S01.E11: Jiro's Story

[statsgirl]

Quote

Jiro's mother has taken care of his brother Sam ever since the car accident that left Sam with a traumatic brain injury, but when their mother dies and it appears that Sam is being abused in his new group home, Jiro has a big decision to make.

Airdate April 4, 2023

[Snazzy Daisy]

Accused | 1x11 Promo "Jiro's Story"

 

 

Edited April 4, 2023 by SnazzyDaisy

[Halting Hex]

Yes, yes, I'm sure there's a plot…but what about the important  question?  How long do we have to go into the episode before we get to see Ian Anthony Dale shirtless?

(I'm not actually in the target audience for that, and I know IAD doesn't always appear shirtless…but I know his reputation for it, so I'm amused to see if he lives up to it.  Carry on.)

[AnimeMania]

Ian Anthony Dale as Jiro Tamura
Emma Nelson as Clara Palmer
Daniel Romero as Polonius
Julia Chan as Sarah
Takashi Yamaguchi as Sam Tamura
Ava Louise Murchison as Sunny
Farrah Aviva as Firuzeh Ahmadi
Brock Johnson as Leon
Sarah Power as Ashley Krause
Russell Yuen as Jovan Black
Jennifer Gibson as Judge Ruth Pollack
Mikayla Lee Kong

[Halting Hex]

I love IAD.  Even if he kept his shirt on. 

(Seriously, you had an entire episode built around a swimming pool, and you couldn't get Ian in trunks?  And again, I'm not the target demo here; I'm just speaking from an appreciation of the assets available.

But if y'all get Sydney Sweeney in an episode and you pull this crap then, we're going to have serious words.  Just saying.)

Ahem.  The episode, right.

Not bad, as these go.  If you overlook how neither Jiro nor Sarah could figure out that if he made an assault complaint against Kyle, the police would be able to check his records without any problems, there weren't any truly egregious moments.  Oh, sure, we had Jiro on the stand and since we didn't see the direct examination it looked as though he was a prosecution witness, which would have made no sense, but I can handwave that we're just coming into the cross-examination without seeing the direct.

(I would have appreciated if there had been some effort to tie Jiro's lawyer's re-direct to something the DA had asked, though.  You're not supposed to be able to raise new issues then; it's rebuttal testimony, specifically.  If they'd shown the DA trying to impugn his character by claiming his turning down plea offers showed arrogance or something, that would have opened the door.)

I did find it clunky that Jiro wasn't being charged with assaulting Leon, though.  I get it's because this makes the case about his possible neglect of his brother and he gets to sway the jury at the end, but if the DA is legitimately going to say "you assaulted Leon" in her cross-examination, then the jury should get an explanation of why he isn't being charged with that.  And the DA shouldn't be able to raise that issue, since it's prejudicial.

Also, it's ridiculous that the administrator would characterize Jiro as "paranoid" when that's a clinical term and she hadn't actually examined him, but I'm thinking that Wildwood isn't exactly professional, especially if they knew about Leon and were just okay with letting him get his jollies.  (I wonder if Kip was "territorial" because Leon had been taking his stuff?  But then, why did Kip have Sam's tablet?  Were they both assaulting Sam?  Seems a bit of a coincidence, then.)

So not too bad this time.  (The subplot with the soccer player helped, too.) I just feel that they could do better.  JMO.

[Snazzy Daisy]

Ian Anthony Dale never disappoints. ❤️

Sam’s sadness, fear and desperation are transparent. He doesn’t need much words. His okaasan was more than a mother to him. A moving performance by Takashi Yamaguchi. 👏🏻
 

[Madding crowd]

4 hours ago, Halting Hex said:

I love IAD.  Even if he kept his shirt on. 

(Seriously, you had an entire episode built around a swimming pool, and you couldn't get Ian in trunks?  And again, I'm not the target demo here; I'm just speaking from an appreciation of the assets available.

But if y'all get Sydney Sweeney in an episode and you pull this crap then, we're going to have serious words.  Just saying.)

Ahem.  The episode, right.

Not bad, as these go.  If you overlook how neither Jiro nor Sarah could figure out that if he made an assault complaint against Kyle, the police would be able to check his records without any problems, there weren't any truly egregious moments.  Oh, sure, we had Jiro on the stand and since we didn't see the direct examination it looked as though he was a prosecution witness, which would have made no sense, but I can handwave that we're just coming into the cross-examination without seeing the direct.

