Tease

 

A teenage boy is being rushed into the emergency room of the hospital, gushing blood from a wound in his chest.  We hear the paramedics and emergency room doctors shouting orders furiously over the boy as it becomes clear that he attempted to kill himself by shooting himself in the heart, but missed—hitting his less vital organs in his chest.  The conclusion of the tease is shot from the view of the teenager on the table, slipping in and out of consciousness and in fuzzy view.  Slowly, things become fuzzier and fuzzier as the teenager looks up, seeing his parents with their faces pressed against the glass.  This is the last thing we see before we fade to black and hear nothing but the long “beep” of the EKG flatlining.

 

SMASH CUT TO CREDITS

 

Act #1

 

We are plunged into a dirty office building filled with beat-up desks—the offices of the Division of Children and Family Services.  A mid-30s woman, Alice Danforth (Diane Lane), is leading a young, fresh-faced woman, Amanda Loman (Keri Russell), around the offices, introducing Amanda to the various individuals who make up the office staff.  Amanda has just joined the staff of the Division as a case officer.  Alice is the psychologist who will be working with Amanda on her cases when she needs expert assistance.  Amanda notices that the largest office is empty and jokingly asks:  “So that’s mine, right?”  Alice explains that this is the office for the Divisional Director, a position left open when the previous occupant was forced out under political pressure.  Near there, Alice introduces Amanda to Terrence McKittridge (Victor Garber), the attorney on their “case team.”  Whenever this case team has a situation that will require a court appearance, Terrence will be appearing on their behalf to represent the best interests of the child.  Finally, Alice escorts Amanda to the back of the offices, where she shows Amanda her office, which is little more than a closet with a beat-up metal desk in it.  The desk is already straining under the weight of piles of paperwork.  Alice says goodbye to Amanda as she sits down and opens the file on the top of her desk, sighing.

 

COMMERCIAL BREAK

 

Act #2

 

Amanda is sitting in the living room of a tastefully decorated middle-class home.  Sitting across from her are the parents of the child we saw dying in the teaser at the start of the show.  She apologizes for troubling them and says that it’s simply a matter of departmental procedure that she’s here.  Her job is simply to make sure there’s no continuing danger to their other child.  They tearfully explain to her how hard it has been to cope with the loss of their oldest child, especially under the circumstances that they lost him.  Amanda quickly finds out that the gun the child shot himself with was not the family’s, but one he had stolen from a neighbor—the parents had no knowledge that their child had a gun.  The family’s younger child, a 12 year old girl, Lisa, is grieving severely, as her older brother was her best friend.  Amanda asks whether the girl has shown any signs of placing herself in danger or hurting herself.  The family denies there’s any such risk.  Right before we fade to the next scene, Amanda notices the younger child, peeking into a corner of the living room, trying to eavesdrop on her parents.

 

Amanda returns to the offices, where she meets with Alice, and asks Alice to set up a time to talk with the younger child—Amanda’s concerned about whether the child might hurt herself or someone else as a result of her brother’s suicide.  Alice agrees to talk to the child.

 

COMMERCIAL BREAK

 

Act #3

 

Later that week at the offices.  There’s a great deal of hustle and bustle around the large office that Steve had earlier remarked on the emptiness of.  Someone is moving in.  Steve troops back to his office and slaps down the morning paper on his desk.  There’s a big headline—“Mayor Names New DCFS Director”—and beneath it is the picture of the craggy face of Jack Taggert (Tommy Lee Jones).  Terrence pops in to Amanda’s office and remarks on how off-guard she was caught by the sudden appointment.  Meyers is a notorious hard-ass—a former prosecutor with no background in the child protection area.  Amanda and Terrence are both concerned about how Meyers is going to handle the sort of cases.  At his appointment, he announced that he was going to “throw out the garbage” and “make sure everything works RIGHT” in the division. 

 

Cut to Alice in the interview room with Lisa.  Alice is trying to coax Lisa into talking to her about her feelings about her brother’s suicide.  Lisa doesn’t want to say anything.  Alice flips through her file—there have been a number of comments from various individuals about how withdrawn Lisa has become since her brother’s suicide, consistently wearing black and speaking next to nothing.  Alice again tries to get Lisa to talk about her feelings, but Lisa just breaks down in tears.  All she can say is “I just wish I could be with him.  That’s all I want.”  As she continues to tear up, Alice embraces Lisa and rocks Lisa in her arms as we dissolve to…

 

COMMERCIAL BREAK

 

Act #4

 

Alice, Amanda, and Terrence are gathered in Terrence’s office complaining about a new rule Meyers has created—every case must be reviewed by him before final disposition.  They’re getting together the file on Lisa for presentation to him.  Steve says that while the home is still dealing with some substantial issues involving coping with the grief of their son’s suicide, there’s nothing overly unusual.  Alice concurs, but notes that she believes that the family, and especially Lisa, will need ongoing counseling.  While she doesn’t feel there is an imminent threat to Lisa.  Tara agrees that there is a troubling potential, but that based on the law, there’s no basis for removing Lisa from custody.  They agree that they’ll present a united front going in to Meyers’ office.

 

Alice, Steve, and Tara enter Meyers’ office.  Before any of them can say a word, Meyers interrupts with a question:  “The other child in this family tried to kill himself, and we’re not looking at doing something?”  Alice, Steve, and Tara are whipped to the defensive.  Tara is the first to respond—“based on what we know, there’s no evidence that Lisa poses a danger to herself or anyone else.  Unless that’s the case, we have no grounds for doing anything to ‘protect’ her.”  Meyers snaps back, “But what about this ‘I just want to be with him’ remarks he’s using?”  Alice explains that while the remarks are slightly troubling, it’s her opinion that Lisa was simply unable to express the depth of her grief in another way.  Steve chimes in that there is no evidence that suggests that the parents are anything but loving and caring—there’s nothing saying they contributed to their son’s suicide.  Meyers sighs and says, “This just doesn’t feel right to me.  But what you’re saying is that there’s nothing else we can do about it at this point, right?”  Tara nods.  Meyers says “Keep the file open and get your job done.”  He shouts out into the hallway:  “Who’s next?”  Alice, Steve, and Tara leave as the camera follows them.  We hear the next team come in and begin presenting.

 

STEVE:

 

Well, that’s one down.

 

ALICE:

 

And hundreds to go.

 

They walk away down the hallway, shifting back to work, as we fade to black.