A Perfect Family (Season 24, Episode 17)
Premise: A 12-year-old girl is pushed to her death from the High Line, and when her mother proves to be gripped by postpartum psychosis, the prosecutors try to hold the girl’s father responsible for keeping her from treatment.
- Air date
- Season/Episode
- Season 24, Episode 17
- Detectives
- Det. Vincent Riley (Reid Scott)
- ADAs/DA
- Exec. ADA Nolan Price (Hugh Dancy), ADA Samantha Maroun (Odelya Halevi), DA Nicholas Baxter (Tony Goldwyn)
- Guest stars
- Allison Miller as Melinda Chapman, Brett Zimmerman as Derek Chapman, Nina Hellman as Dr. Catherine Burns, Natalie Gold as defense attorney Megan Wallace, Zack Ignoffo as Mark Redmond
- Director
- Michael Smith
- Writers
- Rick Eid & Jennifer Vanderbes
Summary
The Investigation
“A Perfect Family” opens with Riley quizzing his daughter, Bridget, before a test. Soon after, a girl of about 12 is found dead below the High Line with her valuables untouched. Mohammed Abdi, a fruit vendor who called 911, heard an argument above but saw nothing. With Shaw still out sick, Riley and Brady take the case. A bagel shop cashier identifies the girl as Emily Chapman, the oldest of three daughters of hedge fund manager Derek Chapman and his wife, Melinda, who is home with a seven-month-old baby.
School head Patricia Kern mentions a feud with classmate Gabby Feliciano, who wrecked Emily’s locker. Gabby points to volleyball coach Mark Redmond, who gave Emily private sessions; her last disappearing message to “Coach,” sent that morning, apologizes and says she can’t do it anymore. Redmond says she meant the workouts and hints at trouble at home. Melinda calls him a creep, but street video instead places Melinda near a coffee shop minutes after the 911 call, though she claimed she never left home. A bus dash camera shows her pushing Emily over the railing, and she is arrested.
The Trial
Melinda’s lawyer moves to plead insanity. A prosecution psychiatrist, Dr. Nancy Willis, hears Melinda say a voice warned her Emily meant to kill the baby. Dr. Catherine Burns says Melinda came to her a week before the killing describing demons, but Derek turned down hospital care and tore up the antipsychotic prescription. Baxter questions going beyond negligent homicide but agrees: the office accepts Melinda’s insanity plea and charges Derek with second-degree manslaughter. Melinda testifies that Derek dismissed the voices and raised divorce if she took the drug; his lawyer, Megan Wallace, gets her to admit he never physically stopped her.
Derek, a former Navy SEAL, testifies that he saw no sign of illness and that Melinda killed Emily out of resentment. The couple’s ten-year-old, Amanda, tells the prosecutors her father saw her mother talking to no one and told the girls to ignore it, but her grandmother, Jane Dyer, warns that Amanda has spoken of not wanting to live. Derek rejects a plea to manslaughter with three to five years, and a heated exchange with Maroun follows. Price calls Amanda anyway, but once she is on the stand he asks her nothing and has her excused.
Spoiler, the ending: The jury finds Derek not guilty, and he is greeted by one of his daughters as he leaves court. In the closing exchange, one voice says he got off easy, and the reply is that Derek knows he is responsible for Emily’s death and will carry it for life. Earlier in the case, Riley visits Bridget at school to tell her she can always come to him.
Why it stands out
- Shaw is out sick for a second straight episode, leaving Riley to work the case with Brady.
- Riley’s daughter, Bridget (Justine Colan), appears in two scenes; after seeing Emily’s body, he pulls her aside at school to promise he will listen to her problems.