Written By Jonathan Greene
Directed By Arthur W. Forney
The attempted kidnapping of a six-year-old girl (Abigail Breslin) uncovers a fertility doctor's (David Forsyth) scheme to steal the unused embryos of his clients to implant in other women; a custody battle ensues between the child's biological (Lea Thompson) and birth parents (Beau Gravitte and Camilla Scott) in a case where there is no clear winner.
This episode provides examples of:
- And Starring: "Special Guest Star Lea Thompson" plus the regular guest-stars lineup ending "With Tamara Tunie as Dr. Melinda Warner and Abigail Breslin as Patty Branson".
- Batman Gambit: Casey deliberately re-traumatizes a frightened child victim on the witness stand in the hope this will prompt her kidnapper to react in the specific way needed to end the case favorably, even though the kidnapper has, to this point, never demonstrated any respect for the well-being of the child.
- Beach Episode: Michelle Osborne kidnaps Patty and takes her to her beach house in Queens.
- Bittersweet Ending: As Casey notes, neither party will win due to the emotional toll of the case. Meanwhile, Dr. Norton may be facing more criminal charges, regardless of whether or not he was convicted earlier.
- Common Nonsense Jury: Casey is convinced one of these will acquit Michelle, even though the law is clear; even though jury nullification here would mean further traumatizing an innocent child, and would be a precedent that would threaten the relationships of every parent with their children.
- Empty Bedroom Grieving: Michelle keeps her daughter's bedroom furnished and decorated, but Huang notices something significant—unlike most grieving parents who keep such rooms frozen in time at the age their child disappeared/died, hers has been updated to be appropriate for a 6 year old rather than a toddler, showing that she genuinely believes that her daughter is alive somewhere and that they'll be reunited.
- Family Title: Who has the right for Patty's custody, her birth parents or her biological mother?
- Hollywood Law: Michelle proclaims that once she is acquitted she will use that verdict as precedent to take custody of Patty, which is nonsense - a criminal acquittal wouldn't even be an affirmation of any part of her argument (let alone precedent in a different court), since the standard for acquittal is reasonable doubt, not preponderance of the evidence - it doesn't mean the finder of fact agrees with any of her claims.
- Honor Before Reason: Michelle's henchmen keep stalking Patty even after it's clear they will be professionally ruined and imprisoned for it, because they apparently still hold to the belief that Michelle is Patty's "real mother", regardless of what the law has to say about it.
- It's All About Me: Michelle, until (thankfully) her Heel–Face Turn at the end, shows no interest at all in well-being of the child she claims as her own (or in the interests of anyone else). In prison she smugly proclaims that her genetic relationship means Patty belongs to her and she will never leave Patty alone; this is after a kidnapping incident in which she must have seen that Patty was traumatized by her behavior.
- Jerk Justifications: Casey invokes the Judgment of Solomon trope in the climactic scene by deliberately badgering Patty Branson in the middle of the trial to force Michelle to relinquish her claim for Patty.
- Judgment of Solomon: The story of the Trope Namer is discussed by Elliot and Casey regarding the case of Michelle Osborne and the Bransons. Casey then got an idea from it and deliberately badgers Patty in the middle of the trial.
- Inverted, as in this case it is the woman who objects to the child's harsh judicial treatment, Michelle, who is deemed the fake parent and forfeits her claim to custody.
- Mistaken for Pedophile: Michelle Osborne's hired investigators are great at tracking down their targets, but they have a very poor sense of discretion. To be specific, when they found Patty they just grabbed her in the middle of an open playground with their getaway vehicle being a suspicious black van. Their demeanor also don't help.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Michelle Osborne finally sees the psychological and emotional damage she did to Patty during Casey's Jerkass turn above.
- My Greatest Second Chance: A major reason why Michelle Osborne wants to have Patty is because her own daughter was taken from her (read: died, but she never moved on because there was no corpse found).
- Never Found the Body: Subverted in that there was no body to find, since Anna and her father died in a gasoline tank explosion. Deconstructed in that Michelle latched onto this fact and deluded herself into believing her daughter would come home one day, until eventually she happened upon her other biological daughter and decided to kidnap her.
- No Body Left Behind: Olivia concludes that this is what happened to Michelle Osborne's daughter since she was immolated when she was just two.
- Older Than He Looks: Everyone calls the younger one of the private investigators a teenager (Patty and even Benson refer to him as a "big boy" rather than an adult), but he's actually 23. He uses his youthful appearance to close in on the children he's going to snatch.
- Outliving One's Offspring: Michelle Osborne's real child was actually killed along with her husband in 1998.
- Pædo Hunt: Subverted. The alleged pedophiles that the main characters and a Badass Bystander chased are just hired investigators tasked by their supposed victim's biological mother to retrieve her.
- Selective Obliviousness: Michelle Osborne has always been in denial about her daughter's demise, since her daughter's body was never found.
- Shout-Out: Elliot brings up the story King Solomon from The Bible, which becomes a plot point.
- Stalker without a Crush: In this case, "it's because she's my biological daughter, so I have to have her".
- Even the people Michelle hires to kidnap Patty seem to have this trait, as they keep stalking her even after they've been locked up for it, forfeiting half a million dollars' bail apiece.
- The Unfettered: Michelle Osborne will do anything and everything to get Patty.
- Van in Black: The main tool for transport of Michelle Osborne's hired investigators. Unfortunately for them, its infamous reputation catches up with them.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: We never find out what happened to Michelle's henchmen - Michelle pleads guilty but her plea is not binding on them, so the trial should continue.
- White-and-Grey Morality: The birth parents who raised and loves Patty against Patty's biological mother who also loves her but is willing to do everything, even causing her distress, just to have her.
