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LAW AND ORDER
Episode Twenty-Two, Season Seventeen
NBC Production
"Give 'em the old hocus
pocus"
I realize that the writing was trying to
offer up a powerful punch to gut moment when they had A.D.A. Alexandra Borgia kidnapped
and murdered by the big baddies of this episode, but truth be told Law and Order has never
been big on giving us viewers more than a fleeting glimpse into the lives of these
characters outside of the courthouse, so they only have themselves to blame for viewers
like me looking upon them as completely interchangeable parts. I mean if nothing else
they’ve kind of encouraged this behaviour as a quick check of the IMDB web site
reveals that Borgia would be the fifth A.D.A. that has left the series while Jack McCoy
has been on the job. Still her kidnapping and subsequent murder did bring out the mad dog
in Jack McCoy, and Sam Waterston does a lovely job of selling the growing sense of
desperation as he engages in a high stakes bluff in a bid to catch the people who killed
Alex. There’s also a lovely moment where Jack is confronted with the knowledge that
he sent a man out in the world with a giant target on his back, and his calm reaction to
this idea made it chillingly clear that he wasn’t the slightest bit troubled by the
role he played in this man’s death. Now I will confess the preview material for this
week’s episode did manage to sink it’s hooks into me pretty good, as I had
entered the episode with a sense of dread that this would also be Sam Waterston’s
final episode, but the final scene left me with the impression that he’ll be back
next season with a brand new, mint out of the box A.D.A. As for actual crime I have to
give the episode full marks for opening with a pretty unsettling crime, even if it bore a
striking resemblance to a recent Criminal Intent opening. The episode also benefited from
a strong performance of a man who has his entire family murdered in an effort to get to
him, and the scenes where Jack tries to get him to help had a lovely back and forth
quality about them. The whole idea of a fake trial was also a rather novel trick, and
I’d be curious to know if the case that was cited as a precedent was actually a real
case.
3.5 out of 5 Stars
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LAW AND ORDER
Episode Twenty-One, Season Seventeen
NBC Production
"While you were sleeping"
I know that actors make a fuss when they
played a successful character and find themselves typecast, but I have to say Michael
Imperioli is so connected to his character from Sopranos that I found myself a little
disappointed when the episode revealed that not only was he innocent, but the suggestion
that he manufactured evidence early in his career was also a baseless charge. I mean by
the end of the episode the writing resorts to a rather silly "you’ve been
punk’d" moment where we see the real mastermind behind the murders is tricked
into offering up her confession, and it’s rather curious that the writing side-steps
the obvious fact that the entire confession could be thrown out after the defence lawyer
learns how it was obtained. In any event I spent a good chunk of the episode waiting for
the big surprise twist involving Michael Imperioli’s character, and I couldn’t
help but be less than impressed when the final hand was revealed as we discover he was
innocent of all charges that had been made against him. In fact the only thing his
character is guilty of is being a bit of a moron as his solo investigative efforts to
clear his good name allow a killer to walk free, and thanks to the double jeopardy rule
she’ll never have to answer for her crime. Now Law and Order does have a well
established pattern of viewing the person of orchestrates the murder as the greater evil,
and once again I have to say I’m not quite sure if I agree with this belief, as to me
the actual killer is the one deserving of the more severe punishment as they had the
opinion of saying no. However, the episode does have a couple moments that were quite
effective, as the confrontation scene between the father and the son does a lovely job of
selling their strained relationship. There’s also a nice moment where Van Buren
decides enough is enough and joins the detectives as they visit the crime scene where she
tears Michael Imperioli’s character a new one for his continued interference. This
episode does suffer from an over focus on the police investigation though, as Jack McCoy
received little better than a cameo. However, next week’s season final looks like the
balance will swing the other way, so perhaps it’ll all even out in the wash.
3 out of 5 Stars
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LAW AND ORDER
Episode Twenty, Season Seventeen
NBC Production
"It's a Dog Eat Dog world."
Before I get started on the actual review I
have to say Dylan Baker makes a wonderful defence attorney to cross swords with Jack
McCoy, as he’s able to perfectly sell the smug sense of superiority and
self-righteousness that can’t help but leave you eager for Jack McCoy’s victory.
