'Burden of Truth' Season 3 Episode 3 Review: Will Joanna be able to help Kodie from an expected relapse?
Spoilers for Season 3 Episode 3 'No Fathers and Sons'
After a devastating loss in the custody battle for Kodie Chartrand's (Sera Lys McArthur) two young daughters, Joanna Chang's (Kristin Kreuk) need to help her childhood friend sees a further, more intense spur. But while Joanna does whatever she can — following up every lead both vague and concrete to pay back Kodie for her favors as a child, things aren't as easy as one would expect a regular fictional drama to be. Perhaps to carry the plot forward, or even to offer additional layers to the meaty plot, we see a riff in Joanna and Kodie's friendship as the latter's faith from Joanna's capabilities starts evaporating.
Understandable in all fairness, Kodie's lack of faith in Joanna is also a wonderfully realistic portrayal of the desperation in a former addict as she holds on to dear sobriety for the very two things that have now been taken away from her. And when not exploring those fine tropes of drama, the episode also offers some much-needed answers about Joanna's pregnancy that viewers must have been anticipating since the third season's premiere. But even with Joanna's little wins along the way, one can't overlook the ultimate question about Kodie's sobriety: how long will she sustain? Will this crisis cause her to relapse?
The episode kicks off with yet another setback for Joanna, in terms of Kodie's case. After Kodie's daughter, True's biological grandmother Marlene getting joint custody of both the girls, Joanna's first tasks at hand was getting Kodie visiting rights. She managed to succeed at that, but Kodie's first supervised visit gets cut short by 10 minutes and that is only the tip of the giant iceberg their ship had been hit with. The silver lining arrives in the form of the Millwood Family Services file, where Joanna and her partner Billy Crawford (Peter Mooney) find an anonymous neighbor lodging their complaint against the Chartrand children for negligence, and soon they discover it is none other than Billy's own father — Hank.
Soon it is outed that Marlene had posed as a social worker and paid Hank off to lodge a false complaint and that should be a positive development in their case if it weren't for Hank constantly derailing signing a sworn affidavit admitting the same. Fron dragging Billy to the race tracks to betting him long shots and then getting drunk — Hank pulls off the facade of taking his son for a fun outing too well for someone who wants to confess to the injustices they have participated in. But the guise of his fatherly affections soon falls flat when they go for a celebratory drink and end up getting blackout drunk enough to bring up old brawls and end up getting arrested.
Joanna, however, keeps on struggling earnestly to find at least one semblance of proof that would work in favor of Kodie, while Kodie keeps pushing her away Joanna goes through Kodie's stuff and finds a birthday card from Marlene sent to True, thus establishing that the older woman had a relationship with her grandchild - something she had lied about in court. When she asks Kodie's elder daughter Madison about it, Joanna learns Kodie was aware of the card and chose to keep it from her. She also learns of a heated argument between Kodie and Marlene over a $100,000 cheque along with an illegal petition of custody for True in the Chartrand's garage - thus invalidating all claims of Marlene as a fit parent.
One would think things are finally looking good for Kodie, but the court, now deeming Marlene an unfit parent too, hands the two girls to foster care — something that strains Joanna and Kodie's relationship further with Kodie essentially firing Joanna. Kodie's reaction to Joanna's constant failures in getting the outcome they want is understandable. She is a grieving mother who just wants her children back and would settle for nothing less. The fact that she doesn't understand how helpless Joanna feels does little to help her situation, thus increasing our concerns about her nearing a relapse if things don't work out the way she wants them to.
As for Joanna, we find out she is not pregnant, so her concerns about not being a great mom have been sidetracked for now. But making an entrance back into her life is her ex, Alan, who offers her and Billy a job involving his hedge fund company. Contemplating the offer, we see Joanna clearly interested in taking it up. But what remains to be seen is how, should she take up the offer, will this impact her work on Kodie's case. Will Joanna's obvious distraction and possible shift in priorities cause Kodie to spiral further? The episode also offers a flashback from Joanna's past that suggests Kodie might have helped her to run away from home when they were much younger; but will Joanna's gratitude be able to save Kodie from her past darkness? Only time will tell.
'Burden of Truth' is a CBC show, now airing Season 3 every Thursday at 8 pm on The CW.