Written By Ian Biederman
Directed By Norberto Barba
A former rock star turned "mental health activist" and self-proclaimed psychiatric expert (Norman Reedus) wages an anti-psychiatric-drug campaign during the trial of an unstable young woman (Brittany Snow) who, upon ceasing her medication at his indirect advice despite her parents' (Jeff Mc Carthy and Marsha Dietlein) blessings, gave two false rape accusations against his classmates (John Sutherland and Brandon Gill) and mowed down 10 people with her car.
This episode provides examples of:
- And Starring: Norman Reedus in the guest stars lineup.
- A Day in the Limelight: Casey reveals her Dark and Troubled Past with a schizophrenic ex-fiancee.
- Dark and Troubled Past
- Casey had a schizophrenic ex-fiancée back in Law School.
- Derek Lord was subjected to electroshock therapy, which leads to his resentment over psychiatric treatment in general.
- Double-Meaning Title: The title refers to the pharmaceutical meaning, peer pressure, and following your idol's ideology.
- Driven to Suicide: Jamie's car crash is determined to have been a suicide attempt on her part.
- False Rape Accusation: The story's first arc revolves on Jamie falsely accusing two of her classmates of rape.
- Know-Nothing Know-It-All: Derek Lord seems to think he's an expert on psychiatry, when it turns out he never finished college. Casey calls him out on this.Lord: With all due respect, Ms. Novak, you're a lawyer—
Novak: And you're a rock star. So you'll excuse me if I don't defer to your expertise on the subject. - Mood-Swinger: Jamie has Bipolar Disorder, and her refusal to treat it is the driving narrative of the episode.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Once back on her bipolar medication, Jamie expresses tearful regret for the people she hurt (particularly the young girl she killed) and for having allowed Derek Lord to manipulate her for his own agenda.
- Never My Fault: Jamie never takes responsibility for her actions, and even tries to blame her parents for them. She drops this attitude once she's back on her medication.
- No Medication for Me: Jamie, under Derek Lord's influence, ditches her meds. This causes a problem since her consistent medication is part of the court order she received in the previous trial.
- Outliving One's Offspring: Jamie killed a teenage girl attempt to commit suicide via car crash. The girl's father is visibly grieving.
- Ripped from the Headlines: Based on Tom Cruise's statements against psychiatric medicine.
- Season Finale: The seventh one.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Famous rock star Derek Lordnote expresses anti-psychiatry and anti-medication views in a TV interview, saying that pills destroy people's brains. One of his fans, a high school girl with bipolar disorder, watches him and decides to stop taking her medication, resulting in her going through a week-long manic phase where she has sex with two boys, falsely accuses them of rape, gets them and herself expelled from school, then tries to kill herself in a car accident, injuring 6 people and killing a 14-year-old girl.
