Accused – Season 1 Episode 4 “Kendall’s Story” Recap & Review

Kendall’s Story

Mr Kendall Gomillion is in Hamilton Prison, Cincinnati, Ohio as episode 4 of Accused begins, before going back to the past to learn what happened.

Kendall Gomillion partying with his childhood friends, singing on the karaoke machine. Stevie is a friend of Kendall’s. He asks him for work. But Lamar, who is sitting opposite Kendall, admonishes him for disturbing them. Lamar and David are Kendall’s best friends. Kendall asks him to call next week. He might have something. Alisa and he are called away by Detective Douglas to the station. Their daughter Ingrid’s babysitter, Amber, apologises to them and they check on Ingrid. Douglas informs them that a pervert cornered Ingrid in the park, pulled down her underwear, and touched her genitals. He ran away when Amber called out for Ingrid.

The police have a good description and have put out an APB. When they reach home, they find Lamar and some other friends waiting for them. Lamar had told them about what happened to Ingrid, upsetting Alisa and Kendall. Lamar gets angry when he learns the perp is white and worries the police might not take it seriously. Kendall is swelled with guilt for letting it happen to Ingrid. Alisa tries to calm him down. But the parents fear that Ingrid might not be able to take her catechism and hence, her First Communion this year.

In the present, Douglas is asked to determine Kendall’s behaviour during the investigation. The Prosecutor alleges he was aggressive and overbearing but Douglas characterizes it as normal. The allegation is that Kendall became violent in his obsession to find the perp and stands trial for the homicide because of that. Back in the past, we see Kendall working. Lamar says that Douglas is a coward and looked the other way in the Omar Keelings murder; a black man who was killed by a white police officer. He suggests they gather their friends with bats and look for the perp. Kendall holds his ground.

Kendall goes to the station. He looks aggravated but Douglas says he is just following procedure. Kendall asks for the officer’s assurance he will not look the other way. Douglas gives his word to find the perp. Kendall pushes Ingrid to take the test but Alisa says she is not ready. He asks for her trust and Alisa agrees. Lamar comes to their house and says they found the guy. He asks Kendall not to call Douglas and that he can come back for Ingrid’s catechism. When they reach Winton park, the perp is not to be seen. The clock ticks on but Kendall does not make it back to the house.

They spot someone in the bushes and see a man running into a public bathroom. Lamar does not let Kendall go back and they break down the door to get to him. The trio beats him mercilessly and leave. Kendall is not able to make it to the catechism. In the background, we see the Father discussing the meaning of sin and how anger can drive us to do horrible things. Alisa reprimands Kendall for not showing up. She reports that Ingrid did well on the test.

The next morning, Douglas shows up at their house. He informs Kendall that the man was found in the park late that night but he was dead by the time EMTs arrived. His name was Clyde. Douglas suspects him but does not say anything out loud. When he mentions the catechism, Douglas gets suspicious and Kendall gets defensive. Kendall informs Alisa and confronts Lamar and David, the other friend he was with when they beat up Clyde. Kendall still feels they should tell the truth and gets into a fight with Lamar when he starts blaming him for inciting the violent act.

Douglas confronts Kendall in the church and asks him to come clean. The officer presses him for an answer and says that the forensic report might not give him a chance out of this problem. But Kendall declines his offer. Alisa confronts Kendall when he comes home late and does now answer her calls. He was in the park, thinking about what he did but does not mention anything to Douglas. He does come clean about not being at work during Ingrid’s catechism. Kendall accepts he was so wound up that he started hitting the man and breaks down while he tells Alisa.

She calms him down and says that Kendall should tell the truth to Douglas. But Kendall says he cannot be in a position to do so. He has to choose between Lamar going back to prison and Ingrid growing up without a father. Kendall decides to do what Alisa tells him and goes to the station. Alisa says Ingrid will understand her father made a mistake and Kendall will be alright. When he informs Douglas, the detective says he cannot help Kendall as Lamar has already put the blame on him.

At the trial, we see David has turned against Kendall too. We see that in the past, Douglas made a veiled remark to the men when they came to report Kendall about how much Kendall has helped them in life. David is hesitant and conflicted about what he is doing. But his older brother has sway over him. We go back to the present where Lamar testifies against Kendall, which makes him visibly upset. He disrupts the court on several occasions before trying to come at Lamar.

Douglas has a moment with a chained-up Kendall. He consoles him and says that he believes Kendall is telling the truth. Douglas says he looked away once and a young man – Omar Keelings – lost his life. But not this time. He promises Kendall he will do everything to get him out of jail and set things right.

The Episode Review

There is no way Fox could have let this episode finish without any redemption for the viewer. Episode 3 brought a lot of backlash for how it ended: without hope, even though with a biting flavour of some of the ugly things that happen in our twisted world. But Douglas’ admission in the dying minutes of the episode ought to have set things right.

This episode had the underlying history of racism and police brutality in America. But it also had marked observations about sexual assault and more subtle human emotions like guilt and savagery. Kendall’s is a story we have all seen and read about before, so the makers did not truly do something out of the ordinary.

Still, episode 4 reflected the solemn ambition of Fox to let Accused be a hard-hitting crime drama that may not always be a comfortable watch.