S22.E10: Land of Opportunity

[WendyCR72]

Airing January 5, 2023:

Quote

When a homeless migrant is murdered, evidence leads Cosgrove and Shaw to a mysterious cover-up at a construction site. Price and Maroun push a key witness to testify, knowing that speaking out could lead to legal consequences.

 

[SunnyBeBe]

Can someone tell me what happened in the last few minutes of this episode?  I had to leave the room at the part when the key witness finished direct examination.  

[MerBearHou]

25 minutes ago, SunnyBeBe said:

Can someone tell me what happened in the last few minutes of this episode?  I had to leave the room at the part when the key witness finished direct examination.  

The jury found the construction CEO guilty.  Maroun was pleased.  In the last scene, maybe the next day, she’s in her office and McCoy comes in to tell her that the witness from Lebanon missed her hearing the day before so she and her daughter were sent back to Lebanon.  Maroun excused herself and McCoy had a big sigh.  Someone else can probably describe better, but these basics will give you an idea.

[SunnyBeBe]

25 minutes ago, MerBearHou said:

The jury found the construction CEO guilty.  Maroun was pleased.  In the last scene, maybe the next day, she’s in her office and McCoy comes in to tell her that the witness from Lebanon missed her hearing the day before so she and her daughter were sent back to Lebanon.  Maroun excused herself and McCoy had a big sigh.  Someone else can probably describe better, but these basics will give you an idea.

Right.  So, did the woman miss the hearing or did she and her daughter go missing….like dead?  I’ll try to watch it again next week.  Thanks.  

[mythoughtis]

55 minutes ago, SunnyBeBe said:

Right.  So, did the woman miss the hearing or did she and her daughter go missing….like dead?  I’ll try to watch it again next week.  Thanks.  

The woman did not miss the immigration hearing.  It was supposed to be held after the trial was over but was held after she gave her testimony.  She and her daughter were  deported before Maroun could get an immigration attorney hired. Jack told Maroun they were gone in the last scene 

Edited January 6, 2023 by mythoughtis

[Door County Cherry]

5 minutes ago, SunnyBeBe said:

Right.  So, did the woman miss the hearing or did she and her daughter go missing….like dead?  I’ll try to watch it again next week.  Thanks.  

She didn't miss the hearing; Maroun did.  Maroun had found a good immigration lawyer and told McCoy about it.  Jack told her it was too late.  Maroun was confused because ICE had told them they'd withhold the hearing and Jack told her they lied.  They were back in Lebanon.  

The case was okay but didn't we just have this same 'witness is undocumented' story last season? 

[Xeliou66]

This was a pretty good case, parts of it were somewhat familiar about reluctant witnesses and undocumented immigrants, but it was still pretty well done. I liked how the investigation led Cosgrove and Shaw in a variety of directions and their investigation was good, it was an interesting twist about the coverup of the accident at the construction site. The big bad greedy businessman was another somewhat cliched villain, but I thought the actor pulled off the role well.

The first half was more interesting than the second half, I’m really enjoying the Cosgrove/Shaw pairing and I liked how their investigation took them in a variety of directions and it was good suspense and good detective work. Once the facts of the case were established, the second half had less intrigue, but it was still solidly executed.

Jack’s scenes were really good as usual, I liked how we got an extra scene of him at the end with Maroun, and I hope Jack tore into somebody for lying to Maroun about the hearing and getting the witness deported, I don’t think there’s much they could do now but I hope Jack gave somebody a piece of his mind and I liked his disgust. Interesting that we saw Maroun speak in another language.

The foot chase was pointless and unnecessary, as just about all of the foot chases this season have been, I wish they would cut that out and use that minute to flesh out the case more. Also I wish they would go back to the openings of ordinary New Yorkers stumbling onto a crime scene, instead of the later season style openings showing the victim.

It was nice seeing a familiar face as the defense attorney.

So overall a decent episode, some cliches and familiar stuff in it and I liked the investigation part better than the legal stuff, but no glaring flaws and a solid storyline. 

Edited January 6, 2023 by Xeliou66

[WendyCR72]

39 minutes ago, Xeliou66 said:

This was a pretty good case, parts of it were somewhat familiar about reluctant witnesses and undocumented immigrants, but it was still pretty well done. I liked how the investigation led Cosgrove and Shaw in a variety of directions and their investigation was good, it was an interesting twist about the coverup of the accident at the construction site. The big bad greedy businessman was another somewhat cliched villain, but I thought the actor pulled off the role well.

