US Television: Outlaw, Episode 1.6, "In RE: Tyler Banks"

Outlaw
Season One, Episode Six, In RE:  Tyler Banks
Original Air Date:  October 22, 2010 (Canada) & October 23, 2010 (United States)

Garza and his team head to Miami to champion the cause of a fourteen year-old boy who will die in two weeks if he doesn't get a liver transplant.  Because he is in foster care, the hospital is removing the boy from the top of the transplant list.  Things get even more complicated when someone steps up to adopt Tyler but the adoption is denied because the candidate is gay.  Someone from Lucinda's past returns raising even more questions about her.

Garza and Claire arrive at an event as a massive protest is happening.  He is approached by Theresa Cain from Children's Light and informed the protest is against hospitals for removing sick children off organ transplant lists simply because they are in foster care.  Garza gives Theresa the ride up fifteen floors in the elevator to make her case to him.  Theresa shows Garza and Claire a video of a young man, Tyler Banks, who is number one on Greater Miami's waiting list for a new liver.  Tyler will not receive it because he is also in foster care.  Fourteen year-old Tyler will die in two weeks time without the liver.

Eddie gives his girlfriend Bethany (Bitsie Tulloch) a tour of Garza's house where he works and she is none too impressed.  She is certain he can't be happy there and wants to help him.  Her firm is throwing a party that weekend for the head of the litigation team who is retiring. 



Garza wants to know why he is just hearing about children being removed from transplant lists for being in foster care.  Mereta confirms that national statistics are tough to pin down because of the nature of foster care but that agencies across the country have admitted that foster kids are removed from lists.  A friend of Al's in Los Angeles knows of four kids that died in the past 5 years because they were unable to get transplants.  Garza says they are headed to Miami leading Al to want to set up a class action suit on behalf of the foster kids.  Garza shoots that down because there isn't that much time left for Tyler and he wants to save him before mounting a crusade.  Eddie gets out of going to Miami by saying he and Bethany are having their 3 year anniversary that weekend.  Since they are just in talks, Garza leaves him home to hold down the fort with Lucinda.

Lucinda has her own problems.  She is talking with someone who shows her a picture of the man that attacked Mereta when she was driving Lucinda's car.  He knows Lucinda's name and her involvement with his daughter.  The woman she is talking with tells her they have to "move the girl".  Lucinda disagrees because for the first time in her life, "the girl" has a good home and is happy.  She won't let the man change that.

Garza and his team go to see Tyler.  He is very aware of the situation surrounding him.  Cyrus and Al speak with Dr. Damon, the doctor who is removing Tyler from the list.  The doctor is adamant that Tyler is a bad choice because of the statistics regarding foster children.  He feels that if Tyler gets the liver two people will die:  Tyler, when he rejects the liver (and the doctor is certain he will) and the person the doctor should have given it to in the first place.  Cyrus wants an injunction filed to keep Tyler on the list.

The judge they have for the case is being supported by contributions from hospitals.  To make matters worse, after checking into Tyler's background, they find he really isn't a kid that will find a home easily.  He has been in five foster homes since his mother committed suicide.  In four of the homes, the police were called.  He was thrown out of his fifth foster home when he got sick.  Mereta arrives with news that there is a possible liver for Tyler and Garza sends her to track the liver and make sure it isn't assigned to someone else.

Dr. Damon testifies before the judge that foster children do not have the stability necessary to maintain the strict post-operative care required for an organ transplant to be successful.  He cites the instance of a 10-year-old girl who went to 3 foster homes and, because of missed follow-up appointments, rejected the organ and died.  Cyrus questions how Dr. Damon came to the decision to base hospital policy against allowing foster children to receive organ transplants.  He used his medical knowledge rather than consulting the Department of Children and Family Services.  Cyrus produces a report from the AMA that speaks against removing a potential patient from the transplant list because of surmountable difficulties in the cases. 

Mereta goes in to see Tyler and he coughs.  He asks her to raise the IV bag on the pole in case the bag isn't dripping right.  While she's raising the IV, Tyler takes the chance to get a look at her bum.  Dean, Tyler's primary nurse enters with his lunch and calls Tyler down for checking Mereta out.  Theresa arrives and takes Mereta aside.  The family of the girl who is the potential match for Tyler is struggling with the decision to remove the girl from life support.  Theresa explains that Dean has grown close to Tyler in the year he's been taking care of him and that it will be hard on him if something happens to Tyler.

Lucinda is accosted by the man in the photo.  He wants to know where his daughter is.  As they are struggling, they bump into a car and the alarm goes off.  Eddie and Bethany come out to check and Eddie rushes to Lucinda's aid.  The man begins yelling that Lucinda kidnapped his daughter.  The situation comes to an end when Lucinda pulls a knife.  The man leaves but swears he will find his daughter.

The judge denies Gaza's request for injunctive relief for Tyler which doesn't really surprise him.  He wants to know what judge is most open to hearing an appeal.  Mereta, who thinks she has found a solution, wants Garza to accompany her.  They meet with Dean who wants to adopt Tyler.  The next on the transplant list is Doug Pullman.  Dean has also attended him and says he is nowhere near as sick as Tyler.  They agree that an adoption is their best chance because the judge will have to put Tyler back on the list, if the adoption can be rushed through in time.  First, Garza wants to run the adoption past Tyler.

At the hospital, Tyler agrees to Dean adopting him.  Garza calls Eddie wanting him to pull an old shoe box from the top of his closet and send it down to him.  The donor family is terminating life support that night.  Garza wants Mereta to go with Dean to get the adoption approved as quick as possible. 