Sad to say however the performance of his client was a little much, as while it’s all
well and good to offer up a character who is willing to do what ever it takes to get his
way, this episode spends far to much of it’s time selling viewers on the idea that
this was an evil man whose petty actions resulted in the death of an undercover police
detective. What’s more the episode never fully explains why this man decided to
proceed with this vendetta even after receiving a warning from the phone operator in
payroll that the police officer he was asking about might be an undercover operative. Now
I realize that if the man had mentioned that he didn’t know she was an undercover
detective when he took steps to out her than he would’ve been conceding his guilt,
but the way it stands now the man ends up looking like he’s more focused on
satisfying petty grudges than working to advance the interests of his employer. I also
found it a little difficult to look past the wink, wink, nudge, nudge element of this
episode, as while Law and Order will often times pull it’s plots from real world
events, this episode was a little too deliberate, and it ended up feeling like wish
fulfilment from the writer than a compelling examination of the issue. In fact the biggest
problem I found myself having with this episode is that it’s a rather simplistic
affair, as we learn a vindictive jerk took steps to out an undercover police detective to
advance the interests of his employer, and this resulted in the death of said police
detective. The episode than becomes a cat and mouse game as Jack McCoy finds himself
dealing with a barrage of ruthless attacks as the man employs the very same tactics in
mounting his defence. Now there are a couple nice character moments where we see Jack is
pushed to the brink of letting this one slip free to protect his reputation, but in the
end the episode never managed to create much doubt about the final outcome.
3 out of 5 Stars
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LAW AND ORDER
Episode Nineteen, Season Seventeen
NBC Production
"Suffer the children, let them
come to me"
The simple truth of the matter is that I
wasn’t able to accept the argument that this episode tries to sell viewers with
it’s "not guilty" verdict, as the fact that the victim was a child
should’ve been more than enough to swing any jury against the doctor no matter how
well intentioned he painted himself. In fact the episode does too good a job of shooting
holes in the good doctor’s claim that his efforts were aimed solely at trying to cure
a dying child, as Jack McCoy manages to deftly spell out the true reason why this doctor
used an experimental drug on the child. I mean I’m perfectly willing to accept the
argument that a well intentioned doctor might let his desperation to discover a cure blind
him to the harm that his efforts might cause, but this episode simply doesn’t present
this argument strongly enough to convince me that it would win over a jury. I mean
there’s a scene in this episode when the defence attorney questions a doctor about
whether he would fight to save the life of an elderly patient as hard as the life of a
child and apparently the writing thought this was a profound bit of insight that
completely shot down the argument that the doctor had started to make. However, the simple
rule of all doctors is to do no harm, and as such it really should matter what the age of
the patient is. In fact it’s such an important rule in the medical profession that
this doctor should be drummed out of his profession no matter how well intentioned his
efforts may have been. I mean the episode does a pretty effective job of selling the idea
that this doctor isn’t a mad scientist, but the simple facts of the case are that a
child died as a direct result of this man’s actions and the writing dropped the ball
by offering up a not guilty verdict after weighting pretty much the entire episode with
arguments of why this doctor was guilty. I mean I welcome the occasional surprise verdict,
but this time out it felt like the writing simply ignored it’s own arguments so that
it could offer up a trite final speech that basically makes the old "you can’t
make an omelette without breaking a few eggs" argument. In the end this was a solid
bit of writing that was undone by a weak finish.
3 out of 5 Stars
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LAW AND ORDER
Episode Eighteen, Season Seventeen
NBC Production
"I won't cry for you, I don't feel
to"
Maybe it’s true that I’ve become so
desensitized to violence by what I’ve seen on the television and on the big screen
that I’m unable to build up the proper sense of moral indignation that this episode
seems to be asking of me, but I have to say I found Detective Fontana’s method of
questioning the suspect to be downright comical especially when one compares it to what
we’re seeing on shows like 24. I mean I’m truly sorry but the toilet being
employed as a torture device simply invokes the concept of infamous swirly, and while
I’m sure the writing was going for a big dramatic punch to the gut, the scene had
about as much impact as a foam covered bat. Still once one gets past the rather humorous
method of torture that was employed, I will concede that the writing does a very effective
job of addressing the idea of whether it is ever right to torture. Now some of the
arguments felt like the writing was simply having the character regurgitate the moral
indignation that we’ve seen on the air waves in countless other shows that have dealt
with this topic, and when the characters did explored the idea of whether Fontana’s
actions were correct their responses felts a little too safe and secure. However, the
episode does offer up a nice off the record exchange between Jack McCoy and the defence
lawyer, and the closing speech that McCoy makes to the jury was a very effective exchange
that did a lovely job of addressing why the jury should overlook the unseemly manner in
which the evidence was secured. On the other hand the episode also earns point for not
having Detective Fontana back down from his stance that he did the right thing, as it
would’ve been a betrayal of the character for him to do otherwise. The episode also
manages to offer up a nice little moment where we see Alexandra manages to come up with a
way to bring in the evidence in spite of the fact that all of it was all pretty much fruit
of the poisoned tree. In the end the episode managed to offer up a very effective debate
that centred around a rather prickly topic, and if nothing else Jack’s final speech
earned this episode a big thumbs up as it did a lovely job of shooting down a rather solid
defence argument.
