Accused Season 1 Episode 12 Review: Morgan’s Story

Accused has the difficult task of keeping viewers captivated while telling a new story every week. Accused Season 1 Episode 12, “Morgan’s Story,” does it job by tricking us into believing we know what the outcome will be.

The episode starts with Morgan in prison before doing its usual time-jump to tell the story. Immediately, we think they are spoiling the ending even though we have no idea what this woman has done.

However, sticking to the show’s usual plot twists, as the episode goes on, we discover that Morgan has been set up by her ex-husband and all charges will be dropped.

By introducing new characters every week, Accused must make sure the audience can connect with each character in the 40 minutes the episode uses to tell a story. It is not always easy, particularly when discussing crimes.

“Morgan’s Story” doesn’t seem to introduce any likeable characters. Jason is a violent, manipulative, cheating husband.

Morgan is also a cheater. We’re supposed to feel bad for her and her situation (which we do to an extent), but there’s something about her that doesn’t quite make her the kind of character you are rooting for.

The only good quality Morgan has is that she is a good mother and is willing to go to the end of the world for her son. Other than that, she is a forgettable character.

However, the lack of connection with these characters doesn’t mean the story isn’t good. There are certain plot points that make this a decent episode.

The first thing Accused does right is the transition between the first prison scene to Morgan in her classroom.

The camera focuses on the green pea she is touching before it immediately transforms into the green candy her student is about to eat. This allows for a very quick introduction of who Morgan is and what she does for a living.

It may seem as this scene with her student doesn’t add anything to the plot, but as the story develops, we realize it is the excuse to introduce the man who will be her lover. That is the tipping point, the one that makes Morgan ask for a divorce.

Later on, it is that divorce that causes chaos in her life and almost lands her in jail.

Up until the last few minutes of “Morgan’s Story,” nothing tells us Morgan has committed a crime. However, the few signs we are given, make us believe that it might involve murder.

How does this thought come to be? For starters, as soon as the camera shows Morgan’s yellow car, she gives statistics saying yellow cars are less likely to be involved in an accident.

As the audience, we may take this as a clue that she will be involved in an accident. But the truth is she is in her car when she is pulled over by the police and the drugs are found.

Before that, Jason is shown in his office where his boss threatens him with “your funeral” if the deal he is working on goes South. Another clue to make the viewers think he might be dead by the end of the episode and that is why Morgan is in prison.

This thought process changes when Accused shows Jason asking Eric for help to kill his ex-wife. The death threats and the intent to make her disappear make us wonder what truly happened.

Every detail comes together when the witness is introduced and we discover he is Eric’s CI.

The introduction of Eric’s character in the car while dealing with Flaco is a piece of the puzzle that we don’t actually put together until we see him again before the trial.

Even though we may not like these characters or connect with them, Accused adds them to the story for a reason and that reason is always revealed before the episode ends.

Because everything seems to be so calculated, the show makes you wonder if the ending of the episode is an open ending. What does it mean that Jason approaches their son in the park the way he did?

Every week the story changes, so it leaves the audience thinking and speculating what could come out of an ending like this.

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Accused airs Tuesday at 9/8c on FOX.

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