S22.E02: Battle Lines

[GHScorpiosRule]

2 hours ago, Serena McClain said:

I am aware of all of this. My point is I did not want this to be the case IN THE REVIVAL. I wanted the cast to be stable this time and we could maintain that for a few seasons. Anthony of course had to ruin that. Casting changes has plagued this show since the first production episode. The original DA before Adam did not come back when the show was picked up for a series, so there was a change even THAT early before Season 2. 

As others have stated, and I think it was also reported when the 21st season was announced, Anderson only signed a one year contract.  And it’s nothing new. Other shows have had pilots where not all the original actors returned.
 

The pilot was filmed in 1988. It took two years before a network, NBC, bought it. And it premiered in 1990.

And I wouldn’t call the cast changes a “a plague”  for the mothership. It worked for the show.  The first three years were bumpy until it smoothed out in season three. We’ve discussed this in those threads and in the media thread. So I’ll leave it at that.

[Joimiaroxeu]

Quote

I don’t think the mother sent the son to kill the daughter - she just wanted him to stop her from getting an abortion, she never encouraged him to kill her, but she didn’t tell him to calm down when he was sending her text messages saying he wanted to kill her, so there’s that. Another poster made a good point about how it would be pretty easy for someone from a wealthy, prominent family to get an abortion and keep it quiet, so I’m not sure why the family was so panicked, although I don’t think the killing was premeditated, I think the brother just killed her in a fit of rage after an argument, if it had been a planned murder he wouldn’t have killed her in the middle of a busy park where witnesses saw him. The only thing I can think of about why the family was panicked was if the daughter was planning to go public with her story and go against her father’s anti abortion stance, but nothing was said about that.

Yeah, I was being kind of tongue-in-cheek about that. The L&O writers surely don't have the nerve to go that far. (However, some viewers on reddit saw what the brother did as a possible take on "honor killing." That's not really a thing in predominant American culture though; it's generally  treated as straight up murder.)

I'm not so sure the girl's family would've allowed her to get an abortion under any circumstances, despite their being wealthy and powerful enough to get it done secretly. Otherwise, there were much closer places she could've gone than New York. The whole TX versus NY thing seemed too on-the-nose to me.

[WendyCR72]

11 hours ago, Xeliou66 said:

Cosgrove is actually not that devout in his faith - in an episode last season (Wicked Game) he said he didn’t go to church and he had issues with the church’s teachings about sexuality. In this episode I didn’t take it that Cosgrove was against abortion so much as he was concerned about a minor going out of state without her parents knowledge and getting an abortion.

This is another example of what I mean by more nuanced, which I like. We humans are complex, and I always admired the Mothership for highlighting various points of view, which the show usually managed to do without needing anvils.

Cosgrove may or may not approve of the whole abortion issue. But I do like it is never really made explicit (so far, anyway!), allowing viewers to draw their own conclusions.

[shapeshifter]

On 10/1/2022 at 6:49 PM, Xeliou66 said:

The only thing I can think of about why the family was panicked was if the daughter was planning to go public with her story and go against her father’s anti abortion stance, but nothing was said about that.

I didn’t see any hint of anyone going public with the story until after the daughter became a murder victim, and then it was the father going public in an attempt to get ahead of the story.

Rather, it seemed the mom really and foolishly believed the son was the only chance to stop the abortion.

The words of the brother, “I’ll kill her,” have been uttered by many on L&O who claim that they didn’t mean it literally. I can’t recall any other suspects who were known to have spoken the “I’ll kill him” or “I’ll kill her” who actually did kill the victim. But here that tired declaration from the killer brother to the victim’s mother (by text?) serves to make the victim’s mom represent those who seemingly believe the potential life of the fetus trumps the life of the woman whose body carries the fetus, but the victim's mother is also representative in her interactions with her murder-threatening son of those who really just haven’t thought through the consequences of supporting capital punishment and calling abortion in all cases murder.   
The victim’s mother is is more nuanced by her lack of dialogue, the writers finally taking a needed break from “pelting the audience with anvils” at the end.

