Diksha Sundriyal
Fox’s crime anthology series ‘Accused’ tells the stories of crimes that may seem one thing on the surface but turn out to be something completely else in hindsight. Often, the viewer is left wondering if the crime really warrants a punishment. This becomes even more prominent in ‘Val’s Story,’ where two women are caught up in a crime that has a motive that makes one think before passing judgment on the characters. By the end, the episode has taken quite a few twists and turns, and against all odds, it ends on a rather unexpectedly happy note. SPOILERS AHEAD
Val Pierce Tries to Prove Her Innocence in the Murder of Her Ex-Husband
The episode begins with a woman named Val Pierce being accused of murdering her ex-husband. Trey. The cause of death seems to be electrocution, and had there been no one around him when he died, it would have been considered an accident. But then, the cops discover that Val snuck into the house minutes before Trey breathed his last. Still, it could have been an accident, but if it really were so, why didn’t Val call 911? Why didn’t she call for help? Why didn’t she notify the authorities? Why did she run away from the crime scene and act as if her ex-husband hadn’t died right in front of her eyes? This raises suspicion against her, and the circumstantial evidence points towards her indulging in foul play.
For the prosecution, the motive is clear. Val and Trey separated on difficult terms. She’d been struggling with alcoholism, and it got to the point where she needed to get serious help with her troubles. In the divorce, she was lucky enough to get custody of her son, but her previous problems followed her still. She had lost her previous job, and she struggled to find a new one. Despite the alimony, she was behind on her bills and needed the money to keep herself afloat while taking care of her. While her husband offered to help with that by getting the custody of the kid all to himself, she was adamantly against it. All this history paints Val as a jealous, desperate, and a little crazy ex-wife who went to Trey’s house to steal something she could sell to get money. When he found her, a fight ensued, and she ended up killing him, following which she snuck out of the house. If it weren’t for the CCTV, no one would have known she’d ever entered the house. Of course, the detectives don’t know that Val really is innocent.
Did Jordan Kill Trey?
While Val did sneak into the house with the intention of stealing something, she changed her mind at the last minute. Then she heard something from Trey’s workshop and found him lying unconscious on the floor. Due to her history as an EMT, she tried to revive him, but she couldn’t do anything because he was already dead. Now, she should have called the hospital or the cops, but she got scared. Val was prone to panic attacks in which she would block out certain events. When she saw Trey dead, she felt a panic attack coming, due to which she couldn’t stay around him and had to flee. At the moment, she wasn’t thinking about how bad it would make things look for her, but her mind was singularly on survival.
The detectives also didn’t know that Trey was an abuser. He had physically abused Val when they were married, which is why Val turned to alcohol and started having panic attacks. While she eventually left him, Trey could never accept the fact that he was left behind. So, when he got into a relationship with Jordan, he held her even tighter. Of course, he didn’t change his ways and remained an abuser, which made Jordan want to leave him, but she couldn’t because Trey told her that he would never allow her to do that. She was already scared for her life at the time, and she worried that if she left Trey, he would kill her. Moreover, she was also worried about Trey and Val’s son. If Jordan left, what would become of the boy under his father’s influence?
At the end of the day, the only recourse that Jordan could think of was to get Trey out of the picture. She knew how much Trey loved working on his cars and how much time he spent in the garage. She also knew exactly how the electric plugs worked and what was done to prevent electrocution. So, she changed the wires so that the electrocution would happen. She even spilled some water on the floor to increase the chances. Of course, there was a chance that Trey would notice something was off, and he would be careful. But that was the risk Jordan had to take. If it didn’t work, she would have to accept it and move on, perhaps try something else later. But if it did work, it would look like an accident, and she would walk scot-free of murdering her husband. And her plan worked. Almost.
Why is the Case Against Jordan Dropped?
When Jordan had planned to kill Trey, she hadn’t factored in Val sneaking into the house. Jordan had planned the day carefully. She would be out with her stepson, having fun at a game zone. By the time they’d come back home, Trey would already be dead, and none would be the wiser. But then, Val came into the picture, and what’s worse is that the cops thought she’d murdered Trey. Jordan didn’t want Val to go to prison, but she thought that the circumstances around Trey’s death would be enough to get the prosecution to drop the case against her. Instead, they pursued it even harder, and Jordan realized that if she didn’t come in to speak out for Val, the innocent woman would go to prison.
An impromptu visit by Jordan in prison convinced Val that she was the murderer. But the only way it could be proven would be by getting Jordan to confess. Instead, Jordan was called upon by the prosecution to build a case against Val. Still, Jordan intended to speak for Val, but she didn’t realize how the prosecution would use her testimony. It was Val’s quick thinking that led to the discovery that Jordan was also being abused by Trey. Building upon that, Jordan eventually confessed on the stand. Discovering that Jordan was going through exactly what Val had been through with Trey made Val sympathetic to her.
Moreover, her son loved Jordan, and Val didn’t want to have his heart broken by revealing that his stepmother had murdered his father. Val wanted to help Jordan because what she did was basically self-defense. But the law wouldn’t see it that way. That’s when Val came up with a way to save Jordan. The only thing that had turned the case in Val’s favor when she was on trial was Jordan’s unexpected confession of the crime. If someone did the same for Jordan, the case would turn in a different direction. But it would need to be someone who couldn’t actually be tried for the case, and that would be Val. Considering that she had already been tried for the case and had won it, she couldn’t be retried, even if she confessed to the crime on the stand. Still, the testimony would be enough to get the entire blame away from Jordan. It would be a gamble, but it was one Val was ready to make.
So, on the day Jordan’s trial is set to begin, Val and her lawyer meet the prosecutor and ask him what would happen in a hypothetical situation Val had conjured up. The prosecutor is, understandably, angry over what Val has planned to do, but this is where Val convinces him that this isn’t the case worth pursuing. If they go forward with the trial, Val will testify, which would lead to more complications than the case is worth. But if they drop the case, no one will be hurt, and the prosecution can focus on more important cases. Despite being angry about being bested by Val, the prosecutor decides that the case is not worth the trouble. All charges against Jordan have been dropped, and she walks free.
Read More: Fox’s Accused Season 2 Episode 5 Recap: Margot’s Story
