Accused season 2, episode 4: What happened to Justin?

After taking two weeks off, Accused return with Michael Chiklis getting another episode. He played Justin in Accused season 2, episode 4.

Caution: This post contains SPOILERS from Accused season 2, episode 4.

Michael Chiklis always embodies the characters he plays. He makes us feel for them, even if they’re not always doing the right thing. In this episode, we could understand the reasons Justin did what he did, but that didn’t make it right.

At the heart of the episode, it wasn’t about Justin, though. It was about the need to escape a life. It was about chasing an American dream, and that was the story for young TJ, who dreamed of getting out of his working class background and making it big with wrestling.

What did Justin do in Accused season 2, episode 4?

Justin was a wrestling coach. While he cared for his athletes, he certainly connected more with some over others. This was the case with TJ, and all he wanted was for TJ to reach his goals. Justin’s wants came from his own dreams. He was excellent back in high school, but an injury destroyed his dreams. Coming from a working class background himself, he ended up right back to where he was trying to escape from.

He didn’t want that to happen to TJ. On top of that, his mom, Erica, wanted TJ to follow his dreams and achieve greatness. There was a lot of pressure on this boy, and it led to him taking steroids. This could have destroyed TJ’s dreams, and Justin couldn’t have that. So, it wasn’t that surprising to find out that Justin handed TJ his own urine for the urine test.

TJ ended up collapsing from the steroid use. He died, but how did Justin end up getting pulled into this? By Justin knowing about the steroids, he ended up with the charge of involuntary murder.

Was Justin found guilty in Accused?

In Chiklis’s first episode, we learned that S wouldn’t be held accountable for his son’s actions. After all, he didn’t know what his son wanted the money for. In this episode, Justin had more of a part to play in TJ’s death. If he had stopped TJ from taking steroids or said something, all of this could be avoided. Justin contributed to TJ’s death.

Sure, TJ could have died anyway. Considering it took just three months for TJ to succumb to heart damage from steroids suggests that there was already a heart problem. Nobody will ever know, though. People can only work with the facts that they do know in a case like this.

So, it wasn’t surprising to find out that Justin was found guilty of involuntary murder at the end of Accused season 2, episode 4. There is just a much bigger discussion to have about cycles never being broken and how a lack of money causes major issues.

Accused airs Tuesdays at 9/8c on FOX. Catch up the following day on Hulu.

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