On 9/30/2022 at 11:34 AM, storyskip said:

just felt like the writers getting up on their soap boxes and pelting the audience with anvils, rather than telling a story.

Edited October 3, 2022 by shapeshifter

[andromeda331]

11 hours ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

As others have stated, and I think it was also reported when the 21st season was announced, Anderson only signed a one year contract.  And it’s nothing new. Other shows have had pilots where not all the original actors returned.
 

The pilot was filmed in 1988. It took two years before a network, NBC, bought it. And it premiered in 1990.

And I wouldn’t call the cast changes a “a plague”  for the mothership. It worked for the show.  The first three years were bumpy until it smoothed out in season three. We’ve discussed this in those threads and in the media thread. So I’ll leave it at that.

It's really one of the few shows where having a revolving main cast actually worked. Stone was really great during his run. You'd think it would have been hard to replace him since he was just so good. But McCoy was really great too. Different from Stone but great in his own right. It really stinks that we lost Cragen for a stupid TPTB reason but we got Van Buren who was incredible. There were a few duds like Serena and Borgia but that was several seasons away and didn't destroy the show. Season 17 almost did it was really bad and they had Detective Cassidy who really didn't work out to the point even Van Buren hated her and it really felt like the show had run it's course. But then they retooled the show by bumping McCoy up to DA and bringing in a new lawyer and detective and the cases were real good.  We also lost Robinette for a dumb reason and got Claire was mostly good but not a good replacement for Robinette but we also got Jamie and Abby. We got a lot of really good cops Greevy, Logan, Cerreta, Briscoe, Green, Lupo and Bernard. Only Cassidy, Falco and depending on you feel about Curtis (I hated him). The show was really lucky on that.

[Serena McClain]

22 hours ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

As others have stated, and I think it was also reported when the 21st season was announced, Anderson only signed a one year contract.  And it’s nothing new. Other shows have had pilots where not all the original actors returned.
 

The pilot was filmed in 1988. It took two years before a network, NBC, bought it. And it premiered in 1990.

And I wouldn’t call the cast changes a “a plague”  for the mothership. It worked for the show.  The first three years were bumpy until it smoothed out in season three. We’ve discussed this in those threads and in the media thread. So I’ll leave it at that.

Yeah, and Anthony could have renewed that contract. Sam Waterson also signed for a year and he came back. Signing for a year does not mean they had to stay on for a year. Technically, he did not stay for a year only a few months so Anthony should still be on this show until NEXT year. 

Yeah, it took two years for the show to get picked up but everyone else came back. Why couldn't Roy Thinnes as well! The casting changes are a plague since you get use to these people and want them to be around long and they leave as quickly as they come on. Like what was the point. My hat goes off to Chris Noth, Jerry Orbach, Steven Hill, S. Epatha Merkerson, Fred Thompson, and Jesse L. Martin who knew how to stay on a show. 

Edited October 2, 2022 by Serena McClain

[Door County Cherry]

It's time to move on from discussion of Anthony Anderson's choice to leave the show in this thread.

You can discuss where you think Kevin Bernard is and whether you they should have addressed his whereabouts in further detail but we've exhausted the discussion about the actor. 

[CrystalBlue]

My takeaway from the surprise twist shooting of the activist from Texas on the courthouse steps (who stupidly declined the offer of getting her a cab -- doesn't she know how hard it is to get a taxi in NYC?) was that the unhinged, deranged supposedly pro-life shooter woman was representative of the right because the show played a lot of representations of the left.  So equal time?

[MarylandGirl]

I also thought the shooting on the steps was over the top and unnecessary. When they were standing there talking to her and she declined being helped to a car, I was thinking, "Well, now she's obviously going to get shot."

