Guilt Review: The Crown v Atwood (Season 1 Episode 9)
Surprisingly, throughout “The Crown v Atwood,” we witness the entire trial against Grace. It’s a packed hour of Guilt, that’s for sure.
I’m disappointed that we don’t get to experience the trial for the last two episodes. We end this hour with the jury going off to deliberate, so the multi-week trial is shown to us in snippets.
We miss out on so much because of this. I understand that this isn’t a legal show, but I think it’s a mistake to shrink an entire trial into maybe half of an episode.
One thing that we miss out on is that we never really get a sense of how the jury is viewing Grace.
Sure, we know the evidence against Grace is strong, but juries are made up of people. There could be people on the jury who believe she’s innocent or maybe they all think Grace is guilty.
We have no way of knowing this because the most time we really spend focusing on the jury is when the Prince Theo bombshell is dropped.
One part of the trial I really love is the opening statements scene.
It allows us to see what tone Stan and Gwen are setting for their arguments, and the cuts between each of their openings is nicely done. I wish we could have had a similar scene for their closing statements, at the very least.
Stan: You find the daddy, you find the baddy.
What do you think about how Grace’s trial is handled? Would you have liked to spend more time on the trial?
One thing that’s surprising is that Gwen plays the audio recording of the conversation between Luc and Grace where their “secret” is mentioned.
I’m still not even sure that we know what they are referring to. Obviously Gwen plays it as if they are talking about killing Molly, but I still think there’s something left to uncover. What do you think?
The fact that Stan and Natalie don’t go to Grace about this is a little shocking to me, but then again, the audio call was presented to the court way back in pre-trial. It’s possible Stan and Natalie had that conversation with Grace, and we didn’t get to see it.
DS Bruno (err I guess he’s just Alex now) backing out of testifying against Prince Theo is pretty predictable.
It was absolutely never going to happen. As soon as Stan put Alex’s name on the witness list, Prince Theo knew what that was about, and he was going to make sure it never happened.
The fact that Phillip/Prince Theo made good on outing Alex planting evidence did surprise me, as did Alex leaving the force.
Alex not testifying? Not as surprising.
Grace: I used to think if I was innocent that a jury couldn’t find me guilty, but now, I don’t know.
Okay, Grace manipulating Josh, the driver, is unexpected, although considering manipulating people is what Grace does, I shouldn’t have been surprised.
What I don’t understand is why they are making a run for it on the way to court to hear the verdict. Will he not be her driver if she is arrested? Is it literally their last chance?
At that point, you might as well take your chances and see what the jury says. Can you imagine running only to find out you were going to be declared innocent?
Of course, we aren’t quite sure what the jury is thinking because we barely spent any time in the trial. Do you think the jury will find Grace guilty or innocent?
Suspect round up:
Theo: Like Stan says, Theo had the most to lose considering Molly’s pregnancy.
Phillip: I still think he would kill to protect Theo, even if Theo didn’t ask/order him to kill.
Grace: Why risk approaching Josh to help you escape if you’re not guilty?
What did you think of this episode of Guilt? Can Alex and Natalie connect Jessica’s murder to Prince Theo? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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The season finale of Guilt airs Monday at 9/8c on Freeform.
Allison Nichols
Allison is in a love affair with television that doesn't seem to be letting up anytime soon. Slightly damaged fictional characters are her weakness. She loves to spend her free time curled up with a cat and a show to binge-watch. Allison is a Tomatometer-approved critic (Rotten Tomatoes).