Reasonable Doubt – Season 2 Episode 4 “Primetime” Recap & Review

Primetime

Episode 4 of Reasonable Doubt Season 2 starts with Shanelle having a nightmare about the day she killed Tucker. In this dream, they were fighting after he found her in the middle of leaving him. He refused, and she lashed out, attacking him from the back and killing him with a fierce rage. Is this how it really went down?

Meanwhile, Lewis picks Spenser up from school. Lewis is surprised that his son is thinking of quitting basketball for a musical. He worries that Spenser might be ruining his future over a girl and teases him about wearing wigs and tights. His words strike a chord with Spenser.

In the meantime, Jax is in the office, talking to Daniel about Adrian’s mysterious return. After his release, Adrian went MIA for three weeks but he is finally back. Daniel offers to watch Adrian to find out what he is up to. Jax is also busy dealing with Corey. He wants Shanelle to appear on a prime-time interview show to speak her truth. He has already lined up the journalist and asked the Sheriff’s department. 

He convinces Jax it is a good idea to change the public’s perception of Shanelle. After Jax comes on board, Corey asks her to convince Shanelle. Jax visits her friend in jail and asks her to consider doing the show. She warns Shanelle that it won’t be easy and she will have to start the story from the beginning. 

We circle back to the first time Shanelle met Tucker. She was working for a magazine and was in charge of Tucker’s shoot. Tucker immediately set his eyes on her and made some moves. However, Shanelle was not interested and was more focused on her career. Somehow, Tucker managed to get her attention and flew her to Atlanta to watch his game. They ended up talking all night and Shanelle told him about her insecurities. She felt safe with him and he talked about wanting to marry a good woman and settle down. He came off as a family-oriented man.

Presently, Lewis talks to Jax about Spenser dropping basketball for theatre. Jax thinks it is cool, but Lewis says it is a waste. Their talk is cut short as Jax leaves for work. A few minutes later, Lewis gets a call from school that Spenser got into a fight. Spenser ends up getting suspended, but he lies about how the fight happened. 

At first, Lewis thought that Spenser was defending himself against a bully and low-key applauded him. However, it turns out Spenser hit a boy for saying some homophobic comments to him. Spenser feels frustrated that he is expected to keep up appearances. He admits that he got mad not because of the boy’s comments but what his father said after learning he wanted to sing in a play.

We circle back to the Shanelle interview and things are tense between Tanya, the journalist, and Corey. They have been sleeping together, but she is pissed that he is using her. She says he likes being the only one who gets satisfied by their deals. 

The interview gives us a deeper look into Tucker’s and Shanelle’s relationship. After dating for a while, Tucker asked Shanelle to think about leaving her job and family in L.A to move to Atlanta. Shanelle was hesitant until Tucker proposed. However, the emotional abuse started soon after and after Tucker retired, the physical assault started. He became more disrespectful, shoving his affairs on her face and demeaning her every chance he got. Tanya asks why Shanelle never left sooner and tries to get her off her game. Thankfully, Shanelle remains composed, answering all the invasive questions calmly.

Tanya brings up the 9-1-1 call and Jax pauses the interview out of concern for Shanelle. She has a minor panic attack but still talks to Shanelle to assure her that she is free to pull out of the interview at any time. The two bond over their recent traumatic incidents with men and agree to stop carrying the guilt of staying with the wrong person. After the talk, Shanelle continues with the interview. 

In the meantime, Corey gets into it with Tanya over whether Shanelle will finish the interview. Thankfully, Shanelle returns to the table. She talks about her affair with Adrian and the escalation of the abuse she faced with Tucker. She is surprised when Tanya brings up Tucker’s affair with Holly. It turns out that Tucker paid Holly to have an abortion after getting her pregnant. Shanelle has enough when Tanya asks what triggered her to defend herself that day and kill Tucker. Shanelle points out that maybe Tucker had been robbing her of choices from the first day of their relationship. She refuses to be blamed for Tucker’s mistakes any longer. After the interview, Tanya dumps Corey and Jax is disappointed in him. Later, Jax calls her doctor to schedule more therapy sessions.

Elsewhere, Daniel spends the day tailing Adrian and discovers he is working for Evan. Evan is getting antsy about his money and pulls a gun on Adrian. Sadly, Adrian and Evan, Tucker’s business had a plan to scam Tucker and his affair with Shanelle was part of the plan. However, it is possible that Adrian truly fell for Shanelle. After being threatened with a gun, Adrian makes a ten million cash deposit to Evan. Daniel finds the torn cheque after Adrian throws it away. He shows Jax the evidence he has collected. It turns out that two days before his death, Tucker invested in a project through a trust managed by Evan’s company.

At home, Lewis struggles after learning how deeply his jokes affect his son. He tells Jax that he feels like a failure because he was insensitive, like his dad. Jax comforts him and tells him about the scandalous affair between Tucker and Holly. She thinks Holly is still pregnant. Lewis is dumbfounded because he also slept with Holly.

The episode ends with Shanelle remembering what happened the day Tucker died. He found her before she had a chance to leave. He started attacking her and was choking her. Someone walked into the house and bashed Tucker’s head inform behind. Who is Shanelle protecting? Well, that is the same question that Jax is starting to wonder about, too.

The Episode Review

Well, that was a lot to unpack. This episode was more triggering than we anticipated. They say hindsight is 50/50, and this is evident in Shanelle’s case. As she looks back, she is realising how Tucker manipulated her. He was an abusive man, and she was the victim. She and Jax are right about their desire to stop making excuses or explaining why their abusers choose to hurt them. It is not the victim’s responsibility to be accountable for an abuser’s action.

Sadly, Adrian was using Shanelle, but is he the person she is protecting? Did he walk in on Tucker choking Shanelle and lost it? There is also a possibility that Shanelle is protecting one of their kids. If this is the case, then it is more tragic than we thought.

We also have the Lewis-Spenser situation. I think Lewis is doing his best and has learned from his mistakes. It is a good thing that he apologised to Spenser and recognised his bias. Still on Lewis, he needs to tell Jax about his one-night stand with Holly. Let us pray that is not his baby. 

Lastly, it was wise of Tanya to listen to Shanelle’s story and kick Corey to the curb. Corey was being selfish, and she deserves better.