‘Defending Jacob’ Episode 7: Recap/Review (Spoiler Alert)

I truly thought I had this figured out and then I watched this rollercoaster of an episode. Now I don’t know what to believe. This episode is full speed ahead with Jacob’s trial. I’m thankful we got to see so much of it, it really delivers.

Before the trial, the opening scene of the episode is a flashback of Andy and Neal in a bar. Andy is giving Neal some tips on how to succeed in his first murder case. It’s definitely not a good foreshadow considering that Neal is the prosecutor on Jacob’s case. In the present day, they’re getting ready for court and Joanna asks that all information about Billy Barber be withheld. The judge agrees. After the first day of the trial Andy sees the guy who had been parked outside their house standing across the street from the courthouse. He finds out that the guy is a gangster, but they can’t do anything about him unless he threatens the family.

Another day in court Derek is called up to the stand and reveals a bombshell of information. He explains to the court Jacob’s use of a violent pornographic site and the fact that Jacob posted a story about Ben’s murder on the site just three days after the news broke of Ben’s death. The likelihood of Jacob’s innocence practically gets tossed out the window considering the story is told in the first person.

That night at the Barber house Andy and Laurie are discussing Jacob’s innocence and Laurie reveals that she doesn’t believe her son is innocent. That didn’t surprise me, you could tell she had doubts all along but didn’t want to admit it. They argue about it for a while and they could have some marital problems after all of this. The final scene of the episode is also another bombshell revelation. Leonard Patz is at his apartment writing a letter. He addresses it to Ben’s parents and writes that he is the one who killed him.

Personally, I still don’t believe that Leonard killed Ben. It seems too obvious and I still stand by my original assumption. I’ll tell you all if I was right next week. I wrote last week about how I wanted the trial to take up most of the episode and I was pleasantly surprised. I could definitely feel the tension and the drama in the room. Whether it was from Ben’s mother crying, Joanna shouting “objection” constantly or Laurie’s perpetual worried look I felt like I was really there. I never felt that the trial was rushed in any way. When the series first began I saw a lot of people complain that it should have been made into a movie and that the first half dragged along. I can understand where they came from, but if the series had been made into a movie we would not have gotten the extensive detail that we’re given. I’d rather sit through a few lagging episodes as opposed to rushed detail in a two-hour film. I also didn’t expect Laurie to admit to doubting Jacob. One of the things I really love about Laurie’s character is her ability to convey so much emotion without saying much. There are times when you know exactly what she is thinking and you’re just waiting for it all to come out, but it never does. Now that the cat’s out of the bag I’m really anxious to see how everything unfolds in the final episode next week.

Share your thoughts with us on Twitter! Who do you think committed the crime? Is Laurie right to doubt Jacob? Stay tuned for next week.