The first half was more interesting than the second half, I’m really enjoying the Cosgrove/Shaw pairing and I liked how their investigation took them in a variety of directions and it was good suspense and good detective work. Once the facts of the case were established, the second half had less intrigue, but it was still solidly executed.

Jack’s scenes were really good as usual, I liked how we got an extra scene of him at the end with Maroun, and I hope Jack tore into somebody for lying to Maroun about the hearing and getting the witness deported, I don’t think there’s much they could do now but I hope Jack gave somebody a piece of his mind and I liked his disgust. Interesting that we saw Maroun speak in another language.

The foot chase was pointless and unnecessary, as just about all of the foot chases this season have been, I wish they would cut that out and use that minute to flesh out the case more. Also I wish they would go back to the openings of ordinary New Yorkers stumbling onto a crime scene, instead of the later season style openings showing the victim.

It was nice seeing a familiar face as the defense attorney.

So overall a decent episode, some cliches and familiar stuff in it and I liked the investigation part better than the legal stuff, but no glaring flaws and a solid storyline. 

The actor playing the defense attorney looked so familiar to me. Apparently, the actor, Dylan Baker, also played creepy forensic guy Henry Muller on Criminal Intent in the S8 episode, "Major Case", who killed a girl in his apartment then tried to cover his tracks with Nichols. His face really was one of those "Hey, it's that guy!" deals...

Fun to see actors who have been around the franchise for so long keep popping up.

[Xeliou66]

5 minutes ago, WendyCR72 said:

The actor playing the defense attorney looked so familiar to me. Apparently, the actor, Dylan Baker, also played creepy forensic guy Henry Muller on Criminal Intent in the S8 episode, "Major Case", who killed a girl in his apartment then tried to cover his tracks with Nichols. His face really was one of those "Hey, it's that guy!" deals...

Fun to see actors who have been around the franchise for so long keep popping up.

Yes, and he played the same role he played tonight, defense attorney Sanford Remz, several times before on the Mothership. 

[WendyCR72]

2 minutes ago, Xeliou66 said:

Yes, and he played the same role he played tonight, defense attorney Sanford Remz, several times before on the Mothership. 

Yeah, I know he's a recurring lawyer on the Mothership. I guess his bigger role on CI stood out more for me. Henry was skin-crawlingly creepy.

Still, as I said, it is fun to see old names/faces pop up again after the Mothership had been off the air for so long.

[edhopper]

The twist at the end concerning the Lebonese woman could be seen a mile away. They can't seem to have a show without something unfortunate happening. How about just a win sometime. 

[jcbrown]

2 hours ago, edhopper said:

The twist at the end concerning the Lebonese woman could be seen a mile away. They can't seem to have a show without something unfortunate happening. How about just a win sometime. 

This episode pissed me off for that reason. The police part was interesting, likely not least because the characters are sufficiently compelling for me to care about them. When it got turned over to the attorneys and I knew that the one was lying to the witness even though she had the best intentions, I no longer cared to watch it happen. Surely they can hire better writers. And maybe fire the male DA (not McCoy, the other one) whom I rather cannot stand.

[Raja]

9 hours ago, WendyCR72 said:

The actor playing the defense attorney looked so familiar to me. Apparently, the actor, Dylan Baker, also played creepy forensic guy Henry Muller on Criminal Intent in the S8 episode, "Major Case", who killed a girl in his apartment then tried to cover his tracks with Nichols. His face really was one of those "Hey, it's that guy!" deals...

Thanks saved me from exercising Google to find the episode. I guess the murderer in a memorable episode trumps repeated lawyer turns.

In the Law's political immigration message I fail to see how it plays out different in a Law & Order: El Paso episode. And for the Order portion, for 30 years it seems as ICE stakes out the New York County Supreme Court building to arrest state witnesses for deportation. And they take immediate emergency actions, but I guess that plays with New York's speedy trails, except for that episode where Detective Shaw got the wrong man who then escaped jail.

[SunnyBeBe]

10 hours ago, WendyCR72 said:

Yeah, I know he's a recurring lawyer on the Mothership. I guess his bigger role on CI stood out more for me. Henry was skin-crawlingly creepy.

Still, as I said, it is fun to see old names/faces pop up again after the Mothership had been off the air for so long.

Dylan also appeared in one season of The Americans in a memorable role.

