Xeliou66

Steel Eyed Death is kind of an unusual episode and it’s one of L&O’s more gruesome and creepy cases, with the family stabbed to death and then the killer in clown makeup charging down the stairs at Bernard with an axe - that scene in particular felt really weird, but it’s a decent episode, and it was awesome to see Skoda again after 5 seasons, his last appearance had been in season 15 - Skoda is one of my favorites. I wonder if Bonnie/Amanda’s amnesia was real or not, I think it was probably real, it was just too bizarre a story for her to make up IMO, she still knew right from wrong as Skoda proved so I’m not sure if sending her to a psych facility was the right call but it looked like the judge was going to deem her unfit so making a deal was their best option. I liked the insight into Lupo we got in this episode, we first heard about his backstory back in season 18, and they expanded on it here, Lupo is one of my favorite detectives, and I liked how he handled his PTSD being brought up and I liked how despite Lupo’s past issues he was still able to be a good detective and he never used excessive force or acted inappropriately which Cutter pointed out to the jury. Lupo was a good character and I liked his partnership with Bernard. Boy on Fire is a strong episode, with the rivalry between the charter school and the public school turning deadly. The murder was senseless, the kids were just angry over the victim being at the charter school and were jealous over him spending time with the girl and Abel was jealous over the victim mentoring his brother - Abel was a really pathetic scumbag, he should’ve been glad someone was helping his brother but instead he was offended that his brother was trying to get in to the charter school. The other killers were even worse given that they raped the girl to scare her into silence. I felt for Moses, he seemed like a good kid and I don’t know if he would be okay knowing his brother killed because he was upset over his ambition. The principal had her head up her ass regarding the situation, she just wouldn’t accept that her students did something so awful. It was an interesting plot with how the principal unintentionally tipped the perps off to rape the girl because they thought she would talk to the cops. The principal did help in the end but it was after she caused problems throughout - Jack’s final line was spot on about how they would be grading like she did if they gave her a free pass - I wonder what happened with her. Regardless I hope the four perps rotted in prison. It’s a stellar episode with an interesting plot.

I’m not exactly sure what opinions are “unpopular” with CM as I’ve come across a lot of different opinions by CM fans but I have a few that might be unpopular - I am not a Gideon fan - the early seasons have been on ION lately and while there are a lot of great cases in seasons 1-2 the Gideon character just doesn’t fit in well - he hogs the screentime, is something of a rude know it all, doesn’t have much charisma or personality other than being a rude know it all, and is completely distant and detached from everyone else on the team. Rossi is a far superior character IMO (he’s probably my favorite of the BAU, along with Hotch, Prentiss and Reid) - Rossi has a lot of charisma and connects well with the others and is a lot more likable and interesting to watch than Gideon. The BAU really gelled when Rossi came back from retirement, with Gideon it was like he was completely detached from the others. I actually like the later seasons well enough which seems to unpopular - while there was definitely a decline in the writing as the show went on it never became terrible with the exception of a few episodes, I enjoy CM throughout and while the show definitely lost something when Hotch left (Hotch was great) and it was unfortunate he didn’t get a proper goodbye because of the actor being abruptly fired, bringing Prentiss on as the BAU leader was a strong move. So I don’t think the show’s later seasons are bad, just not as strong as the earlier ones - that seems to be an unpopular opinion with many. Going along with stuff about the later seasons - I actually like Alvez, when he’s not interacting with Garcia. Alvez is a decent character who fits in fine IMO and I like his relationships with everyone except Garcia. Unfortunately the crap with Garcia being a jerk to him just because she sees him as Morgan’s replacement is just completely cringeworthy and awful, even more cringeworthy than the Garcia/Morgan interactions that were frequently inappropriate, it went on for all of season 12 and was just painful to watch in each episode and made me dislike Garcia even more than I already did (she was already my least favorite) - fortunately they dialed the whole Garcia/Alvez stuff back some after season 12 but it was still frequently difficult to watch if they had a long scene together and then the whole implication that they might date in the original series finale was nauseating and I really hope they never go there. But take the crap with Garcia out of the equation and I like Alvez. The only new character from the later seasons I didn’t care for was Simmons - he was bland and rather cardboard and seemed kind of like a writers pet at times and he wasn’t as good of a profiler as the rest IMO. He just didn’t add much. I liked Stephen Walker as well and was sad when he was killed off. As I said above Garcia is my least favorite by far and she is frequently cringeworthy, her whining, snooping into others private matters, and generally immature behavior really grates on me. I don’t think it’s unpopular though to be annoyed with Garcia. As for a couple of specific episodes/storylines - two episodes that I think are overrated are 100 and Lo-Fi/Mayhem - Haley not immediately recognizing Foyet was extremely stupid - one of the dumbest plot holes on CM. 100 was very intense and shocking with Foyet killing Haley but I don’t think it’s an all time great episode. And with Lo-Fi/Mayhem, so much was left unanswered as to who the unsubs were and whether some of them were caught and that just lessens my enjoyment of the episodes. And I really disliked the female agent in charge of the New York office, she came off as condescending and I didn’t care that she was killed off. There are plenty of episodes I think are kind of underrated and that I like a lot, most of them just routine case of the week episodes. So those are some of my opinions that are controversial - I could go on.