3.5 out of 5 Stars
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LAW AND ORDER
Episode Seventeen, Season Seventeen
NBC Production
"What is it good for? Absolutely
nothing"
The war in Iraq gets some time in the
spotlight on Law and Order, though in order to get around the problem that the military
has it’s own judicial branch that deals with crimes committed by it’s soldiers
the writing is force to insert private contractors into the role that soldiers would
normally play. Than to get around the problem of why would Jack McCoy even be involved in
a case that is tied directly to a crime that was committed in Iraq we see that the murder
at the centre of the case takes place in New York City, and that the motive for the crime
is what provides the linking element back to Iraq. Toss in a defence attorney who decides
to use this murder case as a platform to critique the war, and you have an episode is full
of soap box speech making. Curiously enough though the central debate is not whether
America belongs in Iraq, but rather is the New York City court system the environment for
this question to even be asked, and Jack McCoy gets to end the episode with a lovely
display of outrage as he lambastes the defence attorney for offering pie in the sky
promises to her client. The episode also managed to offer up a lovely hallway
confrontation scene between Jack and the father of one of the suspects involved in the
murder, where we see Jack openly admits that a grave injustice had just played out in the
courtroom. However, the highlight of the episode would have to be the scene in the office
where Jack makes an active effort to remind his boss that a murder has been committed, and
they are being forced to offer up a free pass to the murderer. In fact it’s always a
welcome moment when the writing is able to offer up such a simple moment that perfectly
reminds viewers what they should be focused upon in the midst of one of the more bombastic
Law and Order episodes we’ve received in quite some time. In any event while the
episode had to jump though some hoops to justify this debate about the war, it does earn
points for allowing Jack to see through the flag waving patriotism when he tore apart the
murderer’s motive on the stand and force him to play his final card.
3.5 out of 5 Stars
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LAW AND ORDER
Episode Sixteen, Season Seventeen
NBC Production
"That leaves only me to blame
'cause mama tried."
This is probably my least favourite episode
of the season based largely on the fact that the writing went too far out of it’s way
to offer up a villain who was so reprehensible that there was never a single moment where
you ever had the sense that the show would offer up anything other than a guilty verdict.
I mean I realize that Law and Order has a history of being quite predictable about
it’s verdicts as 9 out of 10 times Jack McCoy is able to tear down whatever argument
the defence brings to the table, and the entertainment value come more from watching the
struggle to secure this guilty verdict. However this time out the writing decided that the
strategy of the defence was to engage in a very simplistic effort of calling Jack’s
bluff, and the scene in the court room where the defence attorney takes apart the
credibility of Jack’s key witness was no where near as effective as the writing seems
to suggest. However, just in case we didn’t already have a low opinion of the lead
suspect thanks to the nature of the crime, the writing decides to bring an even more
reprehensible element to the table as we discover the suspect used her daughter’s
rape to advance her professional interests as well as secure the services of an alibi. I
mean I’m not asking the writing to make every suspect a saint, but this episode goes
so far over the line when it comes to establishing the idea that the suspect was a piece
of human garbage that the episode became more a Jerry Springer style freak show than an
engaging story that I had any emotional investment in. I mean I guess I’m supposed to
feel satisfied that the mother was found guilty, and that Jack is looking to bring the
hammer down on the grandfather, but frankly this episode was a rather hamfisted writing
exercise. In fact the only real enjoyable moment I found in this episode was when Jack
McCoy decided to drop his bombshell accusations in the middle of the court room, and the
actor playing the grandfather did a lovely job of selling the character’s growing
sense of dread as he began to realize the road that Jack was heading down with his line of
questioning.
2.5 out of 5 Stars
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LAW AND ORDER
Episode Fifteen, Season Seventeen
NBC Production
"What if no one's watching"
The problem with Law and Order having been
around for so many seasons, not to mention having two spin-off series that cover similar
terrain is that it’s become difficult to come up with stories that don’t feel
like the writing is going over ground that has already been covered in a previous episode.
