Law & Order (TV Series) Absentia (2003) User Reviews

In absence

[TheLittleSongbird · 8/10 · 15 June 2022]

'Law and Order' was a great show in its prime. Have said more than once about preferring the earlier seasons, and that is true for 'Special Victims Unit' and 'Criminal Intent' as well. Season 13 was a solid season, though most of the episodes ranged between pretty good and great with some outstanding episodes. No real misfires. "Absentia" had an interesting topic and every bit as interesting was seeing Mandy Patinkin against type.

"Absentia" to me is a very good episode and does its subject on the most part very well. This side to Patinkin really surprised me and was not expecting him to be so convincing in it. It is not quite one of the very best episodes of Season 13 but it is towards being in the better half when ranking the season. Not everything is done quite successfully, but "Absentia" hits more than it misses and the best elements are truly great indeed.

Maybe the pace is a little on the routine side to begin with.

The episode needed a longer amount of time to cover the conclusion, which is on the rushed and cramped side. Will agree that the gimmick doesn't quite work, due to being too much of a risk.

However, a lot is great. Can find nothing to fault the production values for though, the slickness and grit still present and likewise with the more fluid editing. The music is used relatively sparingly and is not too intrusively orchestrated, fitting too with the mood. The direction is generally alert but also sympathetic, shining in the character interactions in the legal scenes. Liked the tautness, edge and thought-probing of the second half's writing.

While enough of the first half absorbs thanks to the teaming of Briscoe and Green, which has gelled and contrasted so well and both are interesting wonderfully portrayed characters, the more intricate and meatier second half is more riveting despite the rushed conclusion. The moral dilemmas are interesting and provokes a lot of thought. The acting is very good from all the regulars, and Patinkin is unsettling in his arrogance.

Summarising, very good. 8/10.

Interesting episode.

[wkozak221 · 8/10 · 9 April 2019]

This is all IMO. I like this episode overall because it reminds me of a real life case I remember well. I do have some slight problems. IMO Mandy looks bored, he also blurts out strange dialogue. I also wonder about the judge in this episode. Every time I see this judge he is munching on I think antacid tablets? It is still a good episode.

We were never married. Our marriage is a sham, a lie.

[Mrpalli77 · 8/10 · 24 November 2017]

A young couple was walking down the street when they heard several shoots from the nearby jewelry shop. The burglar ran away in a hurry, leaving behind two bodies: the owner died instantly while a client was severely wounded. The loot was soon discovered in a local pawn shop: the owner identified the perp as a skinny guy with foreign accent and curly hair. Briscoe and Green caught the man in a cafeteria popular among Russian residents (the murderer - Gene Farber - is actually Georgian) and he was pointed out in a line-up. Unfortunately, the jury let the perp go due to lack of evidences and by the fact the star witness (the wounded man) disappeared. He had reasons in doing that because he has been haunted by the authorities for over twenty years, after he was convicted for killing his wife. After crossing the Canadian border, police managed to find out who harboring him and a new trial was about to begin, a cold case was reopened.

An episode in which there are two different plots and two different trials. The crippled man changed his position from witness to defendant and he's a real peace of work: everybody lied except him and John Lennon was killed by CIA.

Black Ops......,

[kingpinac · 10/10 · 30 April 2020]

This is one of my favorite episodes I just love how McCoy when Griffin mention being set up by the government.....

Framed to silence

[bkoganbing · 6/10 · 25 May 2014]

The plot of this Law And Order episode radically shifts. At first we're dealing with a robbery of a jewelry store where the owner is killed and a customer wounded. Jerry Orbach and Jesse Martin arrest a Ukranian immigrant Gene Farber. But when the witness Mandy Patinkin bails on Sam Waterston and Elisabeth Rohm at trial, the result is acquittal.

Patinkin had good reason to split before the publicity of a trial. He's a wanted murderer himself and he was a rather notorious and iconoclastic public figure at the time of the disappearance of his wife some 20 years earlier. Orbach and Martin go on the trail and they catch him in Canada with a new wife played here by Christine Rouner.

What I couldn't buy is the gimmick of trial in absentia. Patinkin jumped bail and was tried in absentia. It's not illegal, but it's done rarely and is foolish. That trial is declared null and void and the New York District Attorney has to retry him again with whatever witnesses and evidence is still available.

The gimmick was bad, but the performance of Mandy Patinkin as a colossally arrogant egomaniac is something to see. He's innocent because back in the day he was exposing all kinds of nefarious goings on by the powers that be. He was framed for the murder of his wife to silence his heroic voice. Charlie Sheen would love this guy.

In the end a bit of his own hubris trips him up. Rather beautifully done I'd say, you have to see it.

For inventing role for Manny Patinkin

[evony-jwm · 1/10 · 27 February 2021]

As a ladies man Democratic Hero? pathetic. Then there's the No follow up on lead-in botched trial caused by witness tampering which would have been part of any 'deal' that would be life or needle.

Why law and order is no longer on.