As others said, it would have been more interesting if something happened to her in Texas. Maybe show McCoy, Price, and Maroun talking in McCoy's office at the end, celebrating their victory, then they get a call saying she'd been shot walking out of the Texas airport or something. Or, on a less dramatic note, arrested when she got off the plane.

[Xeliou66]

21 minutes ago, MarylandGirl said:

I also thought the shooting on the steps was over the top and unnecessary. When they were standing there talking to her and she declined being helped to a car, I was thinking, "Well, now she's obviously going to get shot."

As others said, it would have been more interesting if something happened to her in Texas. Maybe show McCoy, Price, and Maroun talking in McCoy's office at the end, celebrating their victory, then they get a call saying she'd been shot walking out of the Texas airport or something. Or, on a less dramatic note, arrested when she got off the plane.

I agree that it would’ve been much better for the episode to end with the woman facing charges in Texas for her actions and the DA’s at their office discussing the situation. A low key ending rather than another sensational twist would’ve been much better. 

[853fisher]

Detective Cassady was mentioned upthread, which reminded me of my surprise when I noticed a familiar name in the credits: Milena Govich, who played her 15(!) years ago, directed this episode.  She also did another, "Filtered Life" (the one where the van life influencer is murdered), last season.

Milena doesn't seem to have acted in several years but she's directed over a dozen episodes of different shows.  Wikipedia says she is also an executive producer on Dick Wolf's "FBI."  Good for her - I don't remember the circumstances of her departure, but it's nice there are no hard feelings.

Edited October 3, 2022 by 853fisher

[Zaffy]

A "Meh" episode for a very important topic.
But what made it bad was the "twist" at the end. The moment I saw the group of protesters I said aloud to my friend:  "that witness is dead in 10 secs!". 
There is no dynamic in this revival...it is quite mediocre.

Btw, really, why is SO easy to shoot someone on the steps of  a Courthouse? Especially after trials that are controversial.
It is like inviting anyone who thinks (s)he can be "Judge Dread" to come and shoot or attack whoever (s)he wants.
And they wonder why witnesses hesitate to testify. Hah!

[wknt3]

On 9/30/2022 at 12:33 AM, Xeliou66 said:

This has to be one of the most controversial and polarizing episodes of L&O history, but I liked it until the courthouse shooting at the end. That was an unnecessary final twist with no explanation, who was it even who shot the abortion rights activist? That was an over the top ending to an already rather sensational episode.

Yes the episode was heavy handed, but I think sometimes that needs to be the case. I liked that besides the one very brief conversation between Cosgrove and Shaw there wasn’t much in the way of characters debating the abortion issue and were just doing their jobs. I’m liking the Cosgrove/Shaw pairing, Shaw is a nice addition who’s fitted in smoothly with the cast. I liked how they weren’t afraid to question the Governor and I liked Cosgrove giving him the warrant for his son’s arrest.

And then the ending was just totally unnecessary and just felt tacked on for shock value, it was also a cliche seeing a shooting at the courthouse. That pushed the episode over the top for me, and was a sour ending to an otherwise solid episode, although I can see why some people would dislike it given the extremely emotional and controversial nature of the subject matter, and the episode no doubt pulled no punches in taking some shots at certain politicians, but I had no problem with most of it.

On 9/30/2022 at 5:32 PM, WendyCR72 said:

Shaw has a booming voice! I like him so far. And his vibe with Cosgrove seems to be gelling nicely.

But I knew what happened at the very end was going to happen before it did. Maybe it's all the other past drama that has happened at the courthouse, but I could see what happened coming a mile away.

Still, the writing seems a bit more nuanced so far, that aside, than it did last season. Maybe the writers were rusty as far as writing for the Mothership goes and needed time to re-find their sea legs, so to speak.

On 10/2/2022 at 3:07 AM, WendyCR72 said:

This is another example of what I mean by more nuanced, which I like. We humans are complex, and I always admired the Mothership for highlighting various points of view, which the show usually managed to do without needing anvils.