I love Connie as well, she was awesome. And yeah Cutter just reeked of smugness and he rarely got called out for it. About the only time he did was in an episode I saw last night, Falling, where he tried to force the couple to not have the surgery performed on their disabled daughter and went as far as to attach an illegal stipulation to the plea agreement - he was WAY out of line there and I cheered when Jack came into court and took over, removed the illegal stipulation and apologized for Cutter’s error in judgment. Cutter was really out of bounds there and I was glad Jack stepped in. There were several other instances where Cutter did something rather underhanded.

I’m not much of a Cutter fan either - I don’t have the hatred for him that you have but he really gets on my nerves in certain episodes - particularly with the constant trickery he used and his huge ego. In season 19 it seemed like he had to use a trick in every episode to win and in season 18 he was just an ass much of the time - in season 20 he got some better aside from when he revealed Van Buren’s cancer in court, that was another moment of him being a total ass. He’s one of my least favorites - along with Serena, Curtis, Cassady and Borgia, those are probably my least favorites. I really wish Connie had been promoted to lead prosecutor when Jack became DA - she was such an awesome character. She really adds a lot to the later seasons.

Yeah Connie was great, and it would’ve been really interesting to see her as lead prosecutor and having a male as second chair for the first time since Robinette, I wish they had bumped her up when Jack became DA. Connie is one of my favorites and it would’ve been great to see her take the lead. Cutter could really get on my nerves - he was extremely egotistic. I loved seeing her do a good job in Strike as the defense lawyer, and it was an interesting case as well, even though Bernard was a bit OOC. While Excalibur is pretty good I couldn’t believe the hooker had no idea who Shalvoy was - even if he used the alias when hooking up, how did she never see his picture anywhere? That was just really stretching things. And yeah Jack should’ve known better than to give Shalvoy a heads up - he let their prior friendship cloud his judgment - at least Jack acknowledged that he was foolish to trust Shalvoy and that he made a mistake - Jack thought Shalvoy would come clean about everything and didn’t realize what a slimebag he was. He quickly found out when Shalvoy planted the story about Jack using taxpayer money for personal trips.