I mean this episode has itself a fairly solid dramatic hook as we see a mother murders her
own child when she comes to recognize that he’s turning into the monster that his
father was. However, the simple truth of the matter is that this episode doesn’t
really play up the emotional turmoil of the mother by exploring what would drive a mother
to take such a drastic act against her own child, but rather it seems to be more invested
in looking at the question of whether one can justify a murder if the victim was a clear
threat to the lives of others. Now the short answer to this question is apparently yes,
and I have to confess I didn’t know that one could use this as a defence. However
after playing with this seeming loophole the writing spots that the end of the episode is
looming, and it has Jack McCoy making an intuitive leap about the mother’s true
motive that manages to transform her actions from a sacrifice for the good of society to
one that is self serving. In the end the debate over vigilante justice has been well
covered by the Law and Order series, and this episode is guilty of turning it’s back
on the one element of it’s case that set it apart from the crowd, which in turn made
it a run-of-the-mill outing. Still there are some interesting throwaway moments, as we see
Detective Green has a temper tantrum with a suspect that grabs one attention, though the
scene does nicely play off previously established elements from the character’s past.
The girlfriend of the murder suspect was as a pretty strong performance, as I didn’t
really find myself questioning why this character would’ve remained in a relationship
with such a dangerous individual, as the actress nicely sold her character’s damaged
goods status.
3.5 out of 5 Stars
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LAW AND ORDER
Episode Fourteen, Season Seventeen
NBC Production
"There is no winning! Only degrees
of losing!"
This episode is guilty of being so blindingly
devoted to the Law and Order plot format that there is absolutely nothing to set it apart
from the crowd. I mean the episode opens with the discovery of a body, and the subsequent
investigation turns up a suspect who is clearly guilty as all get out, and Jack McCoy has
to struggle against the various slings and arrows that are sent his way by a very high
priced defence team. In fact the "I was given medication that transformed me into a
monster" defence is such old hat for the Law and Order franchise that I just wish one
member of the cast would throw up their hands and say not another one of these bloody
killer drug cases. I mean there’s a nice moment where it looks like a huge hole has
been blown into the side of Jack McCoy’s case when one of his key witnesses is
revealed to be lying through his teeth, but this moment of doubt is rather short-lived and
by the time he gets around to offering up his "a crime is a crime and someone must
take responsibility for the murder that has been committed" speech the episode is
back on very familiar ground. However the episode did manage to land a pretty high profile
guest-star as Kathleen Turner turns up to play the high-priced attorney who is brought in
to defend the young killer, and while there are a couple moments where her acting felt a
bit too folksy given the stakes involved for her client, I have to say for the most part
she made a pretty formidable opponent for Jack McCoy to contend with in the courtroom.
Also given it’s been almost fifteen years since I last saw her in the rather
forgettable "V.I. Warshawski" it’s nice to see Kathleen Turner still has
her toe in the water, as frankly I’d love to see her and Michael Douglas return for
another film together, as they were my favourite screen couple in the early 1990s. Still,
this wasn’t enough to have me overlook the fact that I’ve seen this Law and
Order episode many times before, and this one brought nothing new to the table.
2.5 out of 5 Stars
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LAW AND ORDER
Episode Thirteen, Season Seventeen
NBC Production
"Mo cuishle. It means my darling.
My blood."
The idea of assisted suicide is one that
I’m sure Law and Order has played with before, but this week’s effort is a
pretty solid exercise as we see our detectives are brought in to investigate the discovery
of a body in a hotel room, that initially looks to be a suicide, but as they take a closer
look it becomes all too clear that this person had help in ending their own life. Now
there is something to be said for how the writing managed to play out the various twists
and turns, as there’s a number of scenes where a new idea is brought to the table
that pulls the story in an unexpected direction, with the final revelation that is made on
the stand by the victim’s girlfriend which reveals the identity of a third person in
the hotel room being a powerful moment. The episode also benefits from the strong
performances by the girlfriend and the victim’s brother, as they do a lovely job of
selling the idea that their effort came from a place of love, and not the sinister
motivations that Jack McCoy confronts them with when he’s cross-examining them. The
scene where the brother confirms that toward the end his motives were less than altruistic
also made for one of the more engaging moments to emerge out of this episode and I’m
pleased to see the writing actually felt it could offer up such a contrary moment as far
too often the writing avoids moments like this as they fear that it would cost them the
sympathy that they managed to build up, but I have to say I’d much rather have a
moment like this where I can see a character rather than simply a plot device. I also have
to say Jack’s rants about why the justice system shouldn’t turn a blind eye to
assisted suicide did a lovely job of balancing out the episode, as it’s pretty clear
that the writing wanted to build sympathy toward the girlfriend and the brother.
3.5 out of 5 Stars
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LAW AND ORDER
Episode Twelve, Season Seventeen
NBC Production
"In my home!"