 

[storyskip]

That was a crappy episode. It could be used in a masterclass to teach how NOT to write an episode.

The writing was crap

The plot was crap

The cinematography was crap

The guest characters were crap

Even the mains appeared to either be dialing it in, or pod people. Shaw, after the events in the previous episode (and I know time is not linear in the L&O universe but still) doubles down and leads the charge on blatant lying to a suspect in order to manipulate the suspect? SHAW?? McCoy and Price both take on the role of the completely uncaring government stooges so Maroun can shine, but then Maroun is naïve enough to believe ICE will play by the rules??

These are the characters we're supposed to root for, and every single one of them were assholes or idiots in this episode. No character development, just assholes or idiots. The offset being that the victims and perps were so cookie cutter bland that I couldn't find myself with an eff to give at the end of the episode.

Agreeing with what has already been said. Can the "good guys" just have a win without the audience being beaten over the head with some social agenda message or another? Do the writers just hate their own show or something?

[TakomaSnark]

43 minutes ago, storyskip said:

That was a crappy episode. It could be used in a masterclass to teach how NOT to write an episode.

The writing was crap

The plot was crap

The cinematography was crap

The guest characters were crap

Even the mains appeared to either be dialing it in, or pod people. Shaw, after the events in the previous episode (and I know time is not linear in the L&O universe but still) doubles down and leads the charge on blatant lying to a suspect in order to manipulate the suspect? SHAW?? McCoy and Price both take on the role of the completely uncaring government stooges so Maroun can shine, but then Maroun is naïve enough to believe ICE will play by the rules??

These are the characters we're supposed to root for, and every single one of them were assholes or idiots in this episode. No character development, just assholes or idiots. The offset being that the victims and perps were so cookie cutter bland that I couldn't find myself with an eff to give at the end of the episode.

Agreeing with what has already been said. Can the "good guys" just have a win without the audience being beaten over the head with some social agenda message or another? Do the writers just hate their own show or something?

I laughed every time Maroun went out of her way to say, 'Your boss, Eric Wise.'

Um, the assistant knows who she works for, so how dumb do the writers think the audience is that they can't remember his name?

[shapeshifter]

As with all the episodes in the reboot, the writing was uneven. 
They need to find a way to do their social commentary stuff without directing the actors to throw verbal anvils at the audience.

 

12 hours ago, edhopper said:

The twist at the end concerning the Lebonese woman could be seen a mile away. They can't seem to have a show without something unfortunate happening. How about just a win sometime. 

Have all the episodes in the reboot ended with tragedy?
I think so, but I'm not keeping score.
What about the Mothership?
 

[ICantDoThatDave]

The court case was just ridiculous. There is no world in which what we saw would result in a guilty verdict. Heck, even as a viewer I have reasonable doubt about the CEO's guilt (I mean, I know according to TV Rules he did it, just that the parts shown at trial were unconvincing).

Also, since we were told the witness was deported after her testimony but before the trial was over, couldn't the Defense just recall her for more testimony & when she doesn't show have her whole testimony tossed?

[Joimiaroxeu]

Maybe Mr. Brand New Ferragamos should watch where he's walking. Shoes can't be worth getting killed over.

And then there's having $100k in cash sitting around in your apartment. I always roll my eyes when criminals get caught with large amounts of cash at home when there are ways to avoid it.

I had no doubt the developer was guilty, I just don't think he would've been convicted because all the witnesses were compromised in some way. As it is he'll likely win on appeal.

Cosgrove quoting from the Statue of Liberty was corny. How many times has that cliche been used on this show?

McCoy looked refreshed compared to the first half of the season. 

[blackwing]

I agree with others above that the police portion of this episode was way more interesting than the trial.  The police portion kept us guessing as to who did it.  The legal portion, it was obvious to me that the CEO was guilty, the show just took its time getting us to the end.

2 hours ago, ICantDoThatDave said:

The court case was just ridiculous. There is no world in which what we saw would result in a guilty verdict. Heck, even as a viewer I have reasonable doubt about the CEO's guilt (I mean, I know according to TV Rules he did it, just that the parts shown at trial were unconvincing).

Also, since we were told the witness was deported after her testimony but before the trial was over, couldn't the Defense just recall her for more testimony & when she doesn't show have her whole testimony tossed?

I thought the housekeeper/maid was very clear in that she saw and heard Wise giving money to the bodyguard and thanking him for "that thing you did" or something like that.  That corroborates with the bodyguard's story, in which he admitted to killing Luis and said he was paid by Wise to do it.  Bodyguard was already going to prison for 10 years, in exchange for his cooperation and testimony.

