Law & Order: Los Angeles - General Discussion

[WendyCR72]

Figured since this spinoff is now streaming on Freevee (formerly IMDB TV), it deserved a space for those who may want to discuss its short run.

Have at it!

[WendyCR72]

By the way, upon re-watching some of this, it occurred to me that the Los Angeles counterpart often tried to use actors from California-based soaps just as the New York version did for New York soap actors and Broadway actors.

Too bad it did not work out half as well for the actors living on the left coast.

Maybe had the show not been run out of order, with certain key plot points messing up the narrative, this may have stood more of a chance.

Or maybe the anger at cancelling the original for this just sealed its fate from word go.

Again, if anyone wants to revisit this (or never watched and need some form of L&O to watch!), it is found on Freevee (owned by Amazon).

[shapeshifter]

5 hours ago, WendyCR72 said:

Maybe had the show not been run out of order, with certain key plot points messing up the narrative, this may have stood more of a chance.

Would you (or anyone else) recommend watching the episodes in the order of the Production Codes as shown on Wikipedia?

AFAIK, I've never watched the show.

Thanks for starting the thread!

[Raja]

40 minutes ago, shapeshifter said:

Would you (or anyone else) recommend watching the episodes in the order of the Production Codes as shown on Wikipedia?

AFAIK, I've never watched the show.

Thanks for starting the thread!

Well as in the classic L&O  it really isn't serialized enough to matter. So watching 22 episodes can be like dropping in randomly on the 22 seasons. On the other hand if you watch in the broadcast schedule you will go through the soft reboot and then back to the original cast

[shapeshifter]

19 minutes ago, Raja said:

 On the other hand if you watch in the broadcast schedule you will go through the soft reboot and then back to the original cast

Not sure what you mean by the bolded part?

[Raja]

9 minutes ago, shapeshifter said:

Not sure what you mean by the bolded part?

Alana de la Garza joined the cast as a LA County Deputy DA Connie Rubirosa as they reconfigured the big 6 of the team like we see on classic L&O. The detective team, their Lieutenant, the prosecutors and the DA. Well actually LA had a big 8  before the soft reboot as they had alternating prosecutors like Criminal Intent had alternating detective teams when Chris Noth joined that cast.

Why that happens goes into spoilers for someone who might want to go in to the series cold. And then NBC burned off the remaining episodes that were in the can before the soft reboot.

Edited June 6, 2023 by Raja
the burn off of episodes.

[shapeshifter]

So, unless there's some reason not to do so that can be explained without spoilers (or maybe just an urgent plea to watch them in airing order😉), I plan to watch the episodes in production order. 

Just for anyone's information, here are:

Episodes with Junior DDA Connie Rubirosa played by Alana De La Garza:

  

_________________________________________________

Episodes in Production Order:

 

_________________________________________________

Episodes in the order they originally aired:

 

 

[WendyCR72]

9 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

Would you (or anyone else) recommend watching the episodes in the order of the Production Codes as shown on Wikipedia?

AFAIK, I've never watched the show.

Thanks for starting the thread!

I'm just going to be vague and recommend production - NOT broadcast - order. I can't be more specific because of plot points.

[wknt3]

On 6/6/2023 at 2:38 AM, WendyCR72 said:

Maybe had the show not been run out of order, with certain key plot points messing up the narrative, this may have stood more of a chance.

Or maybe the anger at cancelling the original for this just sealed its fate from word go.

One tenet of my Grand Unified Theory of Law & Order is that the spinoffs are only successful when they actually do something different from the original. When they aren't like LA or Trial By Jury you have some very talented actors spinning their wheels for an audience that doesn't care and would rather see more of the other series. When you do something different people will tune in even if the show is a bit of an aimless mess with only a few talented actors to make it worth watching (not to name any names!).

[Raja]

3 hours ago, wknt3 said:

One tenet of my Grand Unified Theory of Law & Order is that the spinoffs are only successful when they actually do something different from the original. When they aren't like LA or Trial By Jury you have some very talented actors spinning their wheels for an audience that doesn't care and would rather see more of the other series. When you do something different people will tune in even if the show is a bit of an aimless mess with only a few talented actors to make it worth watching (not to name any names!).

I always thought that in the aftermath that LA and Trial By Jury should be mashed in with the Law & Order syndicated packages. I know rights and union rules would forbid it, and narratively not as bad as leaving out the Homicide Life on the Street side of those crossovers. Maybe a couple of Trial by Jury episodes dealing  with the aftermath of a mothership case is almost as bad. But it wouldn't have hurt anyone to see Bebe Neuwirth or Allred Molina lead episodes pop up.

[shapeshifter]

While watching these episodes for the first time, questionable legal stuff (as determined solely by my L&O degree) keeps jumping out at me. 
The reboot of the Mothership has a lot of questionable stuff each episode, but most of them are just things not shown that might be okay. 
On this show, it's more like there is at least one WTH? thing each episode. 
For instance, in episode 6, "Hondo Field," in the middle of the trial:

Spoiler

the prosecution discovers damning text messages from the accused to the victim.
When these are sprung on the accused at trial, it is obvious that these exhibits were not familiar to the defense attorney, which seems to violate everything I've ever heard on any law show about sharing evidence to the defense. 

