Accused Season 1 Episode 2 Review: Ava’s Story
On Accused Season 1 Episode 2, “Ava’s Story,” a child’s rights are questioned, along with how different the world can be between a deaf person and a hearing person.
“Ava’s Story,” directed by Marlee Matlin, is a fast-paced yet moving story that focuses on a woman’s path to making her voice heard.
In a story that’s more cohesive than its predecessor, this episode begins a deeper conversation that we should have been having for years about disability rights. Instead, this episode shows how desperately disappointing the United States — and the world — is when it comes to respecting hard-of-hearing people.
This episode shows how tricky surrogacy is and everything surrounding it, especially if you don’t know your surrogate beforehand.
Stephanie Nogueras shines as Ava and the whole cast blends together as well as a story like this needs to meld.
This episode is poignant and beautiful as it explores how difficult it is to live while being deaf despite one billion people living with a degree of hearing loss.
From having a surrogate who didn’t fully speak ASL to finding a lawyer who could understand Ava, nothing comes easy for her.
Accused has done an excellent job so far, providing intense, heartfelt episodes that will force people to have discussions moving forward.
“Ava’s Story” is fast-paced. Unfortunately, the story suffers because of it. While the show is only 42 minutes, the story is much more spread out and meaningful than the short period we have with these people.
Characters from this story are all unique, but we hardly have any time to get to know them before we must place judgment on them.
Marlee Matlin is a triumph in directing, but I can’t help but wonder what it would be like if we had a full-length movie regarding this story.
I fear this is something Accused will face in almost every episode; they’re cramming too much into a time slot bookended with Burger King jingles and local slogans.
Being a parent is never easy. Being a parent to a child with a disability must be even more complex. But you must adapt, like Lucie’s father.
In a way, “Ava’s Story” can also be seen as a way for Ava to stop the generational trauma that could’ve easily formed from Ava’s mother to herself, down to Ava’s baby, despite her being a surrogate.
Overall, this episode is much better than the pilot, but it still leaves much to be desired after having such a short time with the characters.
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What did you think of this episode of Accused? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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Accused airs Tuesday at 9/8c on FOX.
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Laura Wanberg
Laura is a homebody who loves everything about TV. Some of her favorite shows include Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, Parks and Recreation, and The Morning Show. With her ever-growing list of new shows to watch and books to read, her favorite thing to do is to cuddle up with her cat and get lost in someone else's world.
One thought on “Accused Season 1 Episode 2 Review: Ava’s Story”
This episode’s ending was idiotic. Parents can’t decide to drop a case and the DA wouldn’t drop it just because they said so. There doesn’t have to be a complaining witness.
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