Strike is such an interesting episode with Connie representing the defendant due to the strike - I like it a lot because it was good to see Connie use her skills as a lawyer in a different way here and hold her own against Cutter - Connie is my favorite of the second chair prosecutors and I honestly wish she had been promoted to lead prosecutor when Jack became DA - that would’ve been great, Cutter just gets on my nerves much of the time, he’s so cocky and smug and resorted to trickery way too often. He just rubs me the wrong way so frequently. The twist that Sanderson killed the victim because he paid him to kill his wife and wanted to silence him was good. I just didn’t get why Bernard was so adamant on believing Sanderson was guilty when he had been exonerated of his wife’s murder by DNA - it felt like Bernard was harassing him without any cause - he turned out to be correct about Sanderson doing the murder but he zeroed in on him for no reason. And it’s very interesting how they constantly got the motive wrong and never got it right - only Connie knew the true motive at the end, everyone else would believe Sanderson did it out of revenge, although I think Jack suspected the true reason. I loved the scenes between Jack/Connie in this episode, first when Jack berates the others for giving Connie grief over defending the perp and later when Connie asks Jack for advice about how to deal with what she knows about her client. It’s a really good episode but I guess they were still figuring out how to write Bernard because he didn’t seem like himself here. Connie’s cross of Bernard was strong, but Bernard losing his cool didn’t seem like him. Personae Non Gratae is kind of a weird episode, both Donna and Bob were completely fucking nuts and it was creepy how they found the daughter’s remains and Cutter bringing them in to his office to get Bob to wake up and see the truth was an effective move. Excalibur, the season finale, is finishing up now, about the prostitution ring that Shalvoy was a client of. Interesting enough case but I had a couple of questions - how did the hooker Shalvoy was sleeping with not know who Shalvoy was? He was a very public figure, it seemed strange she would have no idea she was sleeping with the NY governor, seems like she would’ve seen his picture somewhere even if Shalvoy didn’t tell her who she was. And I thought it was a bit odd that Jack went to Shalvoy first before telling Cutter that Shalvoy was the client - just seemed a bit odd to me that Jack wouldn’t let Mike in on it, and this was one time I thought Mike was right to get irritated with Jack. Jack acknowledged that he let sentiment cloud his judgment and he shouldn’t have trusted Shalvoy - I liked when Jack said he would rather be unemployed than be a well fed pet and his disgust when he said “I trusted you, Donald. I trusted you”. And I had some trouble believing that the killer would plead guilty basically to protect Shalvoy’s interests - did Rita Shalvoy really promise that her husband would commute the perp’s sentence at some point? She was just as scummy as her husband so maybe she promised it without ever intending to keep it. The perp might’ve walked if he hadn’t pled guilty and I doubt Shalvoy would immediately commute the perp’s sentence given that it would be a terrible look for him, so the perp probably wound up having to do the whole sentence since Shalvoy would be out of office in about a year. It felt like a plot device just to keep Shalvoy from having to leave office because they wanted to keep him around for season 19, and while I get that they wanted to extend his story I just wasn’t convinced about the perp pleading guilty when he would likely walk.

It would’ve been a great follow up episode if one of the dirty cop buddies of the dad was involved in a crime and they linked him back to the murder of the witness and were able to take the dad down for that. Too bad they never thought of that, because it would’ve been nice to see the dad go down and see what the son became - would the son cut ties with his dad knowing that his dad was a murderer or would he become like his dad since he got away with the shooting in this episode after his dad killed the witness for him? Either way things wouldn’t be the same.

It certainly didn’t make Kincaid look good that she slept with Thayer, it’s hard to see someone like Claire getting into bed with that creep, but I guess she was young and enthralled that someone with Thayer’s prominence was interested in her. Thayer was total slime. I loved when Schreiber firmly corrected him when Thayer called him by his first name at the plea hearing and how both Schreiber and Ben were having none of Thayer dodging around the questions. Adam’s deadpan reaction to Claire’s revelation about sleeping with Thayer was funny, saying “well that’s just dandy”. I wonder what would happen with the son and dad from Kids, given that the son still had a conscience by the end of the episode as shown by his reaction to Ben’s comment about killing the witness, I just wonder if he would distance himself from his dad then or if after getting away with the shooting he would become more like his dad. A follow up episode would’ve been great, it would’ve been nice to see the dad and his corrupt buddies go down, I really wish they had thought to follow up on it.

