'Burden of Truth' Season 3 Episode 2 Review: Is Joanna's faith in Kodie enough to help her custody battle?
Spoilers for 'Burden of Truth' Season 3 Episode 2 'Wherever You Go'
It's a painful and touching episode in equal parts. On one hand, we have Joanna Hanley's (Kristin Kreuk) absolute conviction and faith in her childhood friend Kodie Chartrand's (Sera-Lys McArthur) capabilities to be the parent she never had. On the other hand, Kodie's struggles with acquiring sole custody of her two daughters meet a disastrous end. Heartbreak and the usual cliches of legal dramas aside, what really grabs the attention in Episode 2 of Burden of Truth's Season 3 is the flashback of Joanna and Kodie from their childhood - a possible hint at why Joanna feels so fiercely about helping Kodie in these trying times. But even with Joanna doing all she can out of an innate feeling of owing Kodie big time, is her faith in her best friend enough to salvage Kodie's sinking custody battle?
The episode kicked off with Joanna and Billy Crawford (Peter Money) doing their last-minute prep for Kodie's custody battle. Kodie lists down all the people she can think of who might have a vendetta against her and would call the Millwood Family Services to take away her two kids. But it is during her conversation with Kodie's eldest Madison that Joanna learns of a possible suspect: Crystal. Kodie and Joanna confront the woman too, but it ends with Joanna getting mocked about her father - thus revealing further murky family business that look similar to the flashbacks we keep seeing from Joanna's past.
Kodie also tells Joanna about Crystal trying to initiate Madison into a gang she was a part of and before Kodie could save her daughter, they had already beaten Madison up as some insane initiation ritual. With leads going nowhere and Billy finding hidden drugs in Kodie's apartment, where Joanna had sent him to look for final clues, Kodie's chances start looking bleak. But Joanna won't rest unless she's won the case for her friend. Dismissing Billy's suspicions about Kodie's possible relapse and employing Luna and Kat to hunt down a person they believe is Kodie's daughter's biological father, Joanna doesn't crack.
With the custody battle not allowing prior clarity on witnesses, Joanna has Luna and Kat on the job to dig up dirt on anybody who testifies against Kodie. They expose Madison's 7th-grade teacher for moonlighting as a lingerie model and later when True's biological grandmother Marlene takes the stand and accuses Kodie of hooking her son onto drugs, Joanna counters her saying it was Marlene's alcoholism that sowed seeds of addiction in her son.
Unfortunately, the drug tests on both their parts cause a massive loss on Kodie's end. For some reason, Marlene's come back negative while Kodie's tests positive and inevitably, full custody of both the girls goes to Marlene. Kodie's heartbreak is overshadowed by Joanna's continuous attempt at getting her visitation rights at this point and even though Billy doesn't quite understand this, he promises to stay by her side and help her get justice for this friend who matters so much to her.
We are still left in doubt about why Joanna feels so obligated to Kodie, but her faith in her dysfunctional friend trying to mend her ways is commendable and only makes for a compelling drama in terms of television treats. Joanna's faith isn't however, a proof or testimony strong enough to certify Kodie as a functional mother so there's more to come on her list of woes in the future.
'Burden of Truth' season 3 airs on Thursdays at 8 pm only on The CW.
