S22.E09: The System

[Joimiaroxeu]

They were making Shaw run a lot in this episode. Poor guy, lol.

Another episode where the defense attorney was being wild in court but this time the judge reined her in. Seemed to me like she was bad at her job but used a lot of tactics to try to deflect.

So did the defense attorney know all along that the defendant was going to lie about the white supremacist threat to try to get out of it?

I found this was a tough one to watch.

[TV Diva Queen]

old McCoy would have fought Adam tooth and nail to charge the guy w Man 1.

[Xeliou66]

59 minutes ago, TV Diva Queen said:

old McCoy would have fought Adam tooth and nail to charge the guy w Man 1.

I don’t agree. Booker was guilty of depraved indifference murder 2 and I don’t think he would’ve seen it differently in the older days.

[Chyromaniac]

On 12/10/2022 at 12:58 AM, shapeshifter said:

I was thinking that John Oliver would find this episode so much of an indictment of The [Legal] System that he would wonder if it was written in response to his L&O rant.

I also thought of Last Week Tonight (I think of it a lot when watching this show now, tbh) - and I agree that this episode could have been written as some sort of response to their L&O video.  However, I got the opposite impression of the purpose - I feel like it's making excuses for "the system" and the characters for several of Oliver's criticisms of both the show and real life criminal justice, rather than being an indictment.  Primarily -

The false confession.  Rather than being the product of relentless interrogation and/or police manipulation, Booker apparently confessed in just two hours because he was high at the time, and Shaw was simply too persuasive in laying out the evidence (all one piece of it).  The show also fails to explain the circumstances surrounding the questioning - how was Booker ID'ed, when did he become a suspect, why didn't they believe his story, etc...  They also don't really address how getting the confession basically shut down any further investigation into the crime, allowing the actual killer to potentially remain at large for the entire time Booker was in lockup.

The jail conditions.  For me, this is the biggest "cop out" (pardon the pun) that the show gives for the system.  Yeah, they let the defense attorney bring up the inhumane treatment, the violence and death, the bad food, and all the other ways "the system" fails inmates.  But then Booker claims the real reason he needed to escape was a specific imminent death threat - which he seems to have just made up for some reason.  So in the end, he's just a liar - which undermines the previous claims of mistreatment.  The show is saying, "yeah jail is tough - but ultimately, it's Booker's own fault that he's going to prison for life.  If he had just held out one more day, then the system would've worked!"  And Shaw and Price come off like suckers for ever wanting to cut him a break.

The cops and prosecutors.  Shaw never lies to get a confession, and became a cop to prevent young black men from being falsely accused.  But here he made a "mistake" - which again, apparently is being just a little too good at his job.  Price is conflicted about what charge to bring, and only agrees to M2 after a stern legal lecture from McCoy.  The male CO who was killed is described as a family man who loved his job and "keeping people safe" - while the female CO who was sympathetic to Booker has discipline problems, and likely helped him for "personal" reasons.  If anything, the show suggests that "the system" fails Shaw, Price, and the dead CO more than it did Booker - which to me misses the point.

[Mellowyellow]

😭😭😭

Good ep but so sad. The poor Defendant. Bad luck that led to a chain of tragic consequences.