#Burden of Truth Season 3 Episode 8 Review: Shelter From the Storm

It’s finale time! Given that this is the end of the season, it is not surprising how everything seems to come to a head on Burden of Truth Season 3 Episode 8. 

Joanna’s been trying to help Kodie get her kids back since they got apprehended on Burden of Truth Season 3 Episode 1. It’s been a long, hard road. But finally, finally, Kodie got to hug her kids in their own home. 

Crawford Chang hasn’t won a lot of cases this season, but previous seasons indicated that Joanna and Billy were going to come out ahead. And they did!

Something that I find endlessly fascinating is the lack of cliffhangers on Burden of Truth finales. When Burden of Truth Season 1 ended, I remember thinking how neatly they had wrapped up everything.

I wanted more, of course. It is a good series, and I always enjoy seeing Kristin Kreuk. I just couldn’t see how they would keep the story going. The trial was won. Everybody was in a good place.

Burden of Truth Season 2 ended on a similar, if slightly more open, note.

Now we have the Burden of Truth Season 3 finale, and once again, everything is tied up in a neat little bow. Kodie has her kids back, as do all of the other mothers.

Mercer, the scum bag, is going to jail. Can we be happy about that for a second? Mercer helped their case, but they still got him. Technically, it was entrapment, but still. Maybe it doesn’t count because Taylor isn’t a cop. Yet.

Owen: You just couldn’t let it go.

Taylor: I guess not. I figured that, bad people getting away with bad stuff? That doesn’t have to be how the world works.

Owen: You ever thought of applying to police college? You’re certainly smart. And relentless.

Taylor: I stole half a million dollars from my father.

Owen: Well, don’t do that kind of thing again.

Taylor has figured out what she wants, and it isn’t to be a lawyer. She bonded with Owen, and now she’s a cadet. With all the corruption we’ve seen from Mercer and his gang, Millwood needs good cops.

We know Taylor, like Owen, would always strive to do the right thing.

Taylor: Bad guys, getting away with bad stuff. Wow. It seems like that’s the way the world works now.

Owen: Well sometimes, we have to make compromises, for the greater good.

Taylor: For the greater good. Right.

Owen: We don’t have to like it.

Taylor: Yeah, well, I really don’t like it.

Owen: Well, I don’t either.

Taylor: It was nice working with you Becks. Luna was right. You’re a solid dude.

Owen: Taylor. You can let it go now.

Taylor: I’ll try.

Owen keeps being disappointed by people he trusts — first Mercer, and now Mayor Sheppard.

But he is good, and he does good. Hopefully, he will continue to be the Owen we know and trust. Being disillusioned can lead to a dark road. I wouldn’t want Owen to be a different sort of cop than exactly who he is. 

They might be setting him up to get into politics to replace the Mayor. I’d watch but, please, don’t ruin Owen, show.

At least now he and Diane are in a good place. You should never take out your frustrations on your loved one, but sometimes we do. Diane wouldn’t let Owen get away with it, though, and good for her!

Their “I love you,” scene was very sweet and felt a little heated.

Diane: I need you to know why I had an affair.

Owen: It’s none of my business.

Diane: Derek ignored me. Okay, he moved past me like I wasn’t even there, and now you are pissed off and you are ignoring me and I cannot handle you pretending that I don’t exist!

Owen: I’m not mad at you.

Diane: Well, you’re pissed off about something!

Owen: I’m just … I’m pissed that Sam Mercer is gonna walk free.

Diane: Then why are you taking it out on me?

Owen: I don’t know!

Diane: Well, don’t then!

Owen: I love you!

Diane: I love you too!

If this really were a CW show, I think it would have gotten a lot heated, but CBC doesn’t seem as interested in showing sexy times and shirtless people.

They do give us honest and real relationships to root for, like Diane and Owen, and, of course, Joanna and Billy.

Joanna and Billy are in such a good place right now. Crawford Chang won its first case, and it looks like months later, they are really thriving.

They have money again, thanks to Alan and his hedgefund offer, and they wisely took him up on that.

Joanna: You know, adding a hedge fund to our roster of clients isn’t the worst idea.

Billy: You ran away from that life.

Joanna: Corporate law wasn’t the problem. The corporate lawyer was.

And Joanna and Billy finally discussed their finances. We should have known Joanna had her eye on the situation all along. Can’t pull the wool over that girl’s eyes.

Crawford Chang’s storyline is wrapped up, Owen and Diane, Mercer, Taylor, Luna, etc. It’s all very neat. No loose ends or unanswered questions to have us panting and foaming at the mouth for a new season.

It’s actually kind of nice. The past few seasons have proven that the show can come up with new, exciting storylines, even without a cliffhanger.

However, if the show doesn’t get picked up for a fourth season, we can walk away satisfied with the ending. There are no questions, except maybe the gender of Tiny Human Crawford Chang.

I mean, there are things we’d like to see. It would be cool to see Taylor on her journey to be a cop.

It would be nice to see Luna in a relationship again. I’m still hoping for Molly’s return.

I’d also like to see her in court, kicking butt, and taking names. And maybe we could check in with her mother, who we haven’t seen in a while.

It would be fun to see whether Joanna and Billy are good parents. And possibly spouses? Is that going to be a thing? Like, does anyone get married? Are Diane and Owen married?

They keep doing these time jumps, so it’s hard to keep up, but I wouldn’t mind a wedding. Wedding episodes are usually fun. I don’t know. Maybe it’s not that kind of show.

