Season 9: Hello Abbie!

[FormerMod-a1]

Episode list:

 

01: Cherished  (9/23/1998)
02: DWB  (10/7/1998)
03: Bait  (10/14/1998)
04: Flight  (10/21/1998)
05: Agony  (11/4/1998)
06: Scrambled  (11/11/1998)
07: Venom  (11/18/1998)
08: Punk  (11/25/1998)
09: True North  (12/9/1999)
10: Hate  (1/6/1999)
11: Ramparts  (1/13/1999)
12: Haven  (2/10/1999)
13: Hunters  (2/10/1999)
14: Sideshow (1)  (2/17/1999)
Special: Sideshow (2) (Homicide: Life on the Street)  (2/19/1999)
15: Disciple  (2/24/1999)
16: Harm  (3/3/1999)
17: Shield  (3/24/1999)
18: Juvenile  (4/14/1999)
19: Tabula Rasa  (4/21/1999)
20: Empire  (5/5/1999)
21: Ambitious  (5/12/1999)
22: Admissions  (5/19/1999)
23: Refuge (1)  (5/26/1999)
24: Refuge (2)  (5/26/1999)

[FormerMod-a1]

I love Abby, so I love this season.  And WE was mini-marathoning this season the other day.  Starting with ep1. And her famous "I've got a solution we'll all like.  Let's hang 'em all!"  (the 2nd sentence is right, I might have the first wrong).  This was in Cherished, where it looked like a little boy had killed his baby sister.  But it turned out the baby was already dead before he beat her.  Then it turned out there was a chain of baby brokering going back to Russia and the baby was really 2 1/2 years old and very sick.  And it became a case of who knew the baby was sick and when and then didn't communicate it or try to help.  I love when Abby is cross-ing the female defendant at the end and the woman, through tears, asks "What could we have done?" and there's a pause and I'm thinking (oh no, there's so much, please don't let this be the end and get an acquittal!) but then Abby responds "Did you call a doctor?  Did you call child services? Did you talk to other parents of children with this condition?" etc.  Yes!

[radishcake]

Abby was such a hardass. I love her!!

[FozzyBear]

I love Abby, so I love this season. And WE was mini-marathoning this season the other day. Starting with ep1. And her famous "I've got a solution we'll all like. Let's hang 'em all!" (the 2nd sentence is right, I might have the first wrong). This was in Cherished, where it looked like a little boy had killed his baby sister. But it turned out the baby was already dead before he beat her. Then it turned out there was a chain of baby brokering going back to Russia and the baby was really 2 1/2 years old and very sick. And it became a case of who knew the baby was sick and when and then didn't communicate it or try to help. I love when Abby is cross-ing the female defendant at the end and the woman, through tears, asks "What could we have done?" and there's a pause and I'm thinking (oh no, there's so much, please don't let this be the end and get an acquittal!) but then Abby responds "Did you call a doctor? Did you call child services? Did you talk to other parents of children with this condition?" etc. Yes!

Another awesome Abby moment in that episode is when the woman shares the tearful story of her brother dying from cancer and how hard that was for her. Abby gives Jack the best look ever. It's a total "She did not just play the dead brother card! Fucking bitch is going down." I love me some Abby.

Edited June 12, 2014 by FozzyBear

[GHScorpiosRule]

Add me to the love Abby list. Though I always thought her name was Abbie.Well, that's how my close captions have it anywaaaayz!

 

I love that she is a take no prisoners ADA. It's why I'm not a fan of the episode, which I can't recall is in the 10th season or her last, the 11th, where we are told that she was raped. The show just had to go there. It was the episode where she had put Carla Buono's character in jail, and Buono's character was being raped by the DOC guy. Or something.

 

I loved her in "True North" as well, and how she rolled her eyes at Jack, and said Jack would totally have fallen for the murderer's wiles. Played by Bellamy Young. The Canadian, who killed her husband's first wife, so she could marry him, and then had him and her stepdaughter murdered, when he was getting ready to divorce her.

[FormerMod-a1]

I don't know what you're talking about @GHScorpiosRule - the title says "Abbie".  ;-)  I was going to change my post, too, but thought that wouldn't be fair since it was quoted.  Thanks for the heads-up on the spelling.  I think my Info button had Abby, but I could have just been tired.

[GHScorpiosRule]

Okay, that's weird, aquarian, because I could have SWORN the title said Hello Abby! But now I see it's the right way.

 

Stupid technology.