Cosgrove may or may not approve of the whole abortion issue. But I do like it is never really made explicit (so far, anyway!), allowing viewers to draw their own conclusions.

Agreed with basically all of this. I think they did pretty well compared to the past episodes, but that ending was a "shocking" twist only in the sense it was "shocking" that apparently multiple experienced television professionals thought that was a good idea, And yes this episode had a clear point of view, but I don't think it was didactic or preachy like modern day SVU so often is. In fact I think one of the reasons the episode was better than most of the original iteration's stories on the topic is that they didn't feel the need to try to create a false balance. Probably has more to do with the headlines they are ripping from changing than any sort of bravery, but still it was refreshing.
 

18 hours ago, 853fisher said:

Detective Cassady was mentioned upthread, which reminded me of my surprise when I noticed a familiar name in the credits: Milena Govich, who played her 15(!) years ago, directed this episode.  She also did another, "Filtered Life" (the one where the van life influencer is murdered), last season.

Milena doesn't seem to have acted in several years but she's directed over a dozen episodes of different shows.  Wikipedia says she is also an executive producer on Dick Wolf's "FBI."  Good for her - I don't remember the circumstances of her departure, but it's nice there are no hard feelings.

We never really found out anything definitive about the circumstances of her departure. It seems that it was mostly a matter of the character never really working out due to the producers and writers resenting what seemed to be casting imposed from above (trying to go younger and sexier). And as I've mentioned here before I think that every actor in the business knows what working for Dick Wolf is and that if you can avoid doing anything too crazy like attacking him and the US Justice Department or demanding top dollar without having the network by the balls they can keep getting steady work with many people they know and like and a nice stream of residuals. I'm pretty sure if everyone who ever called him a SOB and resented the way their time on one of his series ended stopped working for him they would have to get another printer for SAG cards.

Edited October 4, 2022 by wknt3
ducking autocorrect

[GHScorpiosRule]

12 minutes ago, wknt3 said:

Agreed with basically all of this. I think they did pretty well compared to the past episodes,

I don’t know. I think the first season’s “Life Choice” was excellent. No matter how many times I watch, I always 🙌🙌 at Ben Stone’s cross of Rose Schwimmer and how he shuts her self-righteous trap.

But that’s just me.

[wknt3]

16 minutes ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

I don’t know. I think the first season’s “Life Choice” was excellent. No matter how many times I watch, I always 🙌🙌 at Ben Stone’s cross of Rose Schwimmer and how he shuts her self-righteous trap.

But that’s just me.

I actually like that episode, but unfortunately the rest of them don't live up to that standard at least in my opinion.

[GHScorpiosRule]

2 minutes ago, wknt3 said:

I actually like that episode, but unfortunately the rest of them don't live up to that standard at least in my opinion.

On that we can agree.

[Xeliou66]

34 minutes ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

On that we can agree.

The only abortion related episode of the Mothership that I loathe is Dignity, from season 20, that episode is beyond horrid and one of the worst in L&O history. The other 2 episodes that I can think of of the Mothership where abortion issues were centerpiece are Life Choice from season 1 and Progeny from season 5, and I like both of those episodes.

[blackwing]

On 10/2/2022 at 7:17 PM, MarylandGirl said:

I also thought the shooting on the steps was over the top and unnecessary. When they were standing there talking to her and she declined being helped to a car, I was thinking, "Well, now she's obviously going to get shot."

As others said, it would have been more interesting if something happened to her in Texas. Maybe show McCoy, Price, and Maroun talking in McCoy's office at the end, celebrating their victory, then they get a call saying she'd been shot walking out of the Texas airport or something. Or, on a less dramatic note, arrested when she got off the plane.

Yes, I think it would have been great if a few days later, Maroun had gotten a phone call at the end of the episode and then notified Price and McCoy that the woman was arrested in Texas by the Governor of Texas and charged with accessory to murder, or some other charge connecting her to the daughter's death.  Then there could have been a "did we do the right thing in cajoling her into testifying" line and the episode ends.