One of these days I’m going to overcome
my inability to step away from the television when a preview for a show that I watch comes
on the air, as more often than not I find the people behind these teasers seemed to have
gotten in their heads that their job is to encapsulate the entire episode into the time
they’ve been given, and the Law and Order teasers are especially bad when it comes to
tipping off viewers about the big surprise twists. I mean even before I began watching
this episode I knew the woman who had been assaulted in the opening scene would let the
man who attacked her and killed her husband skate away with a "not guilty"
decision. Heck, the preview ad even provided us with the big question regarding her
motivation for doing this, and it was exceedingly difficult not to know the answer long
before the episode got around to the moment where us viewers were supposed to be asking
the question. However, even without the preview this would’ve been a pretty easy
question to puzzle one’s way through, as we have a woman with obvious connections to
the mob suddenly becomes unable to provide her rock solid eyewitness testimony when
she’s on the stand, and as such the man who killed her husband ends up back on the
street. Now truth be told I’m not quite sure why she felt the man had to be out on
the street for her plan to work, as I seriously doubt the mob would have a hard time
performing a hit inside a prison, but I will concede that this decision did allow the
episode to travel in a very interesting direction as we see the man she sent after her
husband’s killer comes up with a very powerful ploy to strong-arm Jack McCoy into
accepting his self-defence plea. In fact it was such a strong moment that I was a little
disappointed that we didn’t get a little more back and forth debate about calling the
man’s bluff.
3.5 out of 5 Stars
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LAW AND ORDER
Episode Eleven, Season Seventeen
NBC Production
"Thou Shalt Not ..."
The episode provides a nice look at the idea
of how a person's religious beliefs can drive a man to commit murder, and if nothing else
this episode won me over with the confrontation scene between Jack McCoy and his boss, as
we see Branch has to reign McCoy in before his desire to see justice done makes an already
volatile situation even worse. In fact it's scenes like this one that has me wishing that
these characters were at cross-purposes more frequently, as Sam Waterson and Fred Dalton
Thompson are extremely good at selling the respective arguments that their characters
present, and the debate of where politics over shadows justice always makes for an
interesting clash. Now this episode opens with a murder where we see a man is beaten to
death after breaking into a synagogue and ripping apart an irreplaceable family torah, and
while this act serves to inflame the largely Jewish neighbourhood, the subsequent
investigation soon reveals that this wasn't a hate crime, but rather this was a family
squabble that went horribly wrong. Now truth be told this episode does suffer from the
simple fact that it's pretty obvious fairly early in the episode who the murderer was, and
once it was revealed that this wasn't an attack on the Jewish community, the episode is
left with quite a bit of time to fill, and the big scene where the killer refuses to
provide the testimony that would convict his cousin was a moment that one could see coming
long before it's arrival. Still, there is a nice little moment of surprise where it's
revealed that the book at the centre of this case is not what it appeared to be, and this
moment does provide the ideal motivation for why this man's anger would be directed away
from his cousin. In the end this was a solid look at a family torn apart, and it was nice
to see the religion fervour wasn't the engine driving this story
3.5 out of 5 Stars
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LAW AND ORDER
Episode Ten, Season Seventeen
NBC Production
"Hell hath no fury like a rich man
scorned"
It’s episodes like this one that restore
my fondness for the Law and Order franchise, as while there the airwaves are cluttered
with police procedurals, I’ve pretty much set up my permanent residence in the Law
and Order camp, and rely upon these shows to provide me with my weekly fix of detective
work and court room dramatics. Now there have been many times when I’ve been tempted
to test the waters of the CSI franchise, but than Law and Order seems to be pretty
consistent about offering up a episode like this one, which serve as a powerful reminder
that while the franchise might be on the decline, it can still deliver a very entertaining
hour of television viewing. Now this episode has our detectives called in to investigate
the seeming suicide of a young woman, and when the evidence makes it pretty clear that
this wasn’t a homicide and our detectives would normally move on to another case, we
see a card is turned over and they are set loose on the person responsible for driving
this woman to take her own life. Now I did find the former boyfriend to be a bit too
"evil", but I’ll give the actor credit for knowing when to pull back when
the writing was working to underline the idea that this man was evil incarnate, so that
for the most part it’s not all that difficult to believe that this man has a charming
side that would win these women over. I also have to give Epatha Merkerson for her
performance in this episode, as her character serves as the emotional engine that the
story needed so that us viewer would be fully invested in the case, and while Law and
Order is pretty predictable about seeing that evil is punished, I have to say this episode
did a wonderful job of selling the idea that Van Buren’s need to see this man
punished could very well derail the entire case. In the end this episode sunk it’s
hooks in pretty deep, and I needed an episode like this one to remind me why I’m a
loyal fan of this franchise.
4 out of 5 Stars
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LAW AND ORDER
Episode Nine, Season Seventeen
NBC Production
"It is easy to be brave when far
away from danger."
