Episode 2 of “Accused” explores yet another facet of the relationship between children and their parents. A deaf surrogate mother, who doesn’t want the baby to receive the same treatment she did when she was young, does something that is supposedly wrong. But when the love of a mother for her child is involved, the line between right and wrong fades away. Let’s find out how.
Spoilers Ahead
The Secret
Ava, who is deaf, is being presented in court; the charges against her are the kidnapping and endangerment of the baby of Jenny and Max. She has her lawyer, and her boyfriend KJ is accompanying her to court. The lawyer warns them that the jury won’t be particularly sympathetic to Ava because of the nature of her offense. Ava signs to the lawyer that all that she did was to protect the baby.
Ava is at home preparing for her test. KJ is also there. She is carrying Jenny’s baby, who also arrives within a few minutes to check on her. As they are having a conversation, Jenny offers to make lunch and goes to the kitchen. The next minute, Ava’s water breaks. Ava (the surrogate), Jenny, and her husband Max are all going to have a baby. “Little Lucie is healthy in every way,” says the doctor. She did fail the hearing test, and Max, who is very much into music, expresses his concern that Ava is deaf, but the doctor assures them that babies often fail the test due to fluids in the ear and other such reasons. There can be a genetic component, provided either of the biological parents had it in their genes. That’s when Jenny says that her great-aunt was deaf. Max didn’t know this.
Two weeks have passed since Lucie’s birth, and she is a deaf baby. Ava has been pumping breast milk that she then brings to Jenny’s place for Lucie. She mentions to KJ how much she misses the baby. Back at Lucie’s home, Max mentions to Jenny that he feels betrayed as she didn’t tell him about her deaf great-aunt earlier and thinks that she deliberately kept it a secret.
The Adoption
Ava, the defendant, walks into the courtroom and takes her seat. Adjacent to her are Lucie’s parents, Jenny and Max. The jury is ready, and the opening statements are about to be made.
It is late at night. Jenny finds Max on his laptop, who shows her a video of a baby with cochlear implants (that reach the brain to help the baby hear). It is clear that he is interested in trying it for Lucie, although they do not know if Lucie is even a ready candidate for it. The next day, Jenny brings Lucie to Ava’s place and tells her about Lucie’s deafness. She also asks Ava if she has ever considered using hearing implants and that she would want to have Lucie wear them because both she and Max want Lucie to be able to listen. Ava’s expressions say that she doesn’t like what Lucie’s parents want for her, but she remains quiet.
That night, KJ finds Ava looking up surrogacy laws. Ava intends to adopt Lucie so that she can protect her from her parents’ decision to install a machine inside her brain. KJ tells her that she has no right to do so, but Ava replies that she doesn’t think that Jenny and Max are right for Lucie. The next morning, she brings more milk for Lucy to her home, where Max asks Ava about the cochlear implants. Ava gives them a letter that says how she believes that implants are a decision that they should let Lucie make when she grows up. Being deaf will allow her to learn about the world in her own way, which will make her learning process easier. Artificial ways will be more like a burden. Max tries to explain why he wants his daughter to get implants, but he is taken inside by Jenny. Ava overhears them having an argument, where Max is bent on giving Lucie the help he thinks she deserves, trying to defend himself against Jenny’s accusation that he would prefer not to have Lucie at all rather than have her deaf. When Jenny and Max come out of the room, they find both Ava and Lucie missing. Meanwhile, Ava, who is in her car with Lucie, calls KJ and tells him to meet her immediately.
When KJ arrives and finds Ava with Lucie, he freaks out. Ava tells him that she is taking her to Michigan, where surrogacy contracts aren’t enforced. Once there, she is going to sue Lucie’s parents and adopt her. Her friend Cleo, from law school, will help her out. While KJ cannot wrap his head around what Ava intends to do, he joins her on the ride to Michigan because he doesn’t want her to be alone in it. KJ pulls the SIMs out of both their phones so that no one can trace them. Ava and KJ are going to approach the Supreme Court to prevent parents from inserting a machine inside their baby’s head, only to make the baby more like them.
Mother’s Love
Jenny and Max are at the police station, where an officer has Ava’s mother on a video call. She reveals that Ava’s father left when she was very young and that she is very stubborn and does what she wants. She may have gone to her father’s place if she knows where he lives, but one can’t be sure.
Ava and KJ have halted at a store to use the washroom. After Ava comes out of the store, she receives a video from her friend Cleo, who tells her that since she isn’t pregnant with the baby, she doesn’t have the precedent to file a case. Realizing that she will get into trouble now, she gives KJ a chocolate, sends him inside to use the washroom, and uses the opportunity to drive off with little Lucie. KJ comes out and finds the car gone. He pulls out the chocolate and finds a note with it saying that he was never with her. Ava is trying to protect KJ from facing potential charges of kidnapping.
KJ arrives at the police station, where Jenny and Max are also present. Max is infuriated the police aren’t arresting him, and to add to it, KJ makes it clear to Max’s face that he doesn’t deserve a baby and leaves. Jenny understands that all that Ava wants is for Lucie to be safe, and she doesn’t want Lucie to end up being treated the way she was by her mother. Sometime later, the officer-in-charge brings in Lucie and gives her to Jenny and Max, who are both overwhelmed.
‘Accused’ Episode 2: Ending Explained – Is Ava Penalized?
Jenny is called to the witness box, and who states that what Ava did to her felt like a betrayal. Then Ava’s mother reveals that she had a long labor, and Ava cried a lot as a baby, but she had her commitments to fulfill, so she went to work all the same, leaving Ava in pain. Her words make it clear that Ava didn’t really matter to her and that she wasn’t really a mother but someone who just gave birth to her. At the next hearing, Ava gets a new lawyer, Sari, who is, thankfully, also hearing impaired. Sari assures Ava that she can win the case if they are able to prove that what she did was in the baby’s best interests.
In the witness box, she explains how, as a child, Ava suffered a lot from being ignored. At 10, she went to a deaf school, but she had missed a lot by then. She got pregnant in high school but didn’t know because her parents didn’t even try to communicate with her and understand her. After Lucie’s birth, she realized that Jenny and Max weren’t happy, and Lucie would receive the outcome of their insecurities and arguments. She didn’t want Lucie to go through any of it, and thus she did what she thought would be right for Lucie. Implants might help Lucie hear, but they will not make Lucie the way her parents want her to be. Rather, it will only distance her from them. A baby deserves to be accepted for how he or she is and not how the parents expect him or her to be. After listening to all this, Max is in tears, realizing how wrong he has been all the while. Jenny tells their lawyer that they want to withdraw the case. The judge shows her agreement, and Ava’s case is dismissed. Jenny signs to Ava, saying, “I love you.” Outside the courtroom, Jenny tells Ava that she and Max will learn to sign and take Lucie to a deaf school. She also invites Ava to their home and lets her spend time with Lucie.
“Accused” Episode 2 hits hard in the way it shows how parents perceive their children. What seems right for them might not be helpful for them. Nature finds its way through every time, and the best we can do is help our children along that path rather than make them realize that something is wrong with them. Yes, there will be struggles, but is there a better reward for a parent than to see the child grow and learn new things in their own imaginative way?