This is a complete stab in the dark, but thinking more about that courthouse steps shooting... what other TV shows have recently had a courthouse steps shooting at the end of the episode?  I'm talking about fairly recent, within the past several years.  I distinctly remember watching a show where there was a courthouse steps shooting but can't remember what it is.  Maybe "How to Get Away With Murder"?  I don't seem to watch many legal or cop procedurals so really am racking my brain trying to figure out what it was.

[wknt3]

22 hours ago, Xeliou66 said:

The only abortion related episode of the Mothership that I loathe is Dignity, from season 20, that episode is beyond horrid and one of the worst in L&O history. The other 2 episodes that I can think of of the Mothership where abortion issues were centerpiece are Life Choice from season 1 and Progeny from season 5, and I like both of those episodes.

I think Life Choice was very good to great. Progeny not so much and Dignity is terrible. Just awful character writing in the desperate attempt for "balance" and it probably skews my perception of how the series handled the issue overall even when it wasn't central to the storyline.

[Xeliou66]

9 minutes ago, wknt3 said:

I think Life Choice was very good to great. Progeny not so much and Dignity is terrible. Just awful character writing in the desperate attempt for "balance" and it probably skews my perception of how the series handled the issue overall even when it wasn't central to the storyline.

Maybe we should take this to the season 5 thread, but what did you dislike about Progeny? I thought it was very good, I loved Jack’s cross of that scumbag Seeley where he basically got him to admit he didn’t believe his own defense and ME Rodgers had some good testimony as well. I also liked that there wasn’t any debate over the abortion issue and each character was just doing their job.

I completely agree about Dignity - the writing was awful for both the case and the characters, it was a god awful episode and the stuff Bernard was saying was beyond offensive and OOC.

Like I said, this episode was heavy handed, but the issue itself doesn’t exactly lend itself to subtlety and I would rather them do an episode like this than one where they attempt to do “both sides”. This wasn’t my favorite episode but it was miles better than the crap that was Dignity. 

[Cotypubby]

The first moment we saw the brother after the father’s press conference I knew he was the one who did it, even before he spoke one word. It’s like they sent out a casting notice for “most douchiest-looking white boy possible.” 
 

Every single time the show ends with them on the courthouse stairs I always expect someone to get shot. 😆 I started laughing when it actually happened because it’s such a bad cliche.

Edited October 6, 2022 by Cotypubby

[GiandujaPie]

On 9/30/2022 at 10:18 AM, shapeshifter said:

I would love to have confirmation of my mind's conclusion-jump to the casting call for the brother having been something like "Kyle Rittenhouse look alike," even though the crime was very different. Even if that wasn't explicitly stated in the casting call (probably it was just "white, young adult male with round, baby face") the resemblance kept me thinking he would get away with it——and, as often (always?) happens with these L&O guilty verdicts, we will never get to hear about the appeal(s).

On 9/30/2022 at 7:01 PM, Aileen said:

Interesting. I thought he looked Josh Duggar-adjacent.

LOL you're both right about the looks of the brother but I also thought it was lazy casting and it just reinforces what so many on the right complain about Hollywood liberals. The casting of the Texas family seemed like a Hollywood caricature of what backward Texans look like. The family looked inbred to me, especially the son. 

I also did not like the ending with the activist getting killed. I'm surprised that so many thought this was a nuanced episode. It seemed heavy handed to me. I would have preferred if it turned out to be that the family had supported her getting the abortion and getting called out for their hypocrisy.

I'm not sure why the mother would have sent the brother to find the daughter because she had already had the abortion. What would finding her accomplish? I think it is more likely that they did hunt her down to kill her and then try to blame the "crime-addled streets of a coastal elite city like NYC" to cover up their hypocrisy of their own daughter getting an abortion. What they did was no different than when we've seen "honor killings" by Muslim families. 

