Episode 30

<--   14 December 2005   -->

Elliot is at Riverdale Farm with Gordon, Gloria and their unstable friend (last seen in episode 213) for a supervised visit with their son, Noah, and his foster mother. The day is a test, and if they can make it through without any “major catastrophe” CAS may consider approving more supervised visits. Gordon notices Noah and his foster mother near the chicken coop, which makes him very upset: “Animals, particularly chickens, carry pandemic viruses, the H5N1 virus, the Avian Flu... This is no place for children.” Gloria and Unstable Man are concerned with a sign that says not to feed the animals. Gloria asks, “What kind of woman takes a child to a place where they keep unfed animals in cages?” Gordon panics and chaos ensues.
Alice meets with her client, Mike Walsh, who was arrested for assaulting an usher at a Toronto Raptors game. He took his son Jake to the game, but could only afford tickets at the very back. After sneaking into some expensive seats, he grew more and more frustrated with all the money all around him and more ashamed of what he thought his son was thinking. When an usher tried to move them Mike lost his temper and assaulted him.
Jack meets with his client, Jim Allister. Jim was arrested when Carolyn Wright caught him taking a clock from her deceased father’s house. Jim asserts that he and his crack-head girlfriend, Tonya, befriended the old man, and that the clock – as well as many other things – was payment for work he did around the house. Problem is Tonya has agreed to testify for the Crown. Jim says she’s lying for the money.
Back at Riverdale Farm, Gordon and Gloria have vanished with their son, Noah, after Unstable Man set all the chickens free, (which he did “because they looked sad.”) Noah’s foster mom is livid and the police have been called to track them down.
Alice talks with Joanne about Mike’s bail situation. Joanne is fed up with Mike’s temper and believes that the best thing for her son right now is to keep him away from Mike. She refuses to bail him out. But at Mike’s bail hearing, Joanne arrives to offer to act as surety. When Alice asks her why she’s changed her mind, she says that Mike called their son from jail. On examination, Rogan presses Joanne about previous domestic charges -- forcing her to admit that their divorce had a lot to do with Mike’s temper. This sets Mike off, and when he loses his temper in court, Joanne changes her mind again.
At Jim Allister’s Trial, Menon examines Carolyn. She points out that her father didn’t have any friends and was never considered a generous man. She adds that the most she ever got from her father was about $15 on her birthday. On cross, Jack points out that since Carolyn never visited or spoke with her father, she wouldn’t know who he was or wasn’t friends with.
Bridget Gregg, a healthy-looking business woman, is in the dock in Mental Health Court. Ms. Gregg went to her daughter’s daycare to pick her up and then denied the child brought out was hers. She began raving on about her husband conspiring with their new housekeeper to kidnap their daughter and take her to Brazil. She then called the police, accusing the daycare of trying to keep her daughter from her. She became violent when paramedics tried to put her in an ambulance. She was arrested for assault after kicking a paramedic in the groin so hard he passed out. Her husband is baffled; nothing she’s saying makes any sense to him.
Mike Walsh loses his temper when Alice tells him in Plea Court that he will have to undergo anger management counselling: “I need my anger. You’re not taking my anger away from me!” He pushes Judge Fraser too far, and Fraser sentences him to six months. Afterwards, he offers his advice to Alice: “You better start shopping for a higher class clientele… I mean don’t you just want to slap them silly sometimes?”
Jim Allister takes the stand at his trial. When Menon cross-examines him and accuses him of taking an act of kindness from a sick, old man and milking it for all that he could, Jim shoots himself in the foot: “Well, you say it like that and I’m guilty as shit.”
Elliot returns to his office, where Unstable Man is waiting for him with his new pet chicken. Unstable Man reluctantly tells him that Gordon has talked about a “secret place” that he plans to take Noah and Gloria. He takes Elliot to the docks where he, Gordon, Gloria and Noah board a tug boat bound for Greenland. They plan to start new lives there, where people will accept who they are.
In Mental Health Court, Dr. Neuman explains that Bridget is suffering from her first psychotic episode. He believes that the many stresses in her life have contributed to it. He recommends that she be placed in a hospital for treatment. Alice suggests a bail agreement, but Neuman and Malone both think it could be dangerous for her to go back to her family right away. She screams hysterically for her baby as she’s taken back to the cells.