Season 4 is on today, nice to see it again, it’s an interesting season as it’s the first for Van Buren and Claire and the last for Ben, so it’s an interesting cast lineup. Censure is different in that there was no murder in it, but it’s still a good episode, Thayer was such a fucking creep, he was off his rocker and on a power trip, he couldn’t deal with a woman breaking off an affair with him. I have no idea what Claire was thinking getting involved with him - I guess she was just enthralled with someone with prominence being attracted to her, but it showed a serious lack of judgment on her part - that just didn’t really ring true to Claire’s character, but it was a good plot regardless. I liked Ben’s line about how he had compassion for the justice system and it deserved better than Thayer. Thayer was so pathetic at the end when he had to be pressured by both Stone and Judge Schreiber to admit what he did. Kids is a good episode with an intricate plot, and I really wish they had followed up in a later episode about the shooter’s dad getting a witness killed, I highly doubt that was his first act of misconduct, and it would’ve been interesting if a later episode had brought him and his corrupt buddies to justice - Lennie warned him at the end that there was no statute of limitations for murder and it would’ve been interesting to see that plot brought back. I felt some sympathy for the kid who was the shooter given that he was scared he would get shot like his friend did, he made a stupid reckless decision because he was scared but he didn’t seem like a heartless person unlike many perps, his dad was scum though getting a witness killed, and I can only wonder what the relationship between father and son would be like afterwards given that the son looked horrified when Ben told him that his father had a witness killed. I loved Adam’s grumbling about the case and his line about if the judge got overturned anymore she would be walking upside down. Big Bang is stellar, one of my favorites from season 4. Manning was a total loser for stealing Weiss’ theory and making it his own and then lying to the investigators to protect his reputation. But I didn’t feel sympathy for Weiss either, as the judge said his actions were callous and deadly, I wasn’t sure why Ben felt bad about sending him to prison for 25 to life, as Adam said, he was a typical killer, he killed somebody - that was a great ending line. The investigation was good and I liked how they figured out the bomb was built near a nuclear reactor.

The early CM episodes have been on ION recently - while most of the cases themselves are very good, I find my dislike of Gideon increasing every time I watch his episodes - Gideon was arrogant, rude and condescending towards just about everyone, his personality was just not likable whatsoever, and he didn’t really have a connection with anyone and felt extremely detached from the team. Not to mention he hogged the screentime and it felt like he was shoved down our throats as the main star while everyone else was usually in the background. He’s just a major turn off when watching the show. CM really improved when Rossi came on - Rossi has charisma and a compelling and likable personality and connected with the others, whereas Gideon was just on an island by himself and came off as a rude know it all jerk. Seasons 1-2 have plenty of stellar episodes though - the show really got off to a strong start and I liked the variety of cases they dealt with and I liked how they focused more on profiling and didn’t reveal who the unsub was early on as much as they did in later seasons. Also there was less Garcia at the start - I love CM but Garcia is hard to stomach at times, she can really grate on my nerves, she’s only tolerable in small doses. I don’t know if most others share my opinion of Gideon or not, he seems to elicit mixed reactions from CM fans, but CM became so much better with Rossi IMO.