[peacheslatour]

On 9/28/2022 at 4:29 PM, Xeliou66 said:

I don’t recall the same description for Price/Maroun in each episode last season, but then again the descriptions are always very generic so as not to give anything away.

Anyway, this episode is apparently the one that will address abortion laws - I hope it’s handled okay and not botched terribly, like that awful season 20 episode Dignity. I figured SVU would be the show to address abortion laws, since they regularly deal with social issues like that. The franchise hasn’t always done a good job with abortion related stuff, so I’m somewhat nervous about this episode as it could be a clunker, but I hope it’s pulled off okay.

I thought CI did an excellent job handling it in The Third Horseman.

[illdoc]

2 hours ago, GiandujaPie said:

I'm not sure why the mother would have sent the brother to find the daughter because she had already had the abortion.

I don't think the mother did know that the daughter had had the abortion---she just knew the daughter went to NYC to have it, not that it had taken place (how would the mother know? Do you think the daughter texted her after it was done???). She sent the son to try and stop her. I believe it was while they were arguing that the brother found out it was too late.

Just before the brother tried to pin the crime on the activist, I thought he was going to say that the victim committed suicide (in remorse) and that he tried to stop her!

[shapeshifter]

5 hours ago, GiandujaPie said:

I'm not sure why the mother would have sent the brother to find the daughter because she had already had the abortion. What would finding her accomplish? I think it is more likely that they did hunt her down to kill her and then try to blame the "crime-addled streets of a coastal elite city like NYC" to cover up their hypocrisy of their own daughter getting an abortion....

3 hours ago, illdoc said:

I don't think the mother did know that the daughter had had the abortion---she just knew the daughter went to NYC to have it, not that it had taken place (how would the mother know? Do you think the daughter texted her after it was done???). She sent the son to try and stop her. I believe it was while they were arguing that the brother found out it was too late.

Just before the brother tried to pin the crime on the activist, I thought he was going to say that the victim committed suicide (in remorse) and that he tried to stop her!

Since the brother lied on the stand about his encounter with his sister, including falsely blaming the abortion rights volunteer, Drea Clark, for his sister's murder, we can't take anything he said about his motives as being accurate. The same goes for the mother and father. 
But we do have these lines from the L&O characters [Maroun & Price?]:

• "Hey, the police weren't able to recover any video that puts Blake Carter in the park, but a search warrant for his hotel room did turn up the contents of Becca Carter's purse, including her wallet, cell phone, and a prescription bottle of misoprostol. That's why he wanted the purse, to get a hold of her medication. Keep anyone from knowing she's had an abortion."

But their ascribed motives to the brother's actions are never validated on screen. 
However, abortion rights volunteer Drea Clark does describe in detail that Becca was in a lot of pain after the abortifacients took effect, which is why she did not return to the dorm. So we can conclude that Becca knew the abortion had happened. 

If Becca had not been thrown to her death, but if her brother had kept the remaining pills, and if Becca had not gotten a refill, she could have died from an incomplete abortion if the placenta and uterine wall contents did not spontaneously expel. 

That would be an interesting L&O case.

[Door County Cherry]

FYI, we've removed some posts discussing other (non L&O) shows that have had shootouts on the courthouse steps.  In general, major spoilers for other TV shows don't belong in forums for shows that aren't for that specific show.  Courthouse shootouts tend to fall into the "major spoiler" category. 

If you feel the need to answer the question, please spoiler tag the name of the show. 

[love2lovebadtv]

On 9/29/2022 at 11:53 PM, Serena McClain said:

I found his acting a bit bland at times, but given this is his first gig shortly after a long running show JUST ended, he was a fool to make this decision this quickly.

I never got the sense the actor was desperate to be on another show - it seemed more like he was doing a favor. I always thought Detective Bernard was pretty boring and corny I thought it was great to see at least a couple of familiar faces. Now that the revival is finding its own way, there are probably lots of new viewers who don't know the original cast. 