Eddie wants to talk to Lucinda about what happened that day and she feels they don't need to.  The man who attacked Lucinda is Ben Kershaw.  Two years ago, he filed a missing persons report on his daughter Valerie after she had falsely accused him of molesting her.  A group that helps abused teens helped her run away.  She admits that she helped Valerie escape an abusive home.  They argue about Valerie.  He tells her she has to tell the police just in case there is a chance Valerie is lying about the allegations she made against her father.  If she doesn't, he will.

Garza goes back in front of the same judge to try and get Tyler back on the list.  The judge asks Dr. Damon who needs the liver more, Tyler or Doug Pullman.  When Damon answers that it is Tyler, the judge re-instates him to the top spot on the transplant list conditioned upon the final approval of his adoption.

Tyler tells Garza that he Googled him and found out he was a "real important guy" and wants to know why he is helping him.  Cyrus tells him it is because he is important.  The liver is on its way and the application for adoption was filed on an emergency basis.  Dr. Damon informs Garza that Tyler will still not be receiving the liver as Dean is gay and the state of Florida prohibits homosexuals from adopting a child.  Damon delivers the bad news to Tyler and Dean.

The next morning, Cyrus gives the team the news that Judge Petino agreed to prevent the hospital from giving the liver to someone else pending the outcome of an emergency hearing regarding the adoption.  The liver is good for maybe another 14 hours.  Garza isn't planning to overturn the law, he just wants an exception made to it for Tyler.  Again, before the same judge, Garza argues against the state that he doesn't want to overturn the law but to allow a narrow exception to save Tyler's life.  Before making a decision, the judge wants to hear from Dean Hughes.

Lucinda takes Eddie to talk to Valerie.  She wants him to hear what she has to say before deciding to call the police.  Valerie tells about getting gonorrhea at the age of four.  It was reported by her aunt but her father got a doctor friend to convince the judge it was just a virus.  She was left in his care for another ten years.  She says she will kill herself before she goes back to her father. 

Dean testifies about how he has cared for Tyler for over a year and how he can help with his recovery period.  He tells how he chooses to spend the money he has saved raising Tyler.  His mother visits more than he'd like and she can't wait to have a grandson.  His family hasn't turned against him because of his homosexuality.  As the judge is getting ready to give her ruling, the State interrupts saying Dr. Damon has a solution that will save Tyler and the judge will not have to issue an exception to the state law.  Dr. Damon has found a hetereosexual couple, the Walthams, who are in pre-adoption and will take Tyler.  The Walthams are members of Damon's church who he says have agreed to take Tyler even though they haven't met him.  The judge orders that the Walthams meet Tyler to see if they will work as a family.

Cyrus wants to accept the deal so Tyler can have the surgery immediately.  Al and Mereta don't agree, however, because they feel Dean would be the best home.  Al accuses Cyrus of not wanting to stand up for gay rights.  After Al leaves in anger, Mereta reminds Garza of a case with the same subject matter two years ago where he refused to take a stand just like he is refusing to take a stand now.

At the party held by Bethany's firm, Eddie finds that things aren't as he thought they would be.  Bethany and her colleagues have nothing but negative things to say about Garza, the house they work from and the people Eddie works with.  When Eddie is told that his life would be so much better without "those people" in his life, he comes back that what is interesting about Garza's firm is that the lawyers actually care about thier clients instead of the money or prestige.  They love the law and they want to do what is right.  Any self-respecting lawyer would be honored to work with Cyrus Garza.  He tells them he wouldn't take an offer from the firm if they begged him.  He leaves and, instead of leaving with him, Bethany says she will take a cab.

While Dean is talking with Tyler before giving up all chances to adopt him, Tyler crashes.  The next few hours are spent tensely waiting for news about Tyler.  The liver went to the next person in line.  The shoebox Cyrus wanted Eddie to send him contains a baseball card collection.  Tyler's biological father was from St. Louis and was the only thing he knew about him which is why Tyler is a Cardinals fan. 

Tyler didn't make it through surgery.  Cyrus, angry about his death, heads to Dr. Damon and accuses him of murdering Tyler in cold blood.  The men argue about their motives.  Cyrus accuses Damon of being a bigot and Damon accuses Cyrus of everything being about him.  When Damon accuses Cyrus of being a hypocrite, Cyrus punches him.  He spends a night in jail and is bailed out by Claire.  Damon has agreed not to press charges.  Cyrus knows he could have prevented what happened when he had the chance in court.  He agrees Dean and Tyler would have made a good family. 

Eddie tells Lucinda that he and Bethany have broken up.  He tells her about following the coordinates on her arm and finding the cemetery with the gravestone that had Lucinda Pearl's name on it.  He wants to know what happened to the real Lucinda Pearl.  He passes a parked car wth a police car behind it.  Ben Kershaw is dead in his car, apparently having shot himself. 

This was another great episode, I thought.  Apparently, this is a series that improves the longer it is on.  The main story concerning Tyler was good and even more of Lucinda's back story was given.  We got to see deeper into Garza this week.  Learned more about him and what he believes in and what he will and won't stand up for.  There are two more episodes left to get as many details as we can about Lucinda and why she has mysteriously taken the name of someone who has died.

Outlaw airs on Saturday nights at 10:00 p.m. (9:00 p.m. Central) on NBC.
For more information:
NBC Official Site:  www.nbc.com/outlaw/
Internet Movie Database:  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1592226/combined
TV Rage:  http://www.tvrage.com/Outlaw