(I would have appreciated if there had been some effort to tie Jiro's lawyer's re-direct to something the DA had asked, though.  You're not supposed to be able to raise new issues then; it's rebuttal testimony, specifically.  If they'd shown the DA trying to impugn his character by claiming his turning down plea offers showed arrogance or something, that would have opened the door.)

I did find it clunky that Jiro wasn't being charged with assaulting Leon, though.  I get it's because this makes the case about his possible neglect of his brother and he gets to sway the jury at the end, but if the DA is legitimately going to say "you assaulted Leon" in her cross-examination, then the jury should get an explanation of why he isn't being charged with that.  And the DA shouldn't be able to raise that issue, since it's prejudicial.

Also, it's ridiculous that the administrator would characterize Jiro as "paranoid" when that's a clinical term and she hadn't actually examined him, but I'm thinking that Wildwood isn't exactly professional, especially if they knew about Leon and were just okay with letting him get his jollies.  (I wonder if Kip was "territorial" because Leon had been taking his stuff?  But then, why did Kip have Sam's tablet?  Were they both assaulting Sam?  Seems a bit of a coincidence, then.)

So not too bad this time.  (The subplot with the soccer player helped, too.) I just feel that they could do better.  JMO.

Jiro was on trial for assaulting Leon. I assume Leon planted the tablet in Kip’s room. The first time Jiro visited his brother Kip said “tell him about the bad man”. If Jiro would have been paying attention, he would have known it was someone else. He had a lot going on with the loss of his mom, guilt at his brother being in a home and his troubles at work. He should be suing the facility for allowing his brother to be assaulted. Instead of hurting Leon he should have called 911 then taken pictures of his brother in restraints and injured.

 I don’t think the prosecutor should be bringing up his abilities as a caregiver since that doesn’t relate to his assault on Leon and his brother slipped away while he was talking to police.

I liked this one and thought it brought up some good issues. I always find the courtroom parts to be incomplete or incorrect somehow. Good to see a happy ending .

[possibilities]

It's true that taking photos and calling 911 would have been better, but one thing about this show that I like is that the defendants aren't painted as perfect people, yet often you feel sympathy for them anyway. You understand how they made their mistakes, even if you wish they hadn't done so. In this case, Jiro panicked, he was upset, all he could think was: Get my brother out of here! And yes, he wasn't thinking strategically, he made things worse by not handling it calmly, but at the same time, I like him for loving his brother and basically just seeing red over him being mistreated. It's like if you see someone you love being hurt, your adrenaline kicks in and all you want to do is rush in and rescue them. It makes sense, even if it isn't always the best way to document and prove a case. I'm always impressed  by people who handle extremely upsetting situations calmly and strategically. I think most people are prone to flailing around, not being super-poised, and... the show is honest about that. Even their most sympathetic defendants are actually not perfect. We really shouldn't have a world where you have to be perfect in a terrible situation, and if you aren't, then off with your head.

[buckboard]

1 hour ago, possibilities said:

Jiro panicked, he was upset, all he could think was: Get my brother out of here! And yes, he wasn't thinking strategically, he made things worse by not handling it calmly...

Yes, you might say he made things worse by not handling the situation calmly.  Yes indeed.  Jiro could have helped his brother by taking him directly to the hospital and/or calling the police.  Instead he shoved Leon so hard he cracked his skull. He wanted custody of his brother, but by resorting to violence instead of getting a lawyer or calling the police, his testosterone-filled response  almost sent him to prison, which would have not only meant losing custory, but would have been a hardship for his wife and children. (His wife seemed surprised when he explained why he didn't take the plea deal.  Didn't they discuss that?)

Why didn't he let his wife bring the bento box as she had offered?  Also, I know he was upset when he found his injured brother, but he could have taken a minute, at least when he got home, to call and let his employers know why he didn't make it to the plane.

Is the English version of this show written any better?

[truebluesmoky]

People act so oddly in this show to make the plots work. Wouldn’t most people have taken the brother home as soon as they saw the bruises on his arm? If not then, wouldn’t they have taken him home when he landed in the hospital with a head wound? They knew he was already dealing with the loss of his mother, so adjusting to that loss and the move to a facility would have been tough enough on Sam without the injuries making it so much worse. This family had money. Even if they were nervous about having him live with them full time, it seems so much more logical to me that Jiro would have taken his brother home at the first sign that he was not completely safe in the facility. They clearly had the money to temporarily hire an aide to care for Sam in their home while they looked for a new facility. I can’t believe anyone would leave a loved one somewhere they didn’t believe to be safe.