Season 17 started on Sundance today - this is probably L&O’s weakest season due to Beauty Queen and more weaker episodes than normal, but even the weakest of L&O is still much better than most shows. And I love Connie, she was awesome right off the bat, she really added a boost to the legal side - she had a great charismatic personality and was much better than the two prior second chair ADAs, Serena and Borgia. Connie came in and really added a spark to the legal side right off the bat, the show needed a stellar second chair ADA and Connie provided that. It’s just a shame that the only female main detective on the Mothership was so poorly written and had the personality of a doorknob. Beauty Queen was a bust, so glad she only lasted 1 season. There are some good episodes in season 17 - Public Service Homicide was just on, that’s a pretty good episode about the reality tv series endorsing vigilantes, Jack always hated vigilantism and never condoned people taking the law into their own hands so it was definitely fitting for him to go after the tv series for manipulating the circumstances to aid the killer and he was right to do so - vigilantism isn’t okay and the tv series was just being reckless by arming people and then having them confront abusers. A similar theme about reality tv doing anything for ratings was in the season 11 episode Swept Away: A Very Special Episode, but this one was based on shows that go after predators. Fear America was on before that and while it’s a decent plot once again Robinette was just really nothing like the character he was during the show’s first 3 seasons. I really hate how they made him a completely different character, and he didn’t even have much consistency, here in this episode he was railing about how Muslims have no rights and were seen as automatically guilty and the government was framing his client, but in the previous season he represented the white nurse who sterilized black girls - that seems very inconsistent for Robinette’s positions. They just had no clue how to write him when he returned as a defense lawyer, which is a damn shame as he was such a good ADA. They did it much better with Jamie, she returned as a defense lawyer but her character hadn’t changed drastically, at least not until the stupidity of the revival’s premiere episode. I’m not a big fan of Profiteer, In Vino Veritas or Release - Profiteer was very predictable and one of numerous war themed stories during those seasons and the whole stuff about the military interfering was cliched. In Vino Veritas was also very clunky and cliched and something about it just seemed off, and I didn’t think the son who committed the murder deserved a deal - yes he heard a bunch of racist crap from his dad but most people who have bigoted parents don’t become killers, Jack himself had a bigoted dad but didn’t turn out anything like him, that was noted in this episode. Release is just very dull and the defendant was convicted because he was sleazy and smug not because of any evidence, again I wasn’t sure that he was more responsible for the murder than the girl who did it. Those 3 episodes are examples of season 17 having weaker writing than most other seasons - they just didn’t pull those plots off as good as normal. I love Deadlock though and I’ll definitely watch it when it airs tonight - it’s hands down the best season 17 episode, really intense and excellent plot.

Yeah Nora was acting like the DAs should feel bad about convicting the arsonists - I didn’t get that, they set a fire that killed someone, they deserved to be convicted and they turned down the plea deals that were offered. The DAs had nothing to feel guilty about. It’s really too bad Carver never appeared on the Mothership or that McCoy never appeared on CI - I really would’ve loved seeing them work together. But yeah it seemed to take forever for them to consider the possibility the girlfriend was the shooter, it should’ve occurred to them as a possibility much sooner. Nora annoyed me in Prejudice as well - it’s clear that racism isn’t a mental illness, the guy was just a violent hateful scumbag. And unlike with mental illness, there’s no treatment for racism/bigotry. The perp here followed the victim for a while before shooting him, it was a premeditated hate crime. It’s a pretty good episode, I liked the mention of the season 5 episode where the perp used a “black rage” defense.

The Fire This Time is a good episode, I saw it on BBC America this week, but Nora gets on my nerves in it - she acted like the perps should get off easier because they were young and idealistic and she even implied that they should treat the case differently because it was arson for an ideology instead of arson for profit - give me a fucking break Nora - as Jack said the law doesn’t differentiate motives for premeditated arson and a woman burned to death regardless - the Manhattan DA should know that it’s not a good precedent to set to give certain defendants better treatment, she shouldn’t need the law spelled out for her, that annoyed me. Jack gave the defendants every chance to take a plea but the 2 guys chose to reject it, Nora at the end acted like they should feel guilty about sending them away, which was bullshit - a woman was burned alive, I’ll save my sympathy for her and her family. The perps knew that setting a building on fire was very dangerous and could get someone killed and they deserved to be held accountable for it. The discussion between Jack and the website guy was interesting, I understood both points of view there, I think we were supposed to find the website guy unsympathetic but he made some valid points. The detective work was great, I love Briscoe/Green, I liked how they tracked down the witness and then found the culprits starting with the pay phone call and asking around about the girl, classic L&O detective work. Lennie and Ed are unmatched as a detective pairing. Three Dawg Night is an average episode, albeit predictable, it was pretty clear that the rapper’s girlfriend would be the culprit, it seemed like it took everyone forever to reach that conclusion or even consider the possibility they were so focused on the rapper. Seemed like it kind of dragged on and on. I loved the reference to Ron Carver in this one, where Nora asked if Carver should work with Jack on the case because of race being a factor - nice continuity between the shows - it’s just a shame we never got a scene between Carver and Jack, that would’ve been awesome. Prejudice is a solid episode - I like the detective stuff as always and the case was interesting. Nora was once again kind of soft and irritating, there was no validity to the defense’s claim about racism being a mental illness - it clearly isn’t. The perp was just a hateful piece of crap with severe anger issues, Skoda was right in his analysis of him, and he was right that there’s no treatment option for racism. It’s not a mental illness and it was offensive how the defense expert compared the racist killer to people with cancer and AIDS. The killer deserved to rot, he clearly knew right from wrong.

