NFL
By: Mark T. Wilson
Reasonable Doubt has always had a way of ending its seasons with major cliffhangers, and Season 3 was no different. However, we’ll get to that in a later article. For now, we’re going to discuss how the finale of Reasonable Doubt broke the hearts of many and how it was unnecessary.
Ozzie Edwards became the center of attention for Jax Stewart in Season 3. Did Ozzie kill Wendy or not? He seems to be innocent, but little things were pointing to him as the murderer. However, as the season wore on, viewers would have a change of heart.
Yes, he has a temper and was an addict, but viewers saw a bit of themselves in him. Once he went into therapy, it all started to make sense. Ozzie was a victim of so many things that he was lost and confused. But did that give the writers the right to do him the way they did in the end?
Why did Ozzie have to be the one to pay the price with his life when he was the victim? His family, while believing they were helping Ozzie, did more damage than good. His mother babied him and turned out to be a menace herself. His father held his own secrets and let the lies control the illusion. His sister held resentment towards Ozzie her entire life. And as for Monica, she did the most damage to Ozzie. Of all these people and their bad dealings, Ozzie was the one who died. How did any of that make sense?
The man was often lied to, fed drugs, molested, and yet, he was the breadwinner, the one on trial for murder, and still, he caught the raw end of the deal.
While Jax once again proved how great a lawyer she is, she still lost in the end. Unlike her case to save her friend Shanelle in Season 2, this Ozzie case became personal for her. Jax was vulnerable in ways that we haven’t seen before. When she told Ozzie that she loved him, the viewers felt that, and Ozzie felt that. His final scene of him lying on the floor, lifeless, was painful to watch. And not just because it was his death, but you saw the pain and fear on Jax’s face.
Why did Ozzie have to die? Other people in the storyline deserved his fate. The writers for Reasonable Doubt could have easily sacrificed another character and let Ozzie get the help he needed, and turned his life around. But in the end, I guess we can take away that his death, while undeserved, crippled everyone around him.
His family could no longer use or try to control him. They will now be forced to look at themselves in the mirror. It was a high price to pay and one that viewers of the show will feel well into Season 4. With his death, Monica decided to get her vengeance on Jax at the end. While Jax has had to deal wth some tough situations in 3 seasons, this Ozzie case was on a different level. But he didn’t deserve to die.