[FormerMod-a1]

The winkie  ;-)  was meant to indicate I was pulling your leg.  I changed the title. >:D  I'm evil like that.

[GHScorpiosRule]

The winkie  ;-)  was meant to indicate I was pulling your leg.  I changed the title. >:D  I'm evil like that.

 

Oh. Stop being evuhl! Today is the first day I can actually breathe at work; I've been drowning in motions and briefs and WestLaw and lawyers who continue to condescend to me asking me if I'm "suuuuure" of the corrections, when said lawyer is working off a blue book 2 editions (10 years old) behind!

[FormerMod-a1]

Well, you should just go all Abbie on their behinds!

[GHScorpiosRule]

Well, you should just go all Abbie on their behinds!

 

I did and went one better, by showing and telling him he was two editions behind. Oh SNAP! And then wrote out what it said and how it should look like.

 

Putz.

[DXD526]

More Abbie love here. I love her dry sense of humor, meshes well with Jack.

 

Only drawback of this season is the presence of Saint Curtis. S10 had maybe the perfect cast in Briscoe/Green/Van Buren on the law side, and McCoy/Carmichael/Schiff keeping order. 

[WendyCR72]

I did like Green a lot. But I still say Briscoe/Logan rocked.

 

And I do/did like Abbie. She was snarktastic. But I also liked Claire. Actually, save for Jamie Ross (what is it with characters with the last name of Ross in the L&O 'verse? They [including Danny Ross of CI here] annoyed me!) and the Rohmbot, most of the ADAs had their good points.

 

Still, yeah...Abbie meshed well with Jack.

[GHScorpiosRule]

I was going to post about the first five episodes I watched yesterday, but watching "Scrambled" had me seeing bloody red. Good God, Rey's judgmental and sanctimonious ass was fin full and fine form, what with him saying that if people couldn't have children naturally, then they were probably not meant to have them. And how scientists were acting like God. I loved how Van Buren said EXCUUUUUSE Me? to his ass when he made that crack about some people not being meant to have kids. And then throwing in Lenny's face how would he feel if his daughter had had frozen embryos, how would he like to be a grandfather after her death? Shut up you cheating, judgmental arsehole.

 

UGH. I mean UGH.

 

I will end it with this. I've never thought that Angie Harmon was the strongest of actresses, but the way he was introduced, she was, is a kickass awesome ADA. I love how she came all guns ablazin' in "Cherished" especially oh and in "Agony." She's my second favorite right behind Paul.

 

When I've calmed down, I will take a breath and post about the first five episodes.

[GHScorpiosRule]

EWWWWWWW!!!!! Diane Melnick!!!!!!

 

Blech, Ptooey.

[GHScorpiosRule]

I hate what they did to Abbie's character in "Punk." I just hate it. For some reason, I thought the revelation that she'd been raped was in a later season, not the year she joined the show, and certainly not so soon in the season.

 

Because of course, someone as badass as Abbie, just had to have a trauma of her own that most likely formed her attitude about rape. Not to say that she blames the victim of rape generally, but she did come off unsympathetic toward Alice? Allison? here, when allegations of rape were made. I hate this, trope (is that the right word), that Hollywood/Networks use over and over again for strong female characters. It's gross and insulting.

 

That said, all I could think of while watching this, was, really? Why can't they have female correction officers at prisons for women? It made me think of a Perry Mason episode, when Perry went to see his female client, there was a woman guard/CO standing outside the cell.

 

Watching this also had me thinking I should maybe create a thread for what we called Repeat Offenders--actors that appeared multiple times as different characters on this show. For instance, Jack Colby, played the Correction Officers who testified that Alice could have reported what was going on and he would have brought in the higher ups or whatevers to help her. This actor has appeared as a bartender in a previous season, was the innocent guy who was put in prison in "Myth of Fingertips" in Season 8 for murder...and I'm sure he's also played a uni and other minor roles.

 

And on a purely shallow, shallow level, Angie Harmon looked very, very beautiful in this episode. Something about the way her hair was styled, revealed her great bone structure. I may not care for her politics, and she's a decent actress (not much range), but she's incredibly beautiful and is really good at playing a badass. And humor.

 

I hope Abbie did get some counseling though, even if she told Jack she wouldn't talk about it again.

 

I'm trying to figure out if she was saying that she was a college Freshman, or if she was a first year law student when she was raped because she referred to her rapist as a third year Law Student.

