of Kyle Tanner from the Department of Safety and the County Counsel has been denied. Then, Ashley calls to tell him that Videla’s lawyer is threatening him with a complaint for his recent actions. Also, Videla has asked for Jiro to attend sensitivity training [just like Jiro had asked him to]. Thus, to avoid any further issues between him and Videla, he is being sent on indefinite leave. The same night, he asks his wife, Sarah, to look into Kyle’s background. She works at the DA’s office, which means she has clearance to look him up in the legal records. After a brief but heated argument, Sarah agrees, and they find that Kyle Tanner has been arrested three times, one of them for assault. He did his time in a psychiatric hospital, after which he was transferred to Wildwood Gardens. Since he is struggling to make Sarah understand his problem, she asks him to see a counselor about his emotional issues that have made him this insecure about his brother.
The next day, Jiro arrives at Wildwood Gardens, where Ms. Weatherford gives him Sam’s tablet, which they recovered from Kyle’s room. He did steal it and has thus been transferred to another facility, as theft is against probation rules. However, this doesn’t prove that it was Kyle who hurt Sam. Jiro gives Sam his tablet, and they go through the pictures and videos together, one of which has Sam with Videla.
Assault And Abduction
Jiro is at home, preparing a meal for Sam when he gets a call from Ashley. He tells her that his brother’s situation is solved, and he is also taking sensitivity training. Ashley is glad and tells him to talk to Videla the next morning when the team will be taking a flight for some exhibition matches. Jiro agrees.
It is around 6:40 a.m. the next morning when Jiro arrives at Wildwood Gardens with the meal he had made the previous night. He asks if he can deliver it to his brother because he has a flight to catch [7.30 am]. He enters Sam’s room and finds him tied to the bed and groaning in pain, his right eye bruised. He decides to take him home immediately. When Leon tries to stop them, Jiro grabs him and hits him again and again against the wall. Leon collapses to the ground, blood pouring out of his mouth. Jiro has no idea what to do and just rushes back home with Sam, leaving Leon in that state.
Jiro is in the witness box. He is held responsible for assaulting Leon, which left him with severe concussions and fractures in the eye area. Jiro defends himself by saying that he knew Leon was abusing his brother, so he had to take him away from that place and bring him home, where he would be safe. But it is something that happened at home that makes the prosecutor question his intention to keep his brother safe. What happened?
‘Accused’ Episode 11: Ending Explained – Does Jiro Tamura Go To Jail?
Jiro and Sarah are tending to Sam’s bruises. Ashley calls and asks him if he will join them on the flight. In the midst of the chaos, Jiro has forgotten that he was supposed to speak to Videla. This is when a couple of cops knock on their door. Jiro tells Ashley that he will talk to her later and answers the door. The cops have come to talk to him following charges of assault and abduction. As he and Sarah are talking to them, their daughters come rushing to tell them that Sam has fallen in the pool. Jiro and the cops rush to the pool and bring him out. Sam doesn’t have a pulse. The cops call emergency services.
Jiro has been held for not just charges of assault and abduction but also for risking the life of a person. During a break, Sarah tries to make Jiro understand and accept the bail plea by accepting the charges against him, but Jiro isn’t ready to listen. He knows he did the right thing, and none of it would have happened if only he had brought Sam home rather than taken him to Wildwood Gardens. When the court resumes, he says the same thing to the jury. In the middle of his job and family, he thought that he couldn’t provide the care that Sam required, the care that their mother provided him with. That’s why he took him to Wildwood Gardens. It was a mistake, and he owns it. He has realized that the love and care that Sam can get from Jiro and his family is something that he will not get anywhere else. Sam doesn’t need professional care. He needs care from those who really care for him, i.e., his family. Episode 11 of “Accused” ends with Jiro and Sam having fun in the pool with the rest of the family. Jiro did what he did to protect his brother.
PS: Some questions haven’t been answered in this episode. Where did Sam’s bruises come from? As for the bruised eye, we can only assume that Leon is responsible because there was no one else with Sam there. As far as the bruises on Sam’s arm are concerned, is it possible that, given Videla’s attitude towards the specially-abled community, he might have hurt Sam, and that’s where the bruises are from? We did see a picture of Sam with Videla on the tablet. We don’t know for sure.
