Law & Order (TV Series) Forgiveness (1992) User Reviews

Unforgiven

[TheLittleSongbird · 8/10 · 28 May 2020]

'Law and Order' was a great show in its prime and there has always been a preference for the earlier seasons over the more commonly aired late-Briscoe and post-Briscoe episodes. Not only love the show for its compelling cases and terrific writing and acting in the Briscoe and pre-Briscoe years. But also its admirable tackling of difficult subjects and themes (the 'Law and Order' franchise at its best was very good at that), their cases often based upon real-life ones and the moral dilemmas raised.

"Forgiveness" is just one example of all of the above. Is it one of the best 'Law and Order' episodes? No, in my view it's not near close to being one of the very best. Is it even one of the best of Season 3? Not quite but nearly. Is it good? Yes, very and it is nearly great even. Not as good, talking about it compared to the previous episodes, as "Conspiracy" (though not as uncompromising to watch), but better than the solid but initially slightly bland season opener "Skin Deep".

There is nothing inherently wrong here in "Forgiveness". It is a case of the second half being better than the first. The first half is still intriguing, if a slight slow starter and it doesn't have the tension and dramatic power of what comes later. There are some very interesting questions and ideas here, and the episode would have been even better if a few of those went into more detail.

While the supporting cast are more than competent and act with commitment, only two properly stand out in the only fleshed out roles.

However, the production values are slick and sharp, without being too dark or overly-bright. The music is not over-emphasised or overused. The script is tightly written and doesn't ever come over as too confused or over-wordy (despite the show in general being quite dialogue heavy) . Nor does it come over as juvenile or glossed over, with a little more meat to what is addressed it would have been even better. The story has plenty of tension and dramatic and emotional power in the second half, with an ending that makes one deep in thought and feeling more than one emotion. Especially in the debate with what the charge should be and the sentence imposed, which will evoke strong opinions on what they should be.

It is spot on in the character interaction, especially in the second half. Stone and Robinette are juicy characters. Cerreta and Logan's chemistry took time to completely gel in Season 2, due to the season having to go through the amount of changes it did, but by this point they work very well together. All the regulars are fine, Michael Moriarty could do no wrong when on the show and Richard Brooks grew from strength to strength each time. Paul Sorvino and Chris Noth do nice work, Sorvino may not have lasted longer but he did admirably in filling in quite big shoes. Luis Antonio Ramos doesn't resort to any stereotyping or anything like that and he doesn't make the character too obvious. The supporting cast standout is Laurence Luckinbill doing fine work.

Overall, very good if not quite a season high point. 8/10

Out of his league

[bkoganbing · 6/10 · 21 February 2018]

A young girl from a wealthy family is beaten to death with a length of pipe and Paul Sorvino and Chris Noth catch the case. Despite a few false roads they go down Sorvino and Noth zero in on Luis Antonio Ramos who had been going out with the girl.

Watching this episode I kept hearing Rita Moreno from West Side Story singing "stick to your own kind". Ramos saw this girl as his road out of the barrio. He met her at a shelter run by Father Luke Reilly, her doing her social conscience thing, him as someone who started out a client.

But she wanted to break it off and got herself killed as a result. The question in the case is when and how quickly intent was formulated. The difference between murder 2 and manslaughter one for him and for Michael Moriarty and Richard Brooks. Brooks is the one who really wants to nail him.

Laurence Luckinbill as the high priced defense attorney the church hires does a fine job in defending him.

For the jury and the viewer it's a question of interpretation.

Ego Te Convicto.

[rmax304823 · 7/10 · 15 December 2010]

Up to par for the series, slightly weakened by some performances but raises the usual interesting questions -- without necessarily answering them.

Man, is THIS case ripped from the headlines. Historically, a Latino kid is a first-class student in his Los Angeles school. This is especially awesome considering the family he's from -- a father who makes a living by trading junk from cardboard boxes on street corners. The kid makes it into Yale where he meets and falls in which a nice, plump middle-class girl.

To her it was a fling with an oddball but charming student. The Latino boy played a nice guitar. Evidently that was about all he did because his grades plummeted and he transferred to some no-neck Midwestern college. The girl got on with her life, as they say. She was sociable, young, resilient, a member of a drama club, and more or less forgot about her erstwhile partner, until the day visited her and bashed her brains out with a hammer while they were in bed.

What caused the case to become so well known is that the Latino boy slipped out of the house after the murder, drove around for a while, then turned himself over, not to the police but to the Catholic church, which forgave him, rallied round, and provided moral and maybe legal and financial support. The courtroom had a disproportionate number of priests and nuns. Many people found this infuriating.

This episode dramatizes the incident quite a bit in its detail. I mean, aside from changing New Haven to New York. Here, the priest who first finds the Latino kid happens to have a law degree from Fordham, so has an interest in the case beyond the merely spiritual. There isn't so much piling on of support from the Catholic community, although it's clear they believe that God forgives him for that little sin he committed. The narrative concentrates more on the kid and his background and loving family.

The interesting question -- never directly addressed -- is why our Christian God, especially the one from the New Testament, is so forgiving and our judicial system so punitive. Or, to speak the unspeakable, how come some of the most Christian among us are so eager to kill some of the others? Naturally, this series is a course in Law For The Layman, not in theology, so we're left to figure it out for ourselves, or rather, as most of us do, compartmentalize the two moral codes.

Room at the Top

[Noir-It-All · 7/10 · 18 August 2021]

This episode reminds me a lot of the 1959 British movie, Room at the Top. Laurence Harvey played Joe Lampton, an ambitious young accountant with two women in his life: the wealthy factory owner's daughter he wanted to marry (played by Heather Sears) and a married older woman he was actually in love with (Simone Signoret won the Oscar for this performance). Joe Lampton and Tommy Beltran are similar in that they are more concerned with their potential fathers-in-law than their fiancees. Joe tells his aunt and uncle that he is going to be married. They point out that he spoke more about the father's wealth than the young woman he was supposed to love. Tommy Beltran betrayed similar tendencies.

Confessions (or R for Race)

[safenoe · 7/10 · 7 September 2023]

This is another racially themed episode of Law and Order, following on from the previous episode, Conspiracy. Anyway, here this involves the priest and the confession. The priest is played by Luke Reilly, and I wondered if he's still acting, but according to imdb he's taken a step back from TV and movie productions, so maybe he's on the stage more.

Anyway, the Mexican theme is played by here, with the American Dream and all that and also the upstairs-downstairs theme like Downton Abbey with class implications.

Anyway, I like watching the early seasons of Law and Order, along with Father Brown and Magnum, P. I..