I will confess the episode did manage to
momentarily grab me with it’s "he’s got a gun" climax, as while Sam
Waterston’s departure from the series would’ve probably been spoiled by the
media, Law and Order has on occasion managed to pull off an unexpected exit of one of
their characters, and the shooting of Detective Green last season makes it pretty clear
that they aren’t above putting a bullet or two into their lead characters. However,
other than this momentary jolt the episode was a pretty run-of-the-mill outing as we see
an incarcerated criminal is attempting to secure his freedom from prison by having a man
on the outside take out all the people who could conceivably endanger his upcoming bid at
freedom. This in turn has our detectives making their way from one homicide scene to the
next, and while it was a bit much to ask that both of the original homicide cases would
fall into the laps of Green and Fontana, it’s not enough of an implausibility to
really impact the story, and it does tighten up the earlier part of the episode.
There’s also a nice little bit of detective work on display in this episode as we see
our detectives identify their suspect, and have to do a bit of fancy footwork to get him
off the streets before he can finish off his hit-list. The episode also offers up a nice
little transition at the halfway point as I rather enjoyed how Jack McCoy was brought into
the episode. I do have to say I was a little unimpressed by the by the book quality of the
judge, as the only person who was benefiting from the actions of the shooter was the man
standing before him, and the writing was a little too rigid in it’s presentation of
the idea that there was little the judge could do, when in actual fact there is a great
deal the judge could’ve done to keep the man behind bars without endangering the
case.
3 out of 5 Stars
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LAW AND ORDER
Episode Eight, Season Seventeen
NBC Production
"Tell not all you know, believe
not all your hear, do not all you are able."
This episode takes a thinly veiled swipe at
the Minute Men, and while I never quite understood the appeal of performing a service that
the government is supposed to be providing for free. Still I guess if one buys into the
argument that illegals are dragging your country down, and that there a sinister
terrorists looking to slip into your country via this method, than I can see how patriotic
duty would be enough to overcome the idea that you are doing the exact same job that many
well paid government employees are doing such a poor job of that groups like the Minute
Men are necessary. In any event this episode is a pretty ordinary Law and Order episode,
as it opens with a murder, and as our detectives investigate this crime they discover a
pretty chilling motivation. Now the episode also manages to offer a little soapbox
preaching, as our suspects use their time in the interrogation room, and on the stand to
rattle off a string of fairly worrisome numbers, so it becomes fairly easy to see why a
group like this would decide to target a man who was acting as a transport service for
illegals. The problem with this episode is that neither side comes off all that well, and
as such the episode paints itself into a corner where it can only return with a guilty
verdict. I mean it’s clear the episode tried to add a human face to this debate as we
see a key witness in the case against the shooter is ripped away from her family, as
coincidentally enough she is an illegal, but frankly this scene didn’t quite work for
me as it was a little too obvious what the writing was trying to accomplish with this
character. In the end the question of illegal aliens makes for a engaging debate, but this
episode was clearly more interested in playing with the sensationalistic aspects of the
case than providing a real debate on the issue.
3 out of 5 Stars
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LAW AND ORDER
Episode Seven, Season Seventeen
NBC Production
"Bringing Home Baby"
This episode suffers from a writer who is a
little to fond of offering up surprise plot twists, as while I’m always game for a
unexpected revelation, this episode makes a few too many trips to the well. However, when
one takes a step back the actual plot is pretty simple, as we have a woman who miscarried
in the seventh month is desperate for a baby to replace the one she lost, and she becomes
involved with a scum-bag criminal who preys upon her desperation, as he promises her the
infant of his girlfriend. Now given the episode opens with the discovery of a dead woman
and a missing baby, it’s clear this deal didn’t go down well, and it becomes a
case of he said/she said when it comes to what actually happened in that apartment. Now
the writing provides us with two equally plausible scenarios and in the end this is enough
to provide the reasonable doubt that is needed to bring back a not guilty verdict, but
truth be told this episode leaves quite a bit unresolved. Now one has to imagine that the
district attorney will go after the man who escaped the guilty verdict for scamming the
$50,000 from the baby-napper/possiable killer, and the woman is serving a fifteen year
sentence on the kidnapping charge, but one has to imagine the sister of the murderer woman
isn’t going to be happy that no one will ever pay for the murder of her sister.
Still, from a story telling standpoint one has to imagine that the woman who took the baby
was the killer, as she offers up a creepy little moment on the stand where she repeats
that the baby was promised to her, though her story of what happened does fit better with
the claim made by a witness that he heard a heated argument between a man and a woman. In
the end the episode leaves the door open, and truth be told I can’t say I cared much
for this open-ended finish.
