Two Sets Of Despicable Parents!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                              No wonder Dr. Emil Skoda looks disgusted.  He would be even more disgusted if he knew the outcome of the old (from 1997) "Law And Order" episode, "Baby, It's You," which I saw the other night.  Except I did not see the whole thing, because, as I researched, this story was concluded on the then counterpoint show, set in Baltimore, "Homicide--Life On The Streets."

                               Tom  Tammi and Maureen Anderman play Dr. Steven Janaway, and his wife, Gayle, a Baltimore couple, whose 14-year-old daughter, Brittany, has been raped and murdered, her body found in New York City.  She had been a child model, and it took a long time, as this story unfolded, for me to realize this was based on Jon Benet Ramsey.  As was a later 'Criminal Intent' episode called "Masquerade," which camped it up with Liza Minnelli playing a stand in for Patsy Ramsey.  Unlike here, that episode did not go with the Patsy theory.

                                The Janaways, it turns out, care more about their affluent lifestyle, and exploiting their daughter, than they do about anything else.  I had a feeling about the father; that he was abusing Brittany sexually, and got carried away.  This was when Dr. Skoda appeared, and told Lenny Briscoe it would be hard to get a confession from him, as he was about to look into one of the darkest corners of the human  heart.

                                  But it was even darker than Skoda could have imagined.  Because, as it turns out, the crime was committed in Baltimore, with the body transported and dumped in New York.  The chief suspect was the son of one of the Janaways' domestics, Johnny Ramirez, who had something of an adolescent crush/obsession on Brittany. But when Johnny is questioned, it is clear he did not do it, though he witnessed something he did not understand.  All he understood was someone was hurting Brittany; he wanted to save her, but felt awful, as he was unable to.

                                    This is as much as I actually saw.  What I managed to piece together, through research, was the truth, which revealed just how despicable both  parents were.  I have no doubt Dr. Janaway had been sexually abusing his daughter, but, as we learn the murderer turns out to be Janaway's wife, Gayle.  She raped Brittany with an object out of jealous rage out of all the attention her daughter was getting over her, and then the couple transported the body to Manhattan, thinking they could cover the whole thing up. ( Brittany died of toxic shock, from the rape.)

                                    Well, they couldn't, and I hope these two are hauled off to the slammer.  I know that bitch Gayle was; the way Maureen Anderman played her, she was not a bit sorry!  Choke on it, hon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  This episode played into what has always been my theory  about Jon Benet--namely that John Ransey was sexually abusing her, and Patsy either caught him in the act, or found out, and, out of jealousy over her daughter getting attention she felt was due her, instead of going after her husband, went after Jon Benet, killing her.  You cannot convince me this is not what went down, and the number of things written over the years, like Joyce Carol Oates' novel, "My Sister, My Love," goes with what I call the Patsy Theory.

                                     The Janaways were one set of despicable parents.  But then there was another.

                                       These were the Burdetts, played by Srephen Mendillo, and Deborah Rush, in the also from 1997 episode, "Blood."  Actually, Deborah is now Frances Houston because she and Budett divorced, and she got custody of their biological son, David.  Joshua Burdettt marries this woman, Karen, who mysteriously falls off her balcony, in what seems to be a suicide.   But it isn't.  Wait till you hear this.

                                        The current Mrs. Burdett , who wanted children, got pregnant, gave birth, but was forced to give up the child for adoption, by her husband, who cited his age in a factor of not wanting more children, except it turns out to be something else.  For when the detectives go to visit the couple who have adopted the baby, and love her dearly, they find out the baby is....Black!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                           Dat's right, honeychile'!  Before you can say Jeanne Crain in "Pinky," it is discovered Mr. Burdett is of Black parentage, and has Black blood in him, but has passed forWhite all his life!!!!!!!!!!  Both women in his life knew it, but his first wife, Frances, was an avowed Upper East Side WASP racist.  Their son, David, thinks his mother loves him, but learns in court, that she was given more money by Josh to take him, because otherwise she did not want him, because of his Black blood!  Can you imagine??????????  Moreover, when she found Karen, the current wife, wanted to get the new baby back, the ex-wife vows, "No nappy haired little monkey is going to ruin my good name!"  So, she goes to Karen's apartment, gets into a fight with her, and pushes her off the balcony.  What a bitch!  And a hypocrite for the father!  Both deserve the slammer, but I think only Frances gets hauled off, but the one I feel sorry for is David.  To find out your father lied all his life, your parents don't love you, and he has Black blood in him.  This kid will need help, but fast!

                                           These episodes are glaring examples of despicable parents who should never have had children in the first place!  And of a time when quality episodes were written for the 'Law And Order' franchise!!!!!!!!!!!!!!