[FormerMod-a1]

Ugh - the Julia Robert's ep is on right now.  I don't know why I've left it on this long.  Her whisper-talk is driving me batty.  Modulate!  Inflect!  and I normally don't hate her or anything, she just bugs so much here.

[nygma619]

You'd never think there could've been an ada that could make Jack McCoy look like the "good cop" by comparison, but Abbie Carmichael proved that theory wrong. :D

 

It's why Abbie was my favorite ADA. She inadvertently challenged Jack McCoy to find his inner voice of reason.

[Maherjunkie]

I never thought Jack ached for reason.  I don't understand her being a rape victim yet being "pro-life."  That would put an X in the likeable box for me.

[nygma619]

I never thought Jack ached for reason.  I don't understand her being a rape victim yet being "pro-life."  That would put an X in the likeable box for me.

I keep hearing that, but I've never understood people's reason behind that thinking.

 

How is it hard to understand being a rape victim and believing in a right to life, regardless of how it comes?

[Maherjunkie]

Because certainly you would still not want to put a woman through the hell of carrying her rapist's child even if it is something you might choose for yourself.

[nygma619]

I hate what they did to Abbie's character in "Punk." I just hate it. For some reason, I thought the revelation that she'd been raped was in a later season, not the year she joined the show, and certainly not so soon in the season.

 

Because of course, someone as badass as Abbie, just had to have a trauma of her own that most likely formed her attitude about rape. Not to say that she blames the victim of rape generally, but she did come off unsympathetic toward Alice? Allison? here, when allegations of rape were made. I hate this, trope (is that the right word), that Hollywood/Networks use over and over again for strong female characters. It's gross and insulting.

 

I can understand if you find this route of characterization over used, but why is it gross and insulting? I've met a couple of people who were victims of rape, and one of them is ALOT like Abbie in that the event left her a little rough around the edges. Are you telling me it's insulting that someone in real life could turn out like that?

 

Why do we have to ONLY VALUE strong women if NOTHING traumatizing happens to them?  To me, that's not the only form of strength in women OR ANYONE for that matter. Strong character should ALSO be valued by HOW we deal with events like this.

[FormerMod-a1]

I'm watching Punk right now and it's one of my least favorites, but not for all the reasons above*.  I hate the way Alice blames Abbie for everything and just Abbie. Like Abbie was "judge jury and executioner" - no judges or defense attornies or her own bad behavior and attitude had anything to do with it.   Nothing and no one else is responsible for her being in jail, nor for her treatment in jail.  It's all Abbie's fault.  Apparently Abbie had the power to do or set up everything bad that happened to her. Talk about a major chip on her shoulder and willfully being ignorant of what happened and all the pieces.  And then of course, Danielle Melnick has to be involved, and she always sets my teeth on edge anyway.  

 

ETA: I think I need to turn this off, I don't need to be this annoyed this early in the morning,

 

*clarify - I do agree with not liking the reveal that Abbie had been raped. Yes, that trope is used WAAAYYYYYYY too much in cop/law shows (well, probably in all genres),

[Spartan Girl]

God, I hate the episode "Flight."  That asshole scumbag murdered his own son and pretty much gets away with it because that stupid company that shipped the drug refused to play ball with the court, which gave said asshole the time to flee and commit suicide rather than face prosecution.  Too bad the episode couldn't have ended with the vengeful mother killing him after the court suppressed her testimony about the counseling session (where he said the boy was better off dead than being alive, ect).

Edited December 4, 2014 by Spartan Girl

[txhorns79]

I loved how Van Buren said EXCUUUUUSE Me? to his ass when he made that crack about some people not being meant to have kids.

 

I applauded Van Buren for what was an incredible show of poise and professionalism.  It must have taken a lot for her to not jump across Rey's desk and start beating the crap out of him for what was at best, an extremely insensitive comment. 

 

 

And then throwing in Lenny's face how would he feel if his daughter had had frozen embryos, how would he like to be a grandfather after her death? Shut up you cheating, judgmental arsehole.

 

In fairness to Rey, he was only reacting to Lenny asking him how he might feel if his wife might benefit from the research done with the embryos.  So Rey's comment was rude, but it wasn't coming from nowhere.   

[WendyCR72]

In fairness to Rey, he was only reacting to Lenny asking him how he might feel if his wife might benefit from the research done with the embryos.  So Rey's comment was rude, but it wasn't coming from nowhere.

 

But as I had said when this was brought up before, the difference is, Lennie brought up the topic in a positive fashion - perhaps this would help Rey's wife. Rey? He threw in a hurtful dig about Lennie's dead daughter and grandchildren he would never have from her because Lennie dare not be as pious as Rey purported himself to be.

