In Loco Parentis

[Ginne]

Feel free to ask questions at any point!! Here we go . . .

The episode starts with a classic Lulu spazz scene: Lulu has just been assigned a case by Alvin, in which she has to represent a mother who has a history of of crack addiction. Children's Services has taken her 4 month baby out of the home and is threatening to terminate her rights--but let her keep the two school age boys she also has. The woman has gone through rehab and claims to be clean.

Lulu goes in and starts talking to her, very prim and prissy, and the woman is a bit out of it. Lulu accuses her of using crack again, and the woman has a fit, slapping Lulu across the face.

Lulu returns the slap, and storms out of the office.

[Ginne]

As she leaves her offices, she runs into Alvin and Nick, who are standing in front of the elevators. Alvin asks what happened, and Lulu says something about it being the fault of the "unrepentant crack whore you gave me!."

Nick, ever the peacemaker in a situation like this, gestures to Alvin that he'll take care of it, and goes into the office, where he proceeds to talk to the woman and set up the arrangements for meeting at the courthouse.

[Ginne]

Meanwhile back at F&A, Burton calls Nick into his office. You know Nick is thinking "What now?" It turns out Burton wants Nick to pick him up from an appointment the following morning. When Nick asks if something is wrong with Burton's Cadillac, Burton explains that no, there's nothing wrong with the car, but he's going into the eye hospital for a little procedure.

He goes on to explain that it's a long-term problem that he's been dealing with for a number of years, and this isn't the first procedure they've done. They talk about it a little more, and Nick says, sure, no problem, he'll pick him up at that time (I don't remember what time! )

[Ginne]

Now we switch to the courthouse, where Nick is representing the mother (Melinda), with Lulu sitting second chair.

A woman from the Pittsburgh Children's Project is representing the best interest of the baby, and Laurie Solt is there with one of her social workers, Doris.

Doris takes the stand and testifies that yes, she has visited Melinda's apartment, and everything is acceptable.

Nick stands up and tells the judge that Melinda has completed rehab, she has a job, etc., and that she is now able to regain custody of her daughter. The judge agrees, and grants Melinda custody.

[Ginne]

However, Nick has a sneaking suspicion that all is not right. He corners Doris Greene, Melinda's social worker, and asks her if she really checked out Melinda's apartment. Doris confesses that she went over to the building, but she didn't actually enter the apartment, as she saw a rat and didn't want to go in. She then begs Nick not to tell Laurie.

Nick goes to Laurie and they decide that they should pay Melinda a visit at home, just to see what conditions are like.

Laurie, Doris, Lulu, and Nick show up to check things out (Nick and Lulu as Melinda's attorneys). They go in, and things are fairly tidy, although still very rundown. Laurie tells Melinda that she's satisfied, and they go to leave the apartment. Nick says he'll be down in a minute.

After the others go out, he turns to Melinda's and asks her some questions. It turns out one of her neighbors came over to help her clean things up. One of her sons then starts whining, "Mama, when we gonna get something to eat? I'm hungry."

When she tells the boy she doesn't have any money, Nick takes out two twenty dollar bills and lays them on a table and tells her "Go get your kids something to eat." He then leaves the apartment, and joins the others down on the sidewalk.

[Ginne]

The others are in conversation as Nick joins them and stands there quietly. In a moment, Melinda appears at the building door and hurries off down the street.

Laurie asks "Where is she off to?" and Nick replies "To spend forty dollars."

They take off following her, and catch up just in time to see her make an exchange with a dealer. She catches sight of them and runs off.

When they return to her apartment, she has barricaded herself and the children inside and is claiming to have a gun. She says she won't give up her baby, and they should go away. Laurie calls the police to report the hostage situation.

[Ginne]

Next we see the police have arrived, as has a hostage negotiator. He asks if any of them has any sort of relationship with Melinda. When Doris explains that she is the social worker on the case, he has her try to talk to Melinda on the phone.

Now we have Lulu and Nick standing off in a stairwell alone, where she asks Nick how he can deal with situations like this and remain untouched. He replies that he is affected, he just doesn't let it show.

Melinda agrees to let the two boys go, and for lack of anything else to do in the situation, Nick and Lulu take them back to Legal Services for the night.