3.5 out of 5 Stars
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LAW AND ORDER
Episode Six, Season Seventeen
NBC Production
"The world is populated in the
main by people who should not exist."
A pretty engaging episode that benefits
tremendously from a plot development that enters the story at about the halfway point, as
we see the murderer who provided the body that was discovered in the opening teaser dies
while in custody, and the subsequent investigation reveals that she was the victim of an
illegal medical procedure. Truth be told this episode is a bit like getting two episodes
for the price of one, but the writing does a lovely job of dovetailing the one plot thread
into the next that one isn't left with the sense that the one story was simply abandoned
in favour of a more interesting plot thread. Now the episode is missing a key scene where
Nurse G explains why she decided to continue to perform the procedure when she had
multiple examples that it was endangering the lives of the women but I guess her final
exchange with Jack McCoy was supposed to be the big moment where it's all too clear that
she bears no remorse for what she has done, and as such the character can be written off
as a person suffering from serious tunnel vision. Now the debate about why this woman was
performing this procedure proved to be far more balanced than one would expect, as the
minute the idea of involuntary sterilization is brought to the table one would think the
idea would be rejected outright with the proper righteous moral indignation, but the
writing does take the time to look at why people would consider it to be a good idea. In
fact the scene where the mother explains the role she played her daughter's death has to
be one of the more heartbreaking performance that we've seen on Law and Order, and the
actress deserves full marks for her riveting performance.
4 out of 5 Stars
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LAW AND ORDER
Episode Five, Season Seventeen
NBC Production
"The family - that dear octopus
from whose tentacles we never quite escape."
The problem with reviewing with all three Law
and Order series each and every week is that there are times when the episodes almost blur
into a single entity, and it's a little difficult to pick out the elements that were part
of the episode I'm supposed to be reviewing. Now part of the problem rests in the fact
that there are episodes like this one where it feels like the writer(s) are using a cookie
cutter frame work for their stories, as I could swear I've seen this exact story before
over on the sister Special Victims Unit series. Still while this episode feels quite
familiar, I can't deny that it's a well put together narrative as the story moves along
without any noticeable problems as the clues that lead our detectives to their suspect
don't feel like they were placed in the hands of our detectives to advance the narrative,
but rather they were the result of some actual detective work. As for the courtroom
material in the second half of the episode, this section proved the rule that a solid
performance by a guest-actor can more than make up for a plot-by-numbers bit of writing,
as the actor playing the murderer does a marvellous job of playing up the sheer
desperation that drove this man to commit murder. In fact the scene where the man's son
comes to realize what his father has done to protect him proved to be the highlight of the
episode. Now the big bad villains that strong-armed this man into committing murder are a
bit cartoonish, as if they had moustaches I would full expect they would be twirling them
to further sell how truly evil they are. However, I will say the final scene of the
episode did manage to grab my attention, as it did feel like we were being set up for one
of those abrupt exits of an established character that the Law and Order series like to
offer up from time to time.
3.5 out of 5 Stars
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LAW AND ORDER
Episode Four, Season Seventeen
NBC Production
"God is subtle but he is not
malicious."
This is probably one of the more obvious
"ripped from the headlines" Law and Order episodes, as the Terri Shrivo case is
the clear inspiration, with a murder tacked on so that the cast of this series has a
reason to become involved. Now the murder investigation doesn't generate much in the way
of intrigue, as the big reveal is that the guilty parties are exactly who you expected
going in. Of course the real meat of this episode is the euthanasia debate that drove the
Terri Shrivo case, and the writing does a pretty good job of offering up both sides, as
the husband looking to end his wife's life isn't presented as an evil monster, and the
woman's family get ample opportunity to justify their criminal actions with the actors
playing the parents being particularly effective during the sequence where they are
questioned at the police station. In fact the true villain of this story is an
opportunistic religious leader, who is clearly more interested in how this case will
advance his own agenda, that he's willing to let this family take the full brunt of the
punishment for the actions that he clearly set in motion. Now of course as is often the
case, Law and Order writers recognize that often time the most powerful ending involves
the criminal getting away with the crime, and I as such I wasn't overly surprised how the
final verdict played out. However, the episode was missing the moment where Jack McCoy
tore into the villain on the stand, and as such I couldn't help but feel that the episode
missed a golden opportunity to make an even more powerful condemnation about how these
media events are exploited by opportunistic special interest groups. Than again since Law
and Order is often guilty of borrowing it's plots from real events, I guess it's own hands
are far from clean.
3 out of 5 Stars
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LAW AND ORDER
Episode Three, Season Seventeen
NBC Production
"Convictions are more dangerous
enemies of truth than lies."