 

Maybe Rey's beliefs differed, but there was no reason to be an outright dick about it, either.

[txhorns79]

But as I had said when this was brought up before, the difference is, Lennie brought up the topic in a positive fashion - perhaps this would help Rey's wife. Rey? He threw in a hurtful dig about Lennie's dead daughter and grandchildren he would never have from her because Lennie dare not be as pious as Rey purported himself to be.

 

I would say this: Lennie should not have used Rey's wife to argue his point, and Rey should not have used Lennie's daughter to argue his point.  Both were extremely touchy subjects for both men, and I would guess that both knew that.   

[katie9918]

Season 9 is currently on Sundance.

[wanderingstar]

"Tabula Rasa" is on now. This episode has always disturbed me. That father who kidnapped his daughters and changed his identity after his divorce is just...ugh! I was glad but the fact that his daughters wanted nothing to do with their biological mother at the end (because dear old dad had convinced them that she was evil) just makes me angry.

 

I do love the massive amounts of side-eye Jack and Abbie give to that messed up family.

[WendyCR72]

"Tabula Rasa" is on now. This episode has always disturbed me. That father who kidnapped his daughters and changed his identity after his divorce is just...ugh! I was glad but the fact that his daughters wanted nothing to do with their biological mother at the end (because dear old dad had convinced them that she was evil) just makes me angry.

 

I do love the massive amounts of side-eye Jack and Abbie give to that messed up family.

 

Ironically, I just watched that one on DVD last night. Jay O. Sanders played a lot of lowlifes on the franchise. Which is why, when he was cast as the final captain on the CI branch, it was jarring. (And he had previously played a dirtbag on that one, too.)

 

I wonder if he ever feared typecasting?  :-)

 

But yeah, that whole family was just...wow. And the second wife was just so Stepfordian. I felt so sorry for the mom and the girls. As was said at the end, those girls would never be all right.

 

One thing I never bought was the older daughter recognizing dear ol' dad from that sketch. I don't think it looked a bit like JOS. Dramatic license, I guess!

[Maherjunkie]

That's why I love Logan.  He's upfront about who he is.

[jjj]

Just finished watching the marathon on Sundance -- love the Abbie years!  In "Tabula Rasa," I always laugh when she says "those are the spookiest people *I've* ever seen."  And they are spooky, perfect description.  They did show both episodes of "Refuge," which was hard to watch because of Abbie's friend/colleague.  Squicky part was when Jack was being so sympathetic, and went over to massage her shoulder -- just briefly, but given his history with ADAs...

[WendyCR72]

In "Tabula Rasa," I always laugh when she says "those are the spookiest people *I've* ever seen."

 

I still get a laugh that the daughter recognized Psycho Daddy from the sketch. It looked nothing like him. Poor Jay O. Sanders, typecast as crazies in the franchise - well, minus his second stint on CI as the final captain. Which threw me. (I now recall I mentioned the awful drawing before. Sorry. But still!) The ending really didn't leave a shred of hope for those daughters, did it? "They'll never be all right." Well, I get L&O tried to keep it real and not everything was puppies and rainbows, but I do think the ending of "Tabula Rasa" was really just so sad.

 

But at least Jay O. Sanders played cold bastards with flair. I can see why he was cast throughout the franchise.

[jjj]

"They'll never be all right." Well, I get L&O tried to keep it real and not everything was puppies and rainbows, but I do think the ending of "Tabula Rasa" was really just so sad.

Yes, it was a very murky ending.  I felt especially bad for the woman who had essentially given up her life to live by the "rules" and raise those girls; what would happen to her?  (Hopefully, she would have control of all the husband's property, but she would need quite an education to deal with basic finances.)  And you'd think the older daughter would have remembered her mother having custody before the father took them to Ohio. 

[Morrigan2575]

Abbie is still my favorite ADA. I loved that she was tough and fairly conservative compared to Jack's liberal/ex-hippie personality.

[dustylil]

I had no problem with Abby's tough approach to cases and her conservative views (especially in comparison to the sometimes wishy-washy opinions of Claire!). What I had difficulty with was her apparent inability to see things from other than her own rather limited experience of life and the law. Not that she should have embraced Jack's usually liberal views, but she should have at least understood why he  - and others - held them.

Similarly, her dismissal of legal systems of democracies that stemmed from different traditions from those of the US struck me as sophomoric and intellectually narrow. Did she really think justice was only available in the United States?