16 hours ago, WendyCR72 said:

The actor playing the defense attorney looked so familiar to me. Apparently, the actor, Dylan Baker, also played creepy forensic guy Henry Muller on Criminal Intent in the S8 episode, "Major Case", who killed a girl in his apartment then tried to cover his tracks with Nichols. His face really was one of those "Hey, it's that guy!" deals...

Fun to see actors who have been around the franchise for so long keep popping up.

Yes, Dylan Baker has been everywhere.  However, every time I see him, I just can't get over the lips.  There's something either about the way his lips are or the way he clenches his mouth that makes his lips look so very strange to me.

16 hours ago, edhopper said:

The twist at the end concerning the Lebonese woman could be seen a mile away. They can't seem to have a show without something unfortunate happening. How about just a win sometime. 

Agree... there's always some "unfortunate consequence" that happens to someone, so even when the prosecutors win, they can't feel that good about it because something bad happened to someone who helped them win.

I can't recall right now off the top of my head, have Price and Maroun lost yet this season?

3 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

As with all the episodes in the reboot, the writing was uneven. 
They need to find a way to do their social commentary stuff without directing the actors to throw verbal anvils at the audience.

Agreed, it was just so blatantly nailing us on the head with a hammer.  I thought it was so very unnecessary the way that cop had to mention the migrant buses and Texas.  I watch L&O to be entertained, not to always be told in no uncertain terms how the show creators feel about hot topics in social justice.

 

[MarylandGirl]

I think it's telling that the first time I tried to watch this episode, I kept falling asleep (granted, I was tired). Then, when I tried to watch it again early this evening, I kept zoning out while reading stuff online and having to rewind it. I just didn't feel engaged by it. I think partly because so much of it felt done before? And I felt the end coming a mile away.

[Diana Berry]

On 1/6/2023 at 9:22 AM, SunnyBeBe said:

Dylan also appeared in one season of The Americans in a memorable role.

 

He’s been in a lot of stuff over the years. Definitely one of those working actors.

1 minute ago, Diana Berry said:

 

Edited January 7, 2023 by Diana Berry

[mythoughtis]

On 1/6/2023 at 11:36 AM, ICantDoThatDave said:

Also, since we were told the witness was deported after her testimony but before the trial was over, couldn't the Defense just recall her for more testimony & when she doesn't show have her whole testimony tossed?

She was deported but no one at ICE told the prosecutors office.  Presumably Jack found out  after the trial was over  because he had  someone call to see when her hearing was scheduled for.  In other words, they dropped the ball because they didn’t pay attention once they’d gotten what they wanted from her. 

[watcher1006]

On 1/5/2023 at 10:25 PM, Xeliou66 said:

The first half was more interesting than the second half, I’m really enjoying the Cosgrove/Shaw pairing and I liked how their investigation took them in a variety of directions and it was good suspense and good detective work. Once the facts of the case were established, the second half had less intrigue, but it was still solidly executed.

******

So overall a decent episode, some cliches and familiar stuff in it and I liked the investigation part better than the legal stuff, but no glaring flaws and a solid storyline. 

To me this seems to be a trend of this reboot. The crime investigation parts of the episodes seem better written and more engaging than the legal proceedings. Of course there is less total episode time than there used to be.

I liked Dylan Baker in his recurring role as Colin Sweeney on The Good Wife.

[MerBearHou]

11 hours ago, watcher1006 said:

To me this seems to be a trend of this reboot. The crime investigation parts of the episodes seem better written and more engaging than the legal proceedings. Of course there is less total episode time than there used to be.

I liked Dylan Baker in his recurring role as Colin Sweeney on The Good Wife.

I think the cast in the crime investigation part is so much more dynamic and compelling to watch; except for Jack McCoy who I’ll love forever, both of the legal cast leads are so blah IMO.  

[Xeliou66]

36 minutes ago, MerBearHou said:

I think the cast in the crime investigation part is so much more dynamic and compelling to watch; except for Jack McCoy who I’ll love forever, both of the legal cast leads are so blah IMO.  

I agree that the investigation part is more compelling right now than the legal proceedings - while I don’t have a problem with Price or Maroun the way some do, the writing gets stale at times for the legal stuff - Maroun is always somewhat overly sympathetic and emotional about cases and the people involved while Price is very stoic and focused on winning, and some of the plots get repeated, the legal stuff in this episode felt unoriginal. Jack is still awesome and always will be I agree.