On 9/29/2022 at 11:46 PM, Serena McClain said:

Noticed an error. Cosgrove stated that the victim was the same age as his daughter, who was seventeen. Now unless he has ANOTHER daughter, which I highly doubt, this is not right as in the Organized Crime crossover LITERALLY A WEEK AGO he told the one and only daughter we see that she was FIFTEEN. I recall him saying that and went back to the OC show to review that scene if that was the case AND IT WAS. Like, how do they screw this so quickly.

Also a funny moment, while the governor was talking in front of the courthouse, there was a bird walking on the steps in the background just chilling and minding its own business, haha. 

Cosgrove definitely said he has more children. And I could see him getting choked about a girl who's just a couple of years older than his daughter and thinking of her as his daughter's age, not meaning that she's her exact age. 

On 9/30/2022 at 11:34 AM, storyskip said:

This part of the episode, and the end where the woman got shot jarred me out of the narrative because there really was no story telling to either situation. It just felt like the writers getting up on their soap boxes and pelting the audience with anvils, rather than telling a story.

There was NO reason for the witness to tell their story and honestly, the way the defense attorney was laying the ground, Price should have been furious that the witness walked right up that path and should have (would have in real life) requested a recess to stop it.

It would have been better story telling if that bit of speech-ing by the witness HAD cost the DA's office the conviction in the case because the defense lawyer's framing of "hey you've had an abortion, so how do we know you're not here in part as a way to stick it to a pro-lifer?" raises very solid reasonable doubt.

But L&O writers gotta soap box I guess.

I think it would have been more compelling if the main witness (the woman who got killed) had instead been forced to go back to Texas and face the long haul consequences of her choices and what it means to takes the risks to live that life, or even if she had been killed back IN Texas. The way it was done/played out just felt like lazy story telling.

I thought the same thing about the witness telling her story. I also believe that she probably ID'd the brother before knowing his family background. So why was that relevant? It's not like she had a history of vendettas around pro-life folks.

On 10/1/2022 at 4:43 PM, Serena McClain said:

I am aware of all of this. My point is I did not want this to be the case IN THE REVIVAL. I wanted the cast to be stable this time and we could maintain that for a few seasons. Anthony of course had to ruin that. Casting changes has plagued this show since the first production episode. The original DA before Adam did not come back when the show was picked up for a series, so there was a change even THAT early before Season 2. 

I like the new addition to the team. Besides, it's not unusual for cops to retire in their 50s so the changes make sense to me. Actually, having cops around for as long as Briscoe (as much as I love him) is less common and realistic. 

[Samsnee]

That ending was B-movie level of comedy. 

[blackwing]

I've been waiting all season to hear about what happened to Kevin Bernard, and so far, as of episode 19, I haven't heard any explanation.  I googled and prior to the season premiere, the producer says that they would address this in Episode 2.

I don't remember hearing anything about Bernard in episode 2.  Did I miss it?

[Xeliou66]

9 minutes ago, blackwing said:

I've been waiting all season to hear about what happened to Kevin Bernard, and so far, as of episode 19, I haven't heard any explanation.  I googled and prior to the season premiere, the producer says that they would address this in Episode 2.

I don't remember hearing anything about Bernard in episode 2.  Did I miss it?

No you didn’t miss it - they haven’t mentioned him once. I guess they deleted the lines mentioning him. Really poor job to not at least have one line about a departing character.

[Michael Singleto]

Ya season 22 episode 2 , first off I'm very prochoice. I vehemently believe in even giving my life for someones right to choose. But the problem with that episode was the end. I NYC no one's has gunned down someone for being prochoice. That has happened before but out in the rural areas of this country and usually in the states where they marry their cousins. Haha I'm kidding. But it certainly doesn't happen in the steps of the court house. And all that kind of over kids ll no pun intended just feeds people's already emotional instability. Not everyone that watches TV is rapped to tight and some have a tendency to go find a fight after their heart strings are tugged. It's some thing to think about when you write for shows like this you have a responsibility to those around you including the unstable