This episode breaks away from the typical
plot structure that we see on the main Law and Order series, as normally the police
perform their detective work to uncover the criminal in the first half of the show, while
the second half follows the prosecution's attempt to bring in a guilty verdict, and the
interaction between the two halves of the show is limited to a brief window in the middle.
However this episode offers up some lovely moments of interaction among the two casts that
make up the show, as the plot involves the return of a ten year old murder where we learn
the over zealous pursuit of an innocent man by a younger Detective Fontana returns to
haunt him, and Jack McCoy finds his attempt to put the real murderer away being hampered
by Detective Fontana's efforts to help provide the evidence. This in turn results in a
couple lovely moments where we see a furious Jack McCoy confronts an equally bull-headed
Detective Fontana, and these scenes can't help but command your full attention. The same
goes for the scene where the wrongly accused father makes it clear that he's willing to
risk a "not guilty" verdict at trial, rather than let McCoy offer up a plea to a
lesser charge. In fact this episode does a lovely job of offering up a murder prosecution
where Jack McCoy struggles to keep his case together when all his valuable evidence
crumbles apart around him, and he faces increasing pressure from his boss to accept a
plea. In fact the only moment of the episode that didn't exceed my expectations was the
scene where the defence attorney basically labels the father the real murderer, and the
episode has the man sitting in mute silence, when this was a glorious opportunity for the
character to express his innocence. Still, this remains one of the strongest episodes this
series has offered up in quite some time.
4 out of 5 Stars
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LAW AND ORDER
Episode Two, Season Seventeen
NBC Production
"Do the things you know, and you
shall learn the truth you need to know."
Perhaps I wasn’t paying close enough
attention but the episode doesn’t quite explain the opening mystery of why the dying
man would’ve been calling Detective Benson from Law and Order: SVU. I mean I realize
that it works to the advantage of the writing to introduce the idea that this is a
crossover in the opening scene, but to me it felt like this idea was abandoned without a
proper explanation. I mean the scene where the mother and daughter duo are introduced into
the episode would’ve made for an ideal entry point for Detective Benson, so it’s
not like the writing had to do all that much to pull the character into the story, so
I’m curious why even bother with the opening bit if you don’t plan on offering
up an explanation. As for the actual story the centre of the story spins around a well
travelled con job that is such a cliché that I have to wonder why anyone in their right
mind would even fall for it. I mean I’ve seen this exact con play out dozen of times
in various films so the writing loses serious marks for it’s lack of originality,
though I will concede the having the real murder linked to this fake murder that was
viewed by a witness was a new twist, as it managed to throw a nice bit of misdirection
into the episode when the murder victim was shown celebrating in a bar after he had been
murdered. This episode also marks the return of the Jack McCoy persona that I’ve
grown to be quite fond of, as after the first episode I was a little concerned the writing
was trying to soften the character, but this episode he’s back to playing with the
sharp knives as he carves apart the mother on the stand. I’m still not quite sold on
the idea that these women are evil geniuses though, as to me their plans look to be rather
rudimentary, and with an IQ of 170 one would hope for more elaborate plotting.
3 out of 5 Stars
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LAW AND ORDER
Episode One, Season Seventeen
NBC Production
"The judge is condemned when the
criminal is absolved."
The basic premise that is explored in this
episode is so weakly constructed that it was almost painful to watch the writing force
A.D.A. Jack McCoy to jump through the hoops that the story demanded. Now the basic idea is
that a criminal has kidnapped a young girl and when the police bring him in he attempts to
work out a deal that he’ll offer up the location of where the girl is being held in
exchange for a deal that will see him walk. Now I guess the viewers are supposed to get
caught up in the moral quandary of whether it’s right to let a criminal escape
punishment if his freedom saves the life of a child, but this episode presents it such a
ham-fisted manner that it was impossible to understand why Jack McCoy is so conflicted in
the final moments of this episode. I mean in pretty much every other episode that was made
prior to this one Jack McCoy has been the mouthpiece for the idea that personal feelings
should never steer the justice system, and while I can I can see how the life of a child
would make him question this well established character mantra, I don’t understand
why he would be feeling like he had lost this battle when he’s given ample proof that
the system works even when it’s been twisted all out of shape by a criminal’s
desire to escape punishment. In fact if nothing else the episode needed to offer up the
ever important scene where another character confronted McCoy about this radical
departure, as the reason why the debate was so unconvincing is because the character who
should’ve been raising the strongest objection to the deal was the one making it, and
the writing never bothered to address this. The revelation of where the child was being
held also begs the question wouldn’t this have been one of the first places the
police would’ve checked in their hunt for the child?
3 out of 5 Stars
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