Preloading

Nova's Exposé Has Personal Repercussions

Season 1 Episode 105
CC | tv-pg
Nova's investigation of the local criminal justice system, in which she lays out a case that countless young, often black, people have been pressured into accepting plea bargains, is front-page news—and it's causing more than a few ripples. The police department has already opened up an internal affairs investigation, and the local community is being confronted with the injustice in a way it never has before.

The story is also causing personal problems. Nova's lover, Calvin, is a white police officer. He helped her gain access to see 17-year-old Too Sweet after he was brutalized in an adult prison, the moment that inspired her to write her story.

Calvin feels betrayed, and he pays Nova a visit to confront her about it. "Congratulations on making the front page. I'm sure you made your family proud," Calvin says, sulking in Nova's doorway.

Nova walks up to him. "You got something to say? Say it."

"I did you a favor, Nova," he replies. "I thought getting you in to see Too Sweet was something personal."

"It was."

"The hell it was," Calvin says, storming down the hallway. He sighs. "You could at least have given me a heads-up that you were going to write an article taking down the entire police department."

"You're right," Nova says. "I should have."

"When you asked me to get you in there, did you know you were going to write that?" Calvin asks.

"No," she says, "but when I saw his bloodied and beaten face, I knew I had to."

Calvin is a little taken aback. "Nova, the police didn't do that."

"Well, they're the ones who put a kid in an adult prison," Nova says.

"Do you have any idea what you've done?" Calvin asks.

Nova shoots a question back at Calvin. "If a white kid from Lakeview got picked up a for a joint, he'd pay a small fine and have done what? A few hours community service?"

"Nova, do you have any idea what you've done?" Calvin repeats. "Internal affairs is opening an investigation."

"Good. There should be an investigation."

"Into what?" Calvin says, growing more agitated. "He's 17. By the state law, he's considered to be an adult. Nova, he broke the law."

"Says the department that depends on trumped-up charges to keep the lights on," Nova says defiantly. Wounded disbelief washes across Calvin's face as Nova continues, "I wish every cop was strong enough to be as good a man as you."

"My dad was a cop," Calvin says. "His brother was a cop. My brother-in-law's a cop. I work with men and women who are honorable. Cops with families who pray that they come home at the end of their days."

"Yeah, well," Nova says, her eyes moistening, "it's the same prayer that black mothers and fathers say to their children every time they walk out of the house for over 300 years."

Calvin searches Nova's eyes one last time and then, without saying another word, makes his exit.