Edited January 9, 2023 by Xeliou66

[ML89]

The best part was Jack mentioning the NY Times article from which the writers ripped the headline…

‘The reboot does feel tired and stale although the actors keep trying. Shaw and the Lieu should be the team - I just can’t stand Cosgrove. On the Order side, Jack definitely needs a better team - they are getting caught flat footed with elementary mistakes. But the writing is doing no one any favors. It’s plodding and while I like the video whiz lady, her magic takes all the fun out of the case - the best part of old school L&O was the detectives going all over tracking down leads. You got a flavor of NYC and you got the cops playing off each other. Now we get a chase every week. 
 

I’m also so tired of all the leads having issues that tie into the case each week - that was rarer in the old days of Mothership but I don’t think we’ve had one ep in these two seasons that someone didn’t have a tie into.  

[wknt3]

On 1/6/2023 at 8:24 AM, Raja said:

In the Law's political immigration message I fail to see how it plays out different in a Law & Order: El Paso episode. And for the Order portion, for 30 years it seems as ICE stakes out the New York County Supreme Court building to arrest state witnesses for deportation. And they take immediate emergency actions, but I guess that plays with New York's speedy trails, except for that episode where Detective Shaw got the wrong man who then escaped jail.

I think we need to cut them some slack here as far as the immediate actions. Both as such things have happened IRL and as a matter of the narrative limitations of an episodic procedural. Just like the aforementioned speedy trials. You would need something like The Wire to show the more common scenario which is a little more drawn out, but ends up in the same place and making the same point.
 

On 1/10/2023 at 10:18 PM, ML89 said:

‘The reboot does feel tired and stale although the actors keep trying. Shaw and the Lieu should be the team - I just can’t stand Cosgrove. On the Order side, Jack definitely needs a better team - they are getting caught flat footed with elementary mistakes. But the writing is doing no one any favors. It’s plodding and while I like the video whiz lady, her magic takes all the fun out of the case - the best part of old school L&O was the detectives going all over tracking down leads. You got a flavor of NYC and you got the cops playing off each other. Now we get a chase every week. 
 

I think there are a few problems as far as the feel of the show. The first and biggest is that it's very hard to a slightly modernized take on the classic formula. Many of the elements that added flavor are either expensive given smaller network TV audiences or seen as out of date and hokey by the NBC executive weasels or both. A good example is the reliance on CCTV vs. witness canvassing - it's true that today's cops do prefer video for various reasons and that the old interviews involved hiring a lot of Broadway actors and are easily mocked - the old trope about people who won't stop unloading the truck while being interviewed about a homicide, Another example of unnecessary "modernization" is the preference for showing the crime or the victim before the crime over the cold opens. But I guess NBC executive weasels are right about that. I mean those cold opens were little gems of NYC comedy and that couldn't possibly work on NBC Thursday nights!

I think it also hard to find quality writers given that many of the writers who would be mid-level staff in the 90's are now on streaming series with more creative control and many of the old hands that they might bring back are busy in other parts of the Dick Wolf empire. And the writers they do find have to deal with more network interference and notes, asking to sand off any rough edges and replace nuance as distracted modern viewers need to be hit over the head at every point.

I think they are doing a pretty good job so far given those limitations and perhaps the biggest one of all - trying to live up to the original run and our expectations based on that, many of them contradictory or otherwise unreasonable!

[Demian]

On 1/6/2023 at 1:44 PM, Joimiaroxeu said:

Cosgrove quoting from the Statue of Liberty was corny. How many times has that cliche been used on this show?

That was dumb as hell, but that rack focus on the actual Statue of Liberty immediately afterwards was fucking embarrassing.

(And I hope I'm using "rack focus" correctly to describe that shot -- it's been a while since I've felt compelled to comment on lousy, insulting camerawork.)

Edited January 13, 2023 by Demian

[CrystalBlue]

I told the Lebanese lady who worked for her boss, Eric Wise, to get her daughter inside and shut the door in Maroun's face, but she didn't listen.  Typical example of no good deed goes unpunished.  As soon as the defense attorney and Wise knew she was on the witness list to testify, the DA's office should have protected their witness in a safehouse.

[Ailianna]

I was hoping that they would track down who tipped off ICE about the housekeeper and use that to strengthen their case against the CEO.