Law & Order (TV Series) DR 1-102 (2002) User Reviews

The only conclusion

[bkoganbing · 6/10 · 8 September 2020]

Whike there's a party going on next door a young woman is stabbed to death in her neighboring apartment. Jerry Orbach and Jesse Martin eventually arrest Gene Silvers ho works in a hardware store and makes duplicate keys for break-ins. This one however had him getting spotted and killing his way out.

Silvers is one real sicko. He grabs a hostage and demands a lawyer when cornered. The only lawyer on the scene is Elisabeth Rohm who shows her bar association card and Silvers negotiates. Rohm saves the woman's life.

That makes no nevermind to the bar association and a headhunter from there played by John Benjamin Hickey. In his own way a predator like Silvers.

With Sam Waterston defending her the committee reaches the only conclusion they could reasonably arrive at.

if you wanted to save people, you should've become a doctor.

[Mrpalli77 · 6/10 · 15 November 2017]

Two mates were having a party in their own apartment. Being a "sausage fest", they wanted to pay a visit to two charming neighbor living next door. The door was open and they got in, but they were both death, bludgeoned by a blunt object (a small barbell like the one used at gym for biceps). Detectives focused on one of the victim (I don't know why the other victim's life wasn't examined any further), realizing she used to switch partners and she liked to get high on drugs. She worked in a bank and she spent the night partying in a shanty club together with a married coworker (Brent Crawford). Anyway the cheating man had solid alibi and the girl happened to be the second victim, while her roommate had already been murdered. A local guy working in a hardware store used to duplicate spare keys in order to harass innocent women. Southerlyn manage to subdue him at knife point faking her ID as defense attorney and that lead to the second episode plot, involving ethical misconduct.

An episode in which the "Order" segment prevailed over the "Law". Lawyers may like it, that's why high marks were given; anyway I found it a little below average.

Misconduct

[TheLittleSongbird · 5/10 · 25 May 2022]

Whether one likes this episode is dependent on your feelings on the character of Serena Southerlyn, who plays a major role here. If one is in the camp of fans that dislike her (and there are many, hate her even), they are very likely to not care for this episode. If one likes her, there will be some appeal here. Of the 'Law and Order' regular characters, Southerlyn has always been one of my least favourites and even my least favourite.

Despite being one of the highest rated Season 12 episodes, this did nothing to change my thoughts on her and therefore it didn't do much for me. It is not a terrible episode, and there are things that are done well. Giving the episode a lower rating than given would not be fair on the rest of the cast and the few other things that work. It is just undone by one aspect that is bad enough to make it hard to give it a high score. Am saying this with regret.

There are good things here. As usual for 'Law and Order' and its spin offs, the production values are solid and the intimacy of the photography doesn't get static or too filmed play-like. The music when used is not too over-emphatic and has a melancholic edge that is quite haunting. The direction is sympathetic enough without being leaden, while never being particularly inspired.

Moreover, the writing has enough moments where it provokes thought and is intriguing. The episode starts off very well and there is a degree of tension. Most of the cast are fine, with Sam Waterston being authoritative and Gene Silvers being very sinister.

Like all her previous appearances and it never got any better, Elisabeth Rohm is robotic and fails to show any urgency or vulnerability. As said, the episode does nothing to change my negative feelings of Southerlyn, her personality is barely there and this felt like a (failed) attempt at trying to make her more interesting. Here she may have had good intentions to begin with but comes over as inept in conduct and for the first time in 'Law and Order' history this was an episode whether it was hard to care or root for a main's character's situation.

Generally the script could have been tighter, with the second half being a little too talk heavy, and after the outcome of the hostage situation the story got thinner and the tension went. Meaning that instead of riveting the story became routine and has very few surprises, as the outcome is never really in doubt.

In conclusion, didn't do it for me. 5/10.