We haven’t heard anything about a renewal, mostly because of COVID-19, but it is nice to speculate. Who knows, right? 

As for the episode itself, it really delivered.

We got some great Luna/Joanna sister moments. Those two are the gift that keeps on giving.

Joanna: Just what the world needs; another assassin. That’s what my father called me, what he trained me to be.

Luna: You’re not gonna do that.

Joanna: He really did a number on us, huh?

Luna: Yeah.

Joanna: You know what I can’t figure out about doctor Stone?

Luna: Hmm. How he could be such a dick?

Joanna: Convincing those boys at Legacy Pines to run away from their parents. Creating a test, to steal kids. Why?

Luna: He wanted to play god.

Joanna: Why does someone wanna play god?

Luna: Control.

Joanna: And someone who desires control usually had it taken away, an event that left them helpless.

Luna: Childhood trauma. The gift that keeps on giving.

We got to see Joanna finally dealing with her pregnancy.

I was sure there was something wrong when she collapsed and surprisingly relieved when there wasn’t.

I haven’t exactly been on team baby, but part of that was because it didn’t seem like Joanna was until now.

As much as Joanna is scared of being a parent, I think she really does want to have this baby.

And Luna is super excited to be an aunt. She bought the most adorable onesie for baby Crawford Chang. Basically, everybody is on team baby at this point. I might as well hop aboard, right?

Joanna: You can’t find a heartbeat.

Doctor: Well, sometimes it takes a few seconds.

Joanna: It’s been a few minutes.

This episode had all the love and all the law.

After how hard this trial has been and how close they came to losing, Joanna and co really needed to bring out the big guns in order for us to buy a win. And she delivered.

She and Luna went into Stone/Stafford’s childhood and found a goldmine. It was tragic, and we should not revel in his pain and loss.

However, what he took away from the experience, the fact that he thought he had the right to play god, was not okay.

Biases can run deep and have always been a prominent part of Burden of Truth. We all have biases. We can’t help that. But you have to try and fight them when making an objective decision.

Joanna: Your test has an objective and a subjective part. You get the data and you interpret it. You draw conclusions from observations. So is there really ever a sure?

Stone: Experience makes me sure. Twenty-five years.

Joanna: So it is just your opinion?

Stone: An expert opinion.

The mere observation of an experiment changes the outcome. That’s the observer effect.

When coming into an experiment with confirmation bias, the tendency to interpret evidence as confirmation of one’s existing beliefs or theories compromises the integrity of the experiment.

A scientist of Stone’s class should know better, especially when something such as the safety of a child is at stake.

But Stone knew exactly what he was doing. He was on a mission to save the children from negligent parents, and he alone knew who those parents were. 

Joanna may not be a good people person, but she does understand people on some basic level. She understands how they think. It was her understanding of Stone and how he thought that led her to eviscerate him on the stand, and we couldn’t be prouder.

Things that happen in our past they inform our decisions, shape our biases. We’re all just broken, little children.
Joanna

And, of course, Billy did nothing. I mean, I guess he probably did something, but Luna did the research, and Joanna got Stone to crack. She really is the superior lawyer.

But he makes her happy, and he’s likable, so I guess it’s okay if he sticks around. He should just let her take point.

Joanna really has come a long way since Burden of Truth Season 1. Though I did find it interesting that she told her unborn child that it could be any kind of lawyer it wanted to be.

Apparently, law school is non-optional for baby Crawford Chang.

She knows she’s going to screw up this baby because everybody screws up their child. For a perfectionist to admit something like that shows a lot of growth. 

You’re coming out any day now and I want to apologize in advance if I screw you up. It won’t be intentional, and intention matters. No one gets out of childhood without some kind of trauma. And that kind of damage, it makes people put up walls. Make bad choices. Do bad things. But, when I screw you up, There is a possibility for you to come back from it. But, you can’t do it alone. If you wanna heal, seek out people, find safe harbor. And if you’re hurt, by people who love you, you have to be open to being loved again. Find just a small handful of friends who you like and you trust and, and if you’re really lucky, find someone who gets you and loves you and take shelter in them. And provide them with shelter, because there’s a pretty good chance they’re damaged too. You’re gonna be okay. We’ll be okay. We’ll figure this out together. I’m a quick study. You can be anything you wanna be in this life. Well, any kind of lawyer you wanna be.
Joanna

And she’s not wrong. There is no such thing as the perfect parent. We wouldn’t even know how to recognize one if we saw them. They are that elusive a creature.

All a parent can do is love their child, do their best, and try to give the child the tools to overcome whatever scars they have.

Because we all have scars — Joanna and Billy, Luna, Owen, Taylor, and even Diane, who seems near perfect most of the time.

Burden of Truth is about people who are human.

The mark of a good show is good characters. Burden of Truth delivers. It is a show about humanity in all its beauty and all its flaws.

Kodie: When your baby comes, just forget all the books. We’ve been having babies since forever. Trust your instincts.

Joanna: I keep forgetting this has to come out.

Kodie: It’s not that bad.

Joanna: You are such a liar.

Kodie: Okay, its kinda bad.

What did you guys think of the finale? Do you think Burden of Truth will get a renewal? Do you want it to?

Please let us know in the comments. I’m begging here. This is such a good show and we should be talking about it.

Don’t forget you can watch Burden of Truth online right here via TV Fanatic.

Burden of Truth airs Thursday 8/9c on The CW.

Leora W is a staff writer for TV Fanatic..