Law & Order (TV Series) Collision (2000) User Reviews

The system failed them both, miserably. And now we're left to clean up the mess.

[Mrpalli77 · 7/10 · 18 May 2018]

A couple noticed a girl screaming from the park before their tenth floor apartment. Detectives found a bag full of clothes, some stains of blood and a pair of glasses. Thanks to these items, they managed to reach the victim's parents; they stated she suffered from schiizophrenia, she even assaulted her father's doctor at the hospital after a stroke. Back to her apartment (a real mess, rent paid by her relatives), Briscoe collected more information about this sick girl: her doctor stopped her treatment after she couldn't afford to pay his bills. She spent some time in a shelter, a bum sold her a knife; unfortunately they found her strangled inside a container. A guy's from the shelter (Seth Barrish) with bipolar disorder addicted to donuts had a special obsession for her. Police arrested him (one of the officer shot him by accident in the shoulder), he had just been realeased from prison. Is he really mad or Is he just acting?

Voices, maybe from Bill Gates, ordered him to kill her. But are they enough to prevent him from a conviction? McCoy proved he avoid medication on purpose during the trial. Anyway he was wrong, they were lovers, so things got more and more complicated.....Who really killed her? Wait till the very end.

Forced medication

[bkoganbing · 6/10 · 11 September 2020]

A mentally ill woman is found after a search stabbed to death in Central Park in a makeshift hut. It's an equally mentally ill man who is charged with her homicide.

Seth Barrish gets one of Sam Waterston's most formidable adversaries Tovah Feldshuh as his attorney. The issue is whether the state can force Barrish to take his prescribed medications.

The press is portraying Barrish as some kind of monster and a peaceful surrender is almost blown up. That gives S.Eptha Merkersen one of her best moments on Law And Order.

The story does have a real loop of a twist in the end.

Culpability

[TheLittleSongbird · 7/10 · 11 November 2021]

The topic of schizophrenia and the consequences of not taking medication through for example being influenced by someone else is very sensitive territory and a difficult subject. Any film or television episode that dares tackle it deserves praise for even trying. It is easy to overplay, easy to not go into enough depth with it being such a complex condition and it is easy to portray it from too much of one side. 'Law and Order' often deals with difficult topics so well.

"Collision" is not the first time this subject was tackled on 'Law and Order', Season 6's "Pro Se" for example did so with a lot more tact, insight and complexity. 'Special Victims Unit' also tackled it a few times, namely at a time when the writing started getting heavy-handed and one-sided in some episodes, but "Collision" did so better than them. It is not a bad episode at all and really admired the fact that it dared going near the subject, but it could have been better.

It could have been handled with more tact as it did feel heavy handed in stretches when the writers made it too clear what side of the issue they were on and did so in a not particularly subtle way, disappointing considering that 'Law and Order' at this point was so good often at presenting tough topics from more than one point of view and in a way where you could see both sides. Not much new here too.

Wouldn't have said no to more tension and complexity, presenting it from more than one side would have made that happen. As would have shown more how it affects everybody else involved in the dilemmas presented and what the consequences mean for them.

Despite how all that sounds, as all that does not sound good, "Collision" does have a lot of good things. It is well made, intimately photographed and slick with no signs of under-budget or anything. The music didn't sound melodramatic or too constant and the direction is accomodating while still having pulse. The acting is very good, S. Epatha Merkerson is not talked about enough (including myself admittedly) and she shines in this episode. As do Sam Waterston and Angie Harmon, who also have strong chemistry, while Seth Barrish's portrayal is unsettling in a chilling and devastating way.

Even though it is heavy handed, the script is thought-provoking and doesn't ramble with nothing being held back. McCoy and Carmichael have an absolutely spot on exchange that sums up the story and the consequences perfectly. The story has enough moments where it is scary and heart-breaking, with a knockout of a twist that left me floored. It did perplex me first time admittedly but not now. It's not dull either.

Concluding, could have been better and more tactful but admirable all the same. 7/10.

A surprise...

[ttimgents · 10/10 · 16 October 2020]

Expected to see what seems to be a trope in the Law & Order universe: A mentally ill suspect who is brought to trial, but by some medical miracle becomes well enough to represent him/herself ably, even outperforming the usual cast of Law & Order prosecutors. A nice narrative twist in this episode, as the case never proceeds to the courtroom. Though with one big question in logic that the script did not explain: If the suspect continually prevented his friend from committing suicide, how or why did he find it possible to strangle her to death. Still, a nicely done episode. [10.15.2020]

Heartbreaking Episode Back When Law and Order was Topnotch

[bkkaz · 9/10 · 26 May 2023]

A mentally ill homeless woman is found dead, and all signs point to a mentally ill homeless man as the culprit. The case seems like a slam dunk, but accused refuses to take his medication, which then leads to a conundrum. How can he participate in his own defense if he is not functioning with enough mental acuity to be considered competent?

Of course, as the police and legal team dig deeper, they discover not all is what it seems.

This is one of many episodes that remind us Jack McCoy is a particularly nasty piece of work. There's a lot of public-facing performative rhetoric from him, as though he's still fighting the good fight from the 1960s, but if you binge Law and Order, you'll see he's particularly hard on People of Color and the mentally ill. Episodes that feature one or the other always have those moments where McCoy acknowledge that society treats both poorly and unequally, and yet this seems only to serve paradoxically as a rationale for McCoy to be even harsher on them. His logic seems to be he can never let sentiment or good works occupy a space higher than the law. Never mind that in the next episode he will, oh, take on the gun lobby for promoting bump stocks or something, arguing that new law must be created to deal with an evolving threat.

That's the only reason this episode doesn't get a 10. At the end, when justice is meted out, it doesn't seem so just, especially when we've seen McCoy go easier in situations where he is personally moved. The character was always written to be something of a privileged, self-righteous jerk, but there's a lot of inconsistency to his moral boundaries. And that's not including his predilection toward making his subordinates sleep with him.

Homeless gaming the system

[evony-jwm · 1/10 · 26 March 2021]

Bill Gates found to be THE voices that concocted this episode. The guy is observed faking it for 11 years with thousands of incidents. After ruled mentally competent refuses to take meds. Then ruled to be forced medicated for said gaming. Victims family forgives murderer because she asked for it. Unbelievable crazy plot from writers to imply it's the fault of NYC and NYPD for all of societies ills.