S12.E12: The Reagan Way

[theschnauzers]

Episode summary via The Futon Critic:

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Frank is at odds with his friend Archbishop Kearns (Stacy Keach) when he says the NYPD arrested the wrong man for a murder, but he can't break the confessional seal to reveal the true killer's identity. Also, Danny and Baez use unorthodox methods to work around the Church's confidentiality constraints to find the real killer; Eddie defies Erin and the D.A.'s office to get justice for a sexual assault survivor; and Reagan family ties are put to the test when Jamie and his nephew, Joe Hill (Will Hochman).

 

[DavidWeis1]

Yet another episode where it seems the only point is to make the Reagens look like overbearing fools. Not that the Reagan’s are wrong, god forbid … just overbearing. Do the writers not like the Reagens? Do the viewers? Do the Reagans?

[wonderwoman]

18 minutes ago, DavidWeis1 said:

Yet another episode where it seems the only point is to make the Reagens look like overbearing fools. Not that the Reagan’s are wrong, god forbid … just overbearing. Do the writers not like the Reagens? Do the viewers? Do the Reagans?

exactly what i was coming to say! and the archbishop (who, btw, in nyc would almost certainly be a cardinal) looked and sounded like a fool, as well.

[Daff]

All three stories have been portrayed again and again in (how many?) TV shows and movies! Very disappointing. 

[Snazzy Daisy]

I never know that Archbishop Kearns can be so annoying. I like seeing Danny/Baez working on that case, but the conversations between the archbishop and Frank were repetitive and boring. Ugh.

The rape story will be more interesting if the writers weren’t focusing on Eddie/Erin’s disagreement so much.

Suddenly Joe Hill has lost his empathy chip in his brain so Saint Jamie could step in? 🤦🏻‍♀️

[Wyn]

53 minutes ago, SnazzyDaisy said:

I never know that Archbishop Kearns can be so annoying.

Isn't this whole thing with the archbishop a massive issue (which would excuse his irritation?)  I mean, didn't Danny basically get the idea to check the video feeds around the church from the fact that the archbishop brought this to Frank?   What happens during discovery?  Wouldn't the defense have to wonder *how* they got on to using the footage? And at that specific time (during hours of confession)? Or, if Frank and Danny tries to hide it, at least the defense would ask "Why did they go back to this case, when they had it sealed up with a confession?" Which blows back onto the archbishop (I mean, he did break the seal of the confessional - which is a big no no - excommunicated-level no no.)

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Suddenly Joe Hill has lost his empathy chip in his brain so Saint Jamie could step in? 🤦🏻‍♀️ 

This could have been interesting if they showed Joe acting this way (being ultra-careful to follow the rules and appearing to lack sympathy) by tying it back to his undercover work and any guilt/trauma he may have about getting his cohort/friend killed.  Joe could have been looking at it "I forced him into working with me by going *way* past the line, and that got him killed. So now I need to pull way back stop from ever being responsible for something like that again." But they go "He's acting like that because he's ashamed of being a Reagan."  To which I say to Jaime "Get *over* yourself."

 

And as for Erin/Eddie...Ugh.  If Danny or Jaime did what Eddie did (not only bring the victim in, but giver her hope - hope Erin couldn't necessarily justify), I think she'd make sure there wasn't enough left of them to show for Sunday dinner. Usually, she tells them what's wrong with the case - and they they go out (with or without Erin/Anthony's help) and get what is needed.  Eddie...basically gave up and blamed Erin.

Edited January 22, 2022 by Wyn

[EtheltoTillie]

The whole Jamie/Joe plot was incredibly reckless. How could they have put those people in such danger?  

[mojito]

The first thing that struck me in this episode was how two of the Three Stooges had the nerve to practically demand that Frank tell them about the "secret" case. I've been friendly with many of my bosses in the past and would never push any of them to tell me something they clearly didn't want me to know about. It's called knowing your place, respecting the hierarchy. 

And Kevin....just what did he expect Frank to do? Does he have zero understanding of the law?

And Frank, asking Kevin to tell him who the guilty party was. He knows better. Nearly every adult who has ever watched a legal show knows better. 

I like how Erin and Eddie resolved things.

An aside: while admiring the pattern of Erin's shirt, I noted that it was actually a men's shirt. So was the next one she wore. Must be nice to be able to have a man's shirt fit you so well. Or do women's shirts come with buttons on the other side now?

[preeya]

1 hour ago, mojito said:

And Kevin....just what did he expect Frank to do? Does he have zero understanding of the law?

And Frank, asking Kevin to tell him who the guilty party was. He knows better. Nearly every adult who has ever watched a legal show knows better. 

They both know/knew what each other was up against legally and religiously, and yet both acted like complete idiots.

[Artsda]

Joe went from family dinner table, to I'm not one of you and attacking Regan way to again at the dinner table. 

I like Joe but his new personality came out of nowhere then he went back to normal.

