Date of airing: November 2, 1999 (CBS)
Nielsen ratings information: 15.62 million viewers, 11.0/19 in Households, 4.4/12 with Adults 18-49
written by: David W. Zucker
directed by: James Hayman
Sometimes, episodes like this have me wonder how much writers know about the stuff they are writing. This episode had two major storylines involving children who, according to the eyes of the writer, are not the "standard" type of kids you get to see in the world – one is black, and the other is deaf. This episode took to task of explaining why their adolescence is different from "normal" kids, and it had me question the writers' room and who may or may not have had similar experiences as the two kids in this episode. What does a white writer like David W. Zucker understand about African-American culture and its importance to the raising of a child? What does he understand about living with deafness? Those questions get a little weirder to think about when you include the storyline of Vincent's writing class and his paraphrasing Flannery O'Connor's words about surviving childhood and how everyone has enough information to last them the rest of their lives, when it comes to writing words on paper.
In a way, this episode of JUDGING AMY followed O'Connor's words, which Vincent talked about at the end of the episode – who knows how many writers of this show dealt with similar or the same issues as the two kids. But I cannot overlook the notion that the episode also took charge of explaining that a black child can only learn about racial bias when raised by black parents (or a black community). It went so far as to put a crack in the working relationship between Amy and Bruce to make sure that she knew he did not like her judgment in the case and did not shy away from yelling it at her face. And that makes me wonder: Was this episode, written by a white man, a lecture on morality on how to raise black children, or was this episode an example of "you survived your childhood, so you have all the stories you need to write about?" Can both things be part of the same episode?
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| This is what happens when DCF comes to take your little brother away from you. |
This episode was okay. I may not have liked the fact that the writers pulled the racial card for this episode, but I did appreciate that Maxine's case was given ample enough screentime to make me care about the story of the brothers and how Maxine brought herself front and center, and against co-worker Eliza to keep the brothers together. I could almost say that the writers may have had more fun writing for
Tyne Daly than for Amy Brenneman, although I am wondering if that may
have been done on purpose here, considering the racially charged
undertones in Amy’s story, as well as the fact that Maxine’s story was
emotionally more approachable for a general audience. But yeah, pulling that
argument about a black child in a white (foster) family was a weird thing to do, especially considering the fact that Hartford has a larger percentage of African-American people than white people when it comes to population numbers (according to the 2020 census), so I do not quite get why this was such an issue for Bruce here. Maybe I do not know anything about the topic, or things were looking a little different in 1999.
That being said, Amy should not have been shocked about her realization that Bruce has a daughter. A few episodes ago, she was asking him if he was single or had a family, and he answered with “single.” She did not ask the necessary questions (especially when she realized he was answering some of them), so she had an incomplete picture of him, as she must have noticed during their working relationship that, while she was sharing a lot about her home life, he was most likely doing none of that, keeping to himself and his home life away from work. Plus, I do not believe that Amy thought she had a good friend and CSO in Bruce when she knew absolutely nothing about the man, with the exception of his middle name, allergies, and whether or not he was single.
As I mentioned, Maxine’s case was splendid. I love it when the writers put some effort into making cases difficult for both sides of the “law.” I was able to get the arguments of both Eliza and Maxine about separating or not separating the brothers, and if I had been the judge in this matter, I would have probably had a hard time making a decision. Then again, if I would have been the judge, I would have had enough information to make a sound and logical judgment. Also, I loved that the writers included some backstory for Eliza, and had her be part of Maxine's past as a DCF worker, showcasing that some of Maxine’s clients from her past can come back into her life in a positive sense, proving that she did a great job back then, helping kids and teenagers figure out their stuff before mentoring them to do great. And with Eliza’s shared backstory with Maxine, as well as the notion that Eliza herself is involved with DCF, one could hope that this episode was not Marlee Matlin’s only appearance on JUDGING AMY. She is a first-class actor, and her name is most likely known to a general audience, so one might think that she was asked to recur in this series – but I assume that her recurring role on THE WEST WING at the same time may have prevented that from happening.
In the meantime, I liked that Maxine built up a “special relationship” with Kevin’s brother Paul, though, on the other hand, it created a bit of a plothole in the story: When DCF was interested in getting Kevin out of his brother’s surroundings, did no one bother to think about the fact that Paul lost his mother as well, and that he might have been suffering some sort of emotional trauma? Not to mention that DCF initially allowed Paul, himself still a teenager, to drop out of high school, so that he could take care of his younger brother. This is no PARTY OF FIVE, DCF made some horrible decisions in this case from the beginning, starting with allowing Paul essentially sole custody rights without anyone checking up on the brothers, and ending with DCF not giving them any type of assistance, whether those are of a financial or therapeutic nature.
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| If this continues like that, they will never be a couple. |
In the meantime, Vincent may have been a little goalless at this stage of the season. Did the writers know what to do with his character? We know he is a writer, and we know he is a little sensitive about most topics, but the writers had him aimlessly go through the narrative for seven consecutive hours now. He had a girlfriend (one with a teenage daughter no less), a potential book deal, and now he was being a teacher for people who do not know what writing is. It is like the writers have figured the character out to a tee, but had no idea what to do with him after that.
But I did love that Vincent got to learn something about his father he never knew. The decision of raising a family and creating a business from scratch versus going to medical school at Yale University while your wife is pregnant with your first child is definitely worth talking about in the narrative, and I loved that Peter took part in the story as well. Not only did the writers not forget him (sometimes I forget about him), but I can sort of understand why their father decided on the “familyman business,” giving up a dream of a high-paying career to follow the path of his other family dream that he may or may not have had – who really knows?