Season 1 is on Charge again now Jones is a really good episode, with the lawyer killing his mistresses, Henry Talbot was an interesting villain - his wife was stupid and pathetic, why on earth was she standing by him? She was beyond pathetic. Goren and Eames final confrontation with Henry was great - Goren taunting him about feeling inadequate and small and that’s why he loved petite women was pretty great, he certainly got under Henry’s skin and caused him to lash out and incriminate himself. Carver was barely in this episode but Deakins had a large role. The Extra Man is another strong case, with the good twist that the fake DuPont guy killed his assistant and made people think it was him who was dead - Goren luring him out was quite good. I did think Carver took a big risk by charging the others for murdering the perp knowing the perp wasn’t dead - seems like he could’ve gotten into ethical trouble if others figured out he knew all along the guy wasn’t dead. But I guess he could say he didn’t know for sure.

Yeah Tombstone had a slew of interesting suspects with the goings on at the big shot law firm, it was an interesting case. I liked Jack’s intensity and how he wouldn’t make a deal after Green’s shooting, and I liked how Arthur expressed concern for Green as well and had a large role in the episode. Fontana however was a complete dick for no reason whatsoever to Jack - Jack was obviously concerned about Green above all else, and Fontana acted like he was the enemy for no reason other than Fontana just had a hostile attitude most of the time. Fontana was really unlikable a lot of the time, I cut him some slack because no one could replace Lennie but Fontana didn’t do himself any favors with his attitude. Falco was basically a mini Fontana - those two together were the most unlikable pairing in L&O history - they were both so abrasive much of the time. And Falco was even worse when he returned in season 16 and acted like a complete moron. The detective part of the show definitely suffered from Lennie’s exit - Fontana was mysterious and kind of intriguing but extremely hard to root for.

Arthur Gold was a great adversary - one of the most entertaining defense attorneys on the show - always enjoyed his appearances and yeah this was the only time Ben was thrown off his game. It’s a great episode, really interesting plot with very good detective work. Yeah I felt sorry for those Ryder kids as well in Blood Is Thicker, knowing their dad killed their mom and being raised by their snobby witch of a grandma. It was funny when the matriarch called the guy the victim was having an affair with “foreign” and Phil quipped “yes he’s from the West Side”. That family thought the rules didn’t apply to them. The stuff about the pin was an excellent detail, and I liked how the DAs got to the truth about the pin being the one in the victim’s possession on the night of the murder. Really intricate and excellent plot.

Just watched Tombstone, and it’s definitely one of season 15’s better episodes, very good plot about the murder at the prestigious law firm, and the head lawyer covering for the killer. Green getting shot was intense. It pisses me off that they don’t show the TBJ episode that concludes the plot about Green’s shooting, although it had nothing to do with the case dealt with in Tombstone and the witness was killed because of other shady business he was in, still the episode should be shown. I liked Jack’s rage at the defense lawyer when she tried to get the case dismissed after the witness was shot and how Jack got Fogg to testify. Arthur’s scenes were good as well, I liked his concern for Green even though the two never shared a scene together, and his scene at the end with Jack where he told Jack he did good getting the conviction and that they needed that one, it was clear both were affected by Green’s shooting. However Fontana was a complete ass to Jack for no reason in this one, Jack was concerned about Green and even expressed concern for Fontana and instead Fontana was just a dickwad and got in his face. Fontana was really unlikable much of the time - just a smug, condescending, uncaring asshole. He was certainly different from Lennie which was what they wanted, but god he was a huge prick much of the time. I did laugh when he called the lawyer a cheap shyster and threatened him, it was typical Fontana. But Fontana is one of my least favorite detectives, he was just so callous and a bully much of the time. And Fontana/Falco are just hard to stomach together, both were so abrasive. I’m watching Publish and Perish now, and while it’s an interesting episode about the scummy former commissioner and the murdered porn star, the Fontana/Falco pairing just takes me out of the episode they are such an unlikable pairing. Thank heavens that pairing was only together for 4 episodes.

