The show's penchant for showing lying, manipulative children begins here. Nick is assigned to a rape case involving a 15-year-old girl, April, who turns out to have ulterior motives for her accusations. Alvin gets one Naughty Alvin star for not assigning a female lawyer to this case. And Nick seems at a loss to know how to react while listening to April's harrowing testimony - just about any woman could have done a better job of showing some sympathy than this 'buttoned-up' corporate lawyer. Which is not to say he doesn't feel sympathetic. After meeting Hunter, who watched his dad kill his mother, and now this, Nick may look and sound unmoved by April's story but behind his eyes I suspect that Mel Gibson's line from The Bounty is probably going through his head: 'I am in hell!'  He's definitely wishing he'd chosen to pick up trash.

He does redeem himself, of course, because The Guardian is all about redemption. He goes beyond the call of duty to try and help April, and his last scene with her, after finding out she was raped at age 9, is beautifully done. Whenever Nick's voice starts to break up you know something's really touched him.

But what this episode is best remembered for is Barbara and Nick's 'date'. He catches her crying, almost walks away but on second thought asks her out to dinner. Barbara's unselfconscious dance in front of the very selfconscious Nick, Jake and Amanda is one of those lovely scenes that does nothing to advance the plot but is simply priceless on its own merits.

The subplot reveals some interesting backstory for the Fallin family, and while you're probably about as interested in the liquidation of a steelworks plant as I am, the fact that Nick is involved in these scenes means that neither of us will have to fast-forward through them on subsequent viewings. He and Burton don't exactly argue over the case, but the distance between father and son is evident in every exchange - they are both inept at discussing anything that might reveal their vulnerabilities. Even when Burton's lingering anger over 'old man Clayton', and his guilt over his father's death, are finally and haltingly expressed, it seems more like a bitter reminiscence than any true attempt to make a connection with Nick.

I found several things about the episode unsatisfactory - we never did find out where April's bruises came from (are we to assume that her boyfriend beats her up?), or why the DNA tests that would prove her stepfather innocent were never mentioned again. It's also not clear why Gail is housing April's boyfriend and letting him openly deal drugs from her home.

By the way, Gail Behrhorst has one of those nifty things to hang your underwear on - I have one too, and they are an excellent spacesaver, ladies.

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* Asks Barbara out to dinner and goes along with her charade, for a bit of fun.

* Gives April's mother the number of a women's shelter, thinking she needs it.

* Hands April a blanket to cover herself during the emergency evacuation.

* Is fairly sympathetic towards April about her rape at age 9.

• Barbara has been at CLS for at least 6 years (she remembers April's previous case).
• Female rape victims in TV-land are subjected to being photographed nude by men.
• The Fallins come from Denora. Burton and his father were involved in a United Steel Workers attempt to unionise Clayton Steel. Burton's father was fired, blackballed, never worked again, became a drunk and died the week Burton passed his bar exam.
• Burton's employee file gives various screwy statistics, such as his height at 5'2" and the fact he already has dependents in the 50s. A previous marriage, perhaps? That could lead to some interesting future storylines.
• Nick is losing $350,000 in billable hours by working at CLS - that's $233 an hour, folks.

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