[wonderwoman]

6 hours ago, SnazzyDaisy said:

The rape story will be more interesting if the writers weren’t focusing on Eddie/Erin’s disagreement so much.

i found eddie’s behavior so out-of-line, that i’m not embarrassed to admit that  i was hoping it would have turned out that it wasn’t rape. really — no one’s shit detector is 100% — well, except for the reagan’s

Edited January 23, 2022 by wonderwoman

[Snazzy Daisy]

5 hours ago, Wyn said:

Wouldn't the defense have to wonder *how* they got on to using the footage? And at that specific time (during hours of confession)? Or, if Frank and Danny tries to hide it, at least the defense would ask "Why did they go back to this case, when they had it sealed up with a confession?" Which blows back onto the archbishop.

The writers have unanimously agreed that they don’t have to worry about all of these… 🙄

3 minutes ago, wonderwoman said:

i found eddie’s behavior so out-of-line, that i’m not embarrassed to admit that  i was hoping it would have turned out that it wasn’t rape. really — no one’s shit detector is infallible — well, except for the reagan’s

I guess we have to take note that Eddie’s instincts are always correct. Remember the story where a teenager’s father killed her mother out of jealousy, and they both conspired to hide the truth. It was Eddie who first told Erin & Anthony that something wasn’t right.

[Neiman]

Early on, when the rape case wasn't going to be pursued, I had a glimmer of hope that this episode would limit Erin's involvement this week.  Then when she and Eddie were arguing after the victim left, I was cheering them on and hoping that it would turn physical.  Girl fight!  What a missed opportunity.  

The writers clearly have no idea what to do with Joe.  

More Danny & Baez, please.  

Edited January 23, 2022 by Neiman

[jabRI]

Frank and the Archbishop... they were both so bored with the script.  Eddie was unprofessional, but I also don't get how there was literally no investigation to the rape case and it was dropped within hours.

[kwnyc]

Joe Reagan is a bit of a tool. You can tell he's thinking about being evil because they cut his hair. 

Jamie is also turning into a bit of a dick, but I actually buy that as a process as he continues to develop his ambition to lead. He knows that good leaders aren't necessarily liked, and he doesn't care, as long as the people he supervises do their jobs and don't make the department look bad. (And he also knows how to cover his ass, as in the case of the ex-cop turned enforcer and the idiot cops who brawl in the back of a bar.)

 

[zapper]

i'm going to fly in the face of things, but I liked the episode, and I liked it for the return to consistency for the show, that is - "The Reagans are right, what was unclear".

this episode was titled "The Reagan Way" and that is exactly what was delivered. we saw a couple of different conflicts

1. Erin and Eddie
2. Frank and the Archbishop (With a dash of Danny for flavour)
3. Jamie and Joe

In each conflict we were shown "The Reagan Way" of dealing with things, and we saw two different way of how an "outsider" to the Reagans takes, or does not take, to "The Reagan Way"

1. Erin and Eddie

Eddie is an outsider. she is in your face, she is pushy and she tends to have intuitions that are right. Her coming into Erin's office demanding justice has been played note for note by Danny, and occasionally by Jamie. she is fitting her brashness into The Reagan Way. Yep, bringing the woman to meet Erin was a second step over the line, but I seem to remember Danny doing a similar ambush in the squad room to Erin.  But the important point is that Eddie has embraced "The Reagan Way", is running with "The Reagan Way", and was proven right in the end.

2. Frank and the Archbishop.

Always an interesting take when church and state collide on this show. Even strong Catholic Frank will find a way to go around the rules set by the obedience to the church. Can't use the cameras in the church building? Then use the ones outside the church building. But at the end of the day - Frank's way was proven right with the only hitches being how not to make the church look too bad and how to save face in the friendship.  But what Frank did was presented as right because he got the right bad guy put away.

3. Jamie and Joe

It doesn't get more explicit than Jamie saying "it's not the way our family does it" to Joe who seemed willing to bend the rules and pressure the witness/runner with questionable tactics. No surprise that the sting operation went south with only Jamie spotting that the witness/runner had been made. The difference between this story and the Eddie/Erin story is that Joe - an outsider to the family even though blood - is not embracing the "The Reagan Way" and it shows in his drifter success on the job, but not flourishing.

 

I've noted before that the street sign outside Frank's house is "One Way" and that is no small irony. As this episode showed - there is one way and it is The Reagan Way. So at the end of the day I liked this episode because it did exactly what the title advertised by showing us "The Reagan Way" and all it's wisdom. I don't always agree with "The Way" but I think that this episode did a good job of showing it and how the various principles work with it.

Edited January 24, 2022 by zapper

[DoreenDash]

The scenes between the Archbishop and Frank were ludicrous. And pointless.

Re the Erin/Eddie thing-- it was all backwards: I have learned after watching every single episode of Law & Order: SVU (and still watching -- you can get CEUs for that, right? 😉) that it's the police's job to dig up enough evidence to make a case, not the DA's. Olivia Benson would have investigated the rape situation from the cop side, found the other women, and brought all of THAT to Erin, ready to go. She would not have expected Erin to do the legwork. Eddie should have gone to Jamie or Danny and asked THEM to investigate. Even though Eddie was out of line, that threat by Erin at the end was bitchy-to-the-max and way over the top! "Make you wish you'd never been born"??? WTF?

 

[kwnyc]

3 hours ago, DoreenDash said:

"Make you wish you'd never been born"??? WTF?

 

Well, from Erin, that's a compliment.