[Ginne]

When they get back to Legal Services, they bed the two little boys down on a sofa in the waiting area.

Nick and Lulu then go into the conference room where they can talk quietly.  Lulu starts asking Nick questions--does he care about anyone? Does he ever let anything get to him? Does he value anything?

Nick answers that yes, he cares about people. When she asks who, he refuses to answer. Yes, he says, he cares about people, but he won't tell her. She pushes the issue, and he becomes agitated and replies "What did I ever do to you?"

He goes on to tell her that there are people he cares about, and that he has tendencies now that he has to control (the drugs), and that yes, he keeps things important to him, he has a house.

They settle down for a few minutes. Lulu is sitting on a sofa at the side of the room, and Nick has sort of scooted down in a chair and is trying to rest. Lulu gets up very quietly, comes over, and kisses his cheek.

Nick's eyes snap open and he gets ready to say something, but she stops him, telling him she needs to explain something. She has a boyfriend, whom her parents adore, and who she will probably marry. She ends the speech with "Bryan never looks at me the way you do."

With this, Nick gets up and walks out into the waiting room.

[Ginne]

Next morning, one of them wakes up and wakes the other (I think Nick woke first). One of the boys has disappeared. Frantic, they head back to the apartment building. The boy has shown up there, and is begging the police not to hurt his mother.

I don't remember exactly how it comes about, but Melinda comes out of the apartment, and Nick and Laurie rush in to check on the baby. Laurie puts her hand in the crib, turns to Nick, and says "The baby's cold.)

The older boy then tells Nick that it was not his mom who hurt the baby. She went out for a while and left him in charge. The baby was hungry and wouldn't stop crying, so he gave her a jawbreaker (piece of sugar candy). She sucked on the candy for a while, and then she stopped. The baby had choked to death on the candy.

When we see them all again at the courthouse, Nick goes in to see the judge, where he explains that Melinda is not directly responsible for the baby's death, that it was an accident. She asks him if that is supposed to make this situation any better, as obviously she was guilty of neglect.

[spunkymungbeans]

Bitch!  Why kiss him if she is only going to tell him right away she has a boyfriend.  C*teasa!

Keep going...

[Ginne]

Meanwhile, Nick goes to the eye hospital to pick up Burton. He appologizes for being late, explaining that something came up that had to be dealt with.

Burton says that it's ok. He then goes on to tell Nick how much he hates having to ask Nick for help (you get the idea he hates asking anyone for help).

I think the ep actually ends with Nick in the judges chambers (see previous post) explaining about the baby's death.

[Ginne]

Who knows why she kissed him? It's one of the great mysteries!!! I don't know if you are a Lulu fan or not, but if you are, it definitely makes you think twice about her, doesn't it? Especially as the next episode is the one where she announces that she's engaged.  

Bad Lulu! Bad. Leading our Nick on like that! :angry:

[mb20]

Thanks for typing that up !!  That sounds like a :cool2: episode  .. :happysmile:

Doris confesses that she went over to the building, but she didn't actually enter the apartment, as she saw a rat and didn't want to go in. She then begs Nick not to tell Laurie.

LOL .. :lol: :roll: :lol:

When she tells the boy she doesn't have any money, Nick takes out two twenty dollar bills and lays them on a table and tells her "Go get your kids something to eat."

.. Aww. So sweet.  :razz:


I usually think Lulu is pretty cool .. but the kiss on the cheek, and then immediately mentioning Brian ..  :eye:


So, I don't get it .. the baby died before the whole hostage situation ??  :confused:

[mb20]

Why didn't Nick just leave Lulu with the two boys and LSoP .. and go back home ??  


Were the two little boys cute ? .. :razz:

[Ginne]

Yes, the baby died before the hostage situation. You don't know if Melinda was trying to hide that from the authoritites, or if she was oblivious to the fact.

I don't think Nick was trying to be sweet when he gave her the money--I think he was being shrewd. He knew that if she had enough money, she would head straight to her dealer, which she did. Actually, he was somewhat sweet, because I think he secretly hoped she wouldn't head to the dealer, that she hadn't gone back to the crack. I think his instincts, however, told him to test her.