On Mon, 11 Sep 2006 15:37:11 +0100, Eve-Marie Oesterlen
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>Should anyone be a regular viewer of the relatively new US legal drama TV
>series ŒClose to Home¹ (original air date 1/11/2005) and familiar with the
>contents of episode 5, enticingly entitled ³Romeo and Juliet Murders², I
>would appreciate some enlightenment as to the precise R&J connection.
>
>From the information I have been able to gather so far, the prosecuting
>heroine is involved in a case in which, to quote a fan-blog ³two parents
are
>murdered after they find out a dark secret their children were hiding from
>them. The case is much deeper than meets the eye.² ???
>
>Many thanks,
>Eve
>
>
Hope this helps.
Best,
Ellen
Close to Home
“Romeo and Juliet Murders”
Episode #5, season #1
Airdate: 11 November 2005
CBS
Writer: Jim Leonard
Director: Lewis H. Gould
Close to Home is a legal drama set in a prosecutor’s office. In this
episode, 16-year-old Tracy and 17-year-old Scott Fields, siblings, are
busted by the police for having a loud party at which drugs are found.
They are arrested, claim their unavailable parents are on a European trip,
and produce an itinerary to prove it. Police investigation demonstrates
that the couple never left the country, and a search finds them buried in
a shallow grave, shot in the head execution style. A search of the
Fields’ home shows traces of blood, with the master bedroom washed in
bleach, and the walls repainted. Suspicion turns to the brother and
sister, who have been alone in the house for several weeks before their
arrest.
In an elaborately prepared plot, Tracy claims that Scott murdered her
parents because when their pharmaceutical rep Dad drank or did drugs he
would abuse them both sexually. Accepting a plea bargain, Tracy agrees to
testify against Scott, but changes her story when on the stand, intending
that the case will be thrown out for lack of evidence.
The prosecutors renew their investigation, and ascertain through text
messages that Tracy, the Fields’ biological child, and Scott, an adopted
child, are lovers. Discovered in bed by their enraged parents, they are
threatened with permanent separation from each other. Tracy, described
as “the Drama Club star” and “the little actress," kills the parents and
then coerces Scott into covering up her crime and taking the fall; it is
through her acting ability on the stand that they plan Scott’s eventual
acquittal.
Prosecutor Annabeth Chase (Jennifer Finnigan) describes the plan this way:
“What they are in is ‘forbidden love.’ It is _Romeo and Juliet_,
except in reverse. Why kill yourselves when you can murder your
parents and live in their castle?”
The siblings turn on each other, with Scott providing evidence of the true
murder. They go to jail, with Tracy receiving life without the possibility
of parole. The _Romeo and Juliet_ theme carries over to the lovers’
appearance, which I read as an allusion toward the Zeffirelli 1968
version.
(Sorry for poor image)
Ellen Joy Letostak
Department of English
University of Florida
4008 Turlington Hall
PO Box 117310
Gainesville, FL 32611
http://britishdrama.pbwiki.com
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