[Chicago Redshirt]

6 hours ago, truebluesmoky said:

People act so oddly in this show to make the plots work. Wouldn’t most people have taken the brother home as soon as they saw the bruises on his arm? If not then, wouldn’t they have taken him home when he landed in the hospital with a head wound? They knew he was already dealing with the loss of his mother, so adjusting to that loss and the move to a facility would have been tough enough on Sam without the injuries making it so much worse. This family had money. Even if they were nervous about having him live with them full time, it seems so much more logical to me that Jiro would have taken his brother home at the first sign that he was not completely safe in the facility. They clearly had the money to temporarily hire an aide to care for Sam in their home while they looked for a new facility. I can’t believe anyone would leave a loved one somewhere they didn’t believe to be safe.

The late great critic Roger Ebert (I believe) coined the term "idiot plot" for a situation where everyone involved has to act like an idiot for the plot to work.

Given that Jiro is portrayed as a smart fixer of problems, it makes little sense for him to have not picked up on Kip pointing to someone else being "the bad man." Nor would it make sense that he's taking Leon's word about what happened or not escalating things to at least management of the home when his brother sustains two prominent injuries and a theft in the course of what I'm assuming is just a couple weeks. A rational person would have said "Hey, we had just given Sam a tablet, and now it's gone. I think Kip might have taken it. Can you investigate?"

And at some point, Leon should probably cool it with his bad manning. Was there a reason Jiro seemingly trusted him at first when he is obviously sketchy?

I could see Jiro potentially not being willing to take Sam home at that point, but one would think that he would pull him and put him in another home even if on paper the others were not as good.

Fell asleep during this one -- no fault of the episode, just tired. So I'm sure I missed a bunch. The biggest courtroom eyeroll was that somehow the prosecution got ahold of and the privileged communication between the home and its attorney, though. 

I too am curious if the original version is better executed than this one.

[Court]

On 4/5/2023 at 11:05 AM, Halting Hex said:

I love IAD.  Even if he kept his shirt on. 

(Seriously, you had an entire episode built around a swimming pool, and you couldn't get Ian in trunks?  And again, I'm not the target demo here; I'm just speaking from an appreciation of the assets available.

But if y'all get Sydney Sweeney in an episode and you pull this crap then, we're going to have serious words.  Just saying.)

Ahem.  The episode, right.

Not bad, as these go.  If you overlook how neither Jiro nor Sarah could figure out that if he made an assault complaint against Kyle, the police would be able to check his records without any problems, there weren't any truly egregious moments.  Oh, sure, we had Jiro on the stand and since we didn't see the direct examination it looked as though he was a prosecution witness, which would have made no sense, but I can handwave that we're just coming into the cross-examination without seeing the direct.

(I would have appreciated if there had been some effort to tie Jiro's lawyer's re-direct to something the DA had asked, though.  You're not supposed to be able to raise new issues then; it's rebuttal testimony, specifically.  If they'd shown the DA trying to impugn his character by claiming his turning down plea offers showed arrogance or something, that would have opened the door.)

I did find it clunky that Jiro wasn't being charged with assaulting Leon, though.  I get it's because this makes the case about his possible neglect of his brother and he gets to sway the jury at the end, but if the DA is legitimately going to say "you assaulted Leon" in her cross-examination, then the jury should get an explanation of why he isn't being charged with that.  And the DA shouldn't be able to raise that issue, since it's prejudicial.

Also, it's ridiculous that the administrator would characterize Jiro as "paranoid" when that's a clinical term and she hadn't actually examined him, but I'm thinking that Wildwood isn't exactly professional, especially if they knew about Leon and were just okay with letting him get his jollies.  (I wonder if Kip was "territorial" because Leon had been taking his stuff?  But then, why did Kip have Sam's tablet?  Were they both assaulting Sam?  Seems a bit of a coincidence, then.)

So not too bad this time.  (The subplot with the soccer player helped, too.) I just feel that they could do better.  JMO.

I just assumed Leon stole the tablet and lied about finding it in Kip's room.

[cinsays]

so Kip didn't do anything wrong but was moved elsewhere because of things Leon did?