[Maherjunkie]

We're supposed to be "exceptional", you know.

[TeeVee329]

I hate what they did to Abbie's character in "Punk." I just hate it. For some reason, I thought the revelation that she'd been raped was in a later season, not the year she joined the show, and certainly not so soon in the season.

 

Because of course, someone as badass as Abbie, just had to have a trauma of her own that most likely formed her attitude about rape. Not to say that she blames the victim of rape generally, but she did come off unsympathetic toward Alice? Allison? here, when allegations of rape were made. I hate this, trope (is that the right word), that Hollywood/Networks use over and over again for strong female characters. It's gross and insulting.

 

More than anything,  I liked the way Angie Harmon played the reveal.  The line delivery of "I blamed myself" was perfection.

 

And I don't think she was unsympathetic towards Alice (played by the awesome Cara Buono, btw) because of the rape.  She had already formed the opinion that Alice was someone who blamed her misfortunes on others and Alice had already been caught in a bunch of lies before the rape allegation even came out.

[Cobalt Stargazer]

I hate what they did to Abbie's character in "Punk." I just hate it. For some reason, I thought the revelation that she'd been raped was in a later season, not the year she joined the show, and certainly not so soon in the season.

 

Because of course, someone as badass as Abbie, just had to have a trauma of her own that most likely formed her attitude about rape. Not to say that she blames the victim of rape generally, but she did come off unsympathetic toward Alice? Allison? here, when allegations of rape were made. I hate this, trope (is that the right word), that Hollywood/Networks use over and over again for strong female characters. It's gross and insulting.

 

More than anything,  I liked the way Angie Harmon played the reveal.  The line delivery of "I blamed myself" was perfection.

 

And I don't think she was unsympathetic towards Alice (played by the awesome Cara Buono, btw) because of the rape.  She had already formed the opinion that Alice was someone who blamed her misfortunes on others and Alice had already been caught in a bunch of lies before the rape allegation even came out.

 

Punk is actually on TNT right now (hello, old friend Insomnia) and FWIW I also think Angie Harmon played the reveal just right. This and the first half of Refuge are the only two times Abbie has an unsteady reaction to things as far as I can immediately recall, and even though her voice cracks when she says she blamed herself for being raped, she doesn't break down into tears but pulls herself together before saying, "But not anymore."

 

As for Alice, in addition to having been caught lying several times, she was always at Abbie, as if it was solely her fault that she was behind bars. While Charlie abusing his power as a guard, and using that power to abuse Alice at his leisure, was obviously wrong, Abbie wasn't the only person who put her in jail. And as a shallow note, Cara Buono's Brawnx accent is driving me batty. This was her second appearance on the Mothership, the second of a hat trick. Did she speak like this on the other occasions?

[WendyCR72]

Punk is actually on TNT right now (hello, old friend Insomnia) and FWIW I also think Angie Harmon played the reveal just right. This and the first half of Refuge are the only two times Abbie has an unsteady reaction to things as far as I can immediately recall, and even though her voice cracks when she says she blamed herself for being raped, she doesn't break down into tears but pulls herself together before saying, "But not anymore."

As for Alice, in addition to having been caught lying several times, she was always at Abbie, as if it was solely her fault that she was behind bars. While Charlie abusing his power as a guard, and using that power to abuse Alice at his leisure, was obviously wrong, Abbie wasn't the only person who put her in jail. And as a shallow note, Cara Buono's Brawnx accent is driving me batty. This was her second appearance on the Mothership, the second of a hat trick. Did she speak like this on the other occasions?

The accent always got me, too. At least when she appeared later on CI, her "homegirl" (her character's words) self slipped into it to differentiate between the old her, Cookie Caspari, and her more cultivated identity as Charlotte Fielding in "Phantom". (Always cracked me up when Alex riffed on said accent.)

But it just seemed a lot more noticeable when Cara Buono was on the Mothership. Shrug. Maybe because, as was pointed out, her character bugged, so everything about her did, too.

As for Abbie and her rape reveal, I am in the camp that thinks Angie Harmon played it right. And maybe it is a tired trope, but for what it was here, I think it was effective in fleshing out Abbie, as well as offsetting her dealings with Buono's victim character.

[Arcadiasw]

Tabula Rasa was on TNT this morning. Everytime I see this, I want to punch the arrogant father. He and his second wife screwed up his daughters for a long time.