The final season 9 episode was on Charge tonight, Three-In-One, and it’s actually a pretty good episode and an interesting feature for Nichols with his dad assisting - Nichols was a decent character IMO with an interesting personality and backstory, it’s just too bad he never had a good partner or a good boss - the writing wasn’t great either although he had some good episodes. If the other characters had been better, Nichols would be more well liked IMO.

It’s great to see season 2 on today, it’s really an awesome season, filled with great episodes. My two favorites might be Severance and Blood Is Thicker, back to back fantastic episodes Severance has a great investigation - I loved how Mike and Phil tracked the hitman to the train and apprehended him and how they realized who the intended victim was and tied the hitman to the lawyer and the incarcerated con man. And Arthur Gold was a great adversary - it was interesting to see how Ben was a bit off his game because of his rivalry with Gold, it was the only time we saw Ben like that. I was glad Ben was able to win at the end. Gold was a compelling defense attorney - one of my favorites. I loved that the judge threw the book at the mastermind at the end. Blood Is Thicker is awesome as well - really strong case with the pathetic murderer husband and his snobby witch mother. Very interesting plot point with how the case hinged on the silver pin that was on the victim when she died and that the husband took back home after he killed her - unique plot. Adam’s rant about lousy staff work when the defense produced more pins was very funny, and I liked how the DAs discovered from the boyfriend that the pin was unique because of the engraving, proving that the husband did take it off the body. It’s a really great intricate plot. Both are terrific episodes, hell just about all of season 2 is good IMO, so many strong plots.

Family Values was just on, it’s another of my favorite later season CI episodes - it was a chilling story with a very creepy villain, his religious fanaticism and his attraction for his daughter was bizarre - it was almost like a horror movie. Goren was really great in this one - Goren didn’t fully regain his mojo until season 10 but he was in great form here - his confrontation with Devildis at the end was great and I liked his deductions at the crime scene at the start. It’s very good overall and the best Goren episode of season 8. It’s also one of the few episodes where Ross wasn’t a total asshat, he didn’t irritate me in this one.

Yeah he is the one who her rage should’ve been directed at - he was a terrible person.

The defendant was sympathetic and probably did have PTSD, but I think she still knew right from wrong. Letting her off the hook would basically give anyone who had a traumatic past a free pass for murder, as Jack and Arthur pointed out. I agree that there would be room for leniency at sentencing but I think the jury was right to convict. Serena seemed to be rooting for an acquittal, and it was far from the only time Serena came off as soft - like I say I think they were definitely setting up her exit by this point. But I see your points, and the husband in this episode was a real lousy shithead for ditching his wife for his best friend’s newly rich widow.

The start of season 15 is on Sundance tonight - decent episodes although season 15 wasn’t as good as seasons 13-14 (then again 13-14 were outstanding overall), but Fontana is a real prick, especially at the start. I get that he had impossible shoes to fill as Briscoe was a legend and the most iconic detective on L&O, but Fontana is really unlikable much of the time - he comes in with a smug, superior attitude, and he was out of line with his snide remark to Van Buren saying he “didn’t realize he got transferred in to the local branch of Amnesty International” - very disrespectful which was par for the course with him - and in the next scene he tells Green he wants them to get off to a good start, completely oblivious to what a dickwad he came off as. Not to mention his attitude towards abuse of detainees was disturbing but given that he stuck the guy’s head in a toilet in a later episode it was in character for him. At least Fontana had personality, but it wasn’t a very likable one - Lennie leaving really dealt a blow to the show - the detective side didn’t become great again until season 18. Fontana was just too damn abrasive - almost like Cosgrove was at the start of the revival episodes, at least they fleshed Cosgrove out and made him a lot more likable - Fontana remained a jerk. Paradigm is a pretty good episode other than Fontana being an ass, the legal stuff was interesting, Jack was great as usual - Serena was whiny once again, it was pathetic how Serena wanted to just turn the case over to the military to avoid the issue - I liked that Jack and Arthur stood firm in trying the case in NYC instead of avoiding a trial so as not to cause a political firestorm - the victim was murdered in NYC and her killer deserved to be tried in an American court. Jack’s closing was great as usual - revenge killings/vigilante justice is always wrong, and that’s what this was, it wasn’t an act of war, it was a cold blooded act of revenge by the perp against someone who tortured her brother - while I find torture despicable, revenge killings are always wrong as well, the jury was right to convict, to acquit would’ve condoned lawlessness and vigilantism. I was annoyed at how Serena and Arthur were bickering about foreign policy - Serena was usually irritating and while I like Arthur overall, at times it felt like his dialogue was written to let the actor spout his real life political beliefs. I liked when Jack reminded them that it wasn’t about politics, it was a personal revenge killing, and Jack’s line about the killing being blood feud and the end result of blood feud is chaos was great. The Dead Wives Club is another decent episode, it also dealt with 9/11 issues, in this case PTSD and the lives first responders to the attack. Fontana was somewhat better here, and it was an interesting case how the victim of the ferry crash was actually murdered. Serena was once again whiny and overly soft, I think they were clearly setting up Serena’s exit at this point. The jury was right to convict, the defendant’s story was tragic, and the husband was a very lousy person, but personal troubles never justify murdering someone over a love triangle. Skoda was good as always, and I liked seeing him interact with Arthur, the only time they shared a scene - this was the last time Skoda would appear until season 20. I liked Arthur’s line about how he was elected DA because people wanted to feel safe after 9/11 and it would be ironic if people used it as an excuse to break the law on his watch. Season 15 was pretty good but a slight drop off after the excellence of 13-14, and Fontana’s jackass demeanor didn’t help things. Still most episodes were decent.

Bronx Cheer is a great episode, it and Teenage Wasteland are Nora’s two best episodes for sure, I liked seeing Nora deal with the Bronx DA in it - Nora did good and I liked how she backed up Jack/Abbie and how she told Jack to put her name on the brief he filed for the wrongfully convicted guy. It was great seeing Jack work to get an innocent person out of prison, and he said at the end it was nice getting someone out of jail for a change. It was unfortunate that they had to make a lenient deal with the real killer to get the innocent guy out, he deserved a hell of a lot more than he got, he was a psychopath, and I felt for the family of the victim, Jack and Abbie would have a tough job explaining to the dad why they made a deal with the killer. But they did the right thing, as along with getting the innocent man freed, they had no evidence against him for the murder that started the episode - they’ve might’ve been able to convict him for the Bronx murder but it was best to make a deal and close both cases while freeing the innocent guy. The Bronx DAs and cops did a lousy job, they just ignored any evidence that didn’t fit their theory that the first suspect did it. I liked the investigation by Briscoe/Green and how they identified the victim from the drink Rodgers told them she had, tracing her to the bar and then the guy who talked to her. Great episode. Ego is another great episode - the perp was such an evil sociopath - he was a control freak who murdered the victim for dumping him, I liked at the end when Abbie told him that killing her was a sick way of saying I love you. He had no remorse and was a chilling perp. Nora was right that it was scary how he had become a powerful prosecutor despite being a sociopath. Another strong investigation in this one, I liked Briscoe/Green going through the missing persons reports and discovering the victim’s identity. The trial scenes were good as well. Season 11 is really excellent - Nora is the weakest DA but she has grown on me a bit, she had some good moments and no one could replace Adam - he was a legend. A slew of outstanding episodes this season. Hard to name my favorites but both Bronx Cheer and Ego might make my top 5 of the season.

No Falacci was just in 5 episodes in season 7. She really should’ve been kept on because she actually had personality and added some life to the show, unlike Wheeler who was very dull.