[Cobalt Stargazer]

Empire is on WE right now. A few things of note:

 

I've always had a fair to middling opinion of Julia Roberts, but she's annoying almost the literal shit out of me right now. I know she was dating Benjamin Bratt at the time, but see her being all, "I'm attracted to you, Rey" is just icky to me for a reason I can't ;pinpoint. Maybe because she can't manage a facial expression to match the words.

 

Speaking of Rey, does this man have no radar at all when a woman is trying to play him? Katrina practically has a sign around her neck that says  "I Am Trouble", and he's just blithely trundling right into her path. Outside of anything else, why in the bluedilly fuck would you tell a near-stranger that your wife has MS? Idjit.

[roseslg]

When I turned the channel and saw her on screen, I just changed the channel and went back to chopped.  Her acting and presence in that episode annoyed me to no end.  I can't way for Rey to leave and for Green to come onboard.  I'm happy that on Wednesday I have two L&O marathons to choose from.   

[Maherjunkie]

Wake me up when Logan appears.

[BW Manilowe]

Wake me up when Logan appears.

Unless they're running eps from different seasons/out of order, he might be back on ION soon. They were running an ep with Lupo & Bernard earlier.

On other eps, the daughter in Sundown (which was on WeTV earlier tonight) was really whiny, I thought. And I'm pissed I slept late today & missed Killerz, which was on WeTV early this afternoon. I saw yesterday that it'd be on & told myself I was gonna get up in time to watch it, & then I didn't. I don't have the DVDs; now I'm gonna have to wait until TNT or We (which are fairly close in seasons right now) cycles all the way back to it.

OK those eps are after S9, but Abbie's still an ADA in them so...

Edited March 24, 2016 by BW Manilowe

[ktwo]

Unless they're running eps from different seasons/out of order, he might be back on ION soon. They were running an ep with Lupo & Bernard earlier.

True that ION showed the finale today, but their next airings appear to be Season 13. WGN has Season 5 on Friday morning, though.

[Maherjunkie]

Thankees.

[Cobalt Stargazer]

ION's scheduling crazes me a little, because they run other shows out of order as well, not just the Mothership. You would think that since they only have seasons 13 through 20 of it, it wouldn't be such a hardship to air things in the right order. But apparently, that would not be correct.

[wanderingstar]

I've always had a fair to middling opinion of Julia Roberts, but she's annoying almost the literal shit out of me right now.

 

She's always bugged me, mainly because I don't think she's a very good actress. So it irks me greatly that a) she's even in this episode and b) she gets to smirk off into the sunset at the end.

Edited March 28, 2016 by Gillian Rosh

[merylinkid]

Watched Tabula Rasa last night and the same things annoyed the crap out of me that always annoy me in the episode.   It's the one about the guy who kidnaps his kids after his wife gets custody, then 15 years later returns to NYC and kills the wife's friend when she recognizes him.   They can't get him for the murder because he throws his youngest kid under the bus and gets her to claim she committed the crime (Father of the Year material).   So they try him for kidnap 1 which has no statute of limitations.   He's convicted.   Now here's what annoys me:

1.   This guy is a control freak that won't let his children out of his sight.   Yet, his daughter is going to go to college in NYC instead of in Ohio where they were living.   The guy had clearly not given up his control freak tendencies, so how did he allow THAT to happen.   Heavens his daughter might have an unsactioned thought.

2.   After he is convicted but before he is sentenced he blackmails McCoy into seeking a light sentence at a minimum security prison by threatening to have his parents seek custody of the younger daughter.   He says "hey the worst she goes into foster care, but my ex wife won't get her."   McCoy gives in.   WHY????   First of all, Mom already has custody given the old order.   Second, his parents had no rights to get custody unless they show Mom was unfit.   They would have to show she was unfit NOW at the time she seeking custody. Not dredge up all allegations (which the judge heard any way and still gave mom custody back then).   Third, if there is a custody dispute, the kids do not go to foster care.  hey stay with the parent who has them until the case is resolved. Fourth, it appears the grandparents knew where the kids were all those years.   They knew Mom had custody but said and did nothing.   No judge is going to give custody to people who allowed an order to be ignored for years. T   McCoy should have looked at the guy and said "No.   And btw, totally going to give this information to your ex to use if you do decide to pull this.   Clearly not thinking about your kid here so ex wins hands down."   

 

Ugh.   I know its not realistic.   But at least make it a GOOD argument for leniency.   Not some lame thing that anyone with a functioning brain would see how lame it was immediately.