— which seems to violate everything I've ever heard on any law show about sharing evidence to the defense.

[txhorns79]

On 6/7/2023 at 6:02 AM, wknt3 said:

One tenet of my Grand Unified Theory of Law & Order is that the spinoffs are only successful when they actually do something different from the original. When they aren't like LA or Trial By Jury you have some very talented actors spinning their wheels for an audience that doesn't care and would rather see more of the other series.

Didn't Trial by Jury attempt to do something different from the original?  From what I remember, it was more about the trials themselves, showing how both sides prepped and handled the trial.  I thought its problem was that it just wasn't that interesting. 

With LOLA, I would agree it wasn't very different.  It was also extra annoying that they cancelled the original to put on a show that was very much like it. 

[Raja]

14 hours ago, txhorns79 said:

Didn't Trial by Jury attempt to do something different from the original?  From what I remember, it was more about the trials themselves, showing how both sides prepped and handled the trial.  I thought its problem was that it just wasn't that interesting.

That was the stated premise but to me the Law side of Trial By Jury seemed the same as on the classic show except for they weren't there for  initial finding of the body

[Raja]

16 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

For instance, in episode 6, "Hondo Field," in the middle of the trial:

I last pulled out my DVD set during the COVID new content desert time and  as a native Angeleno my first thought is where the hell is Hondo Field. Looking at the episode blurbs on wiki it still doesn't register so a Terrance Howard episode. Maybe it was the bottom of the run.

[shapeshifter]

16 minutes ago, Raja said:

I last pulled out my DVD set during the COVID new content desert time and  as a native Angeleno my first thought is where the hell is Hondo Field. Looking at the episode blurbs on wiki it still doesn't register so a Terrance Howard episode. Maybe it was the bottom of the run.

I'm watching the show on FreeVee. 
Although FreeVee is now part of Amazon Prime Video, I'm pretty sure L&O LA is one of the "free" shows. 

[WendyCR72]

8 hours ago, Raja said:

I last pulled out my DVD set during the COVID new content desert time and  as a native Angeleno my first thought is where the hell is Hondo Field. Looking at the episode blurbs on wiki it still doesn't register so a Terrance Howard episode. Maybe it was the bottom of the run.

I know that, in the NY version, even if it often referenced real landmarks and locations, there were also fake ones, including many of the addresses, which - according to some I have talked to - would take you directly to the Hudson River!

So, maybe "Hondo Field" was one of the fakes amongst the real.

[Raja]

6 minutes ago, WendyCR72 said:

I know that, in the NY version, even if it often referenced real landmarks and locations, there were also fake ones, including many of the addresses, which - according to some I have talked to - would take you directly to the Hudson River!

So, maybe "Hondo Field" was one of the fakes amongst the real.

As I remember on L&OLA for episode titles they used real community names like Jack Webb/Sgt Friday called out on Dragnet.  Although on Dragnet they called out parallel streets as crossing streets. Hondo Field is just obscure. Maybe folks near the port know of the area? 

[Door County Cherry]

On 6/9/2023 at 2:40 PM, shapeshifter said:

The reboot of the Mothership has a lot of questionable stuff each episode, but most of them are just things not shown that might be okay. 
On this show, it's more like there is at least one WTH? thing each episode. 

I watched this series for the first time a month or so ago and I liked it for the most part.  But the one thing that struck me about it is how much it felt closer to the reboot of L&O than the original L&O. It's there in the music and some of the strange legal decisions.  I find it kind of funny because it debuted closer to the first 20 seasons and yet it feels like this is the way they've wanted to go with the franchise since even back then.  

 

[wknt3]

On 6/9/2023 at 5:37 PM, txhorns79 said:

Didn't Trial by Jury attempt to do something different from the original?  From what I remember, it was more about the trials themselves, showing how both sides prepped and handled the trial.  I thought its problem was that it just wasn't that interesting. 

With LOLA, I would agree it wasn't very different.  It was also extra annoying that they cancelled the original to put on a show that was very much like it. 

 

On 6/10/2023 at 8:19 AM, Raja said:

That was the stated premise but to me the Law side of Trial By Jury seemed the same as on the classic show except for they weren't there for  initial finding of the body

I am just catching up here, after being laid out with a GI bug for most of the past few days, but yes I would agree both on the theory and the results. The cases were very similar, the style was pretty much identical, and what was supposed to be the big difference basically was just a reduction in the narrative possibilities - they weren't going to get end up with a plea bargain or a confession in the DAs office or interrogation room because this was all about jury verdicts. So it didn't really pop as something new or different - at times it felt like just another episode of the original only oddly structured. A distinction without a difference you might say.

[Raja]

I pulled the DVD for Hondo Field and the initial investigation before the exclusion seemed rather perfunctory. The old Law & Order troupe of the boss calling the construction worker off when being interviewed by the detectives was good for a chuckle. Just a big 4 as no appearance of the Lieutenant or the DA.  One follow up police investigation to work around the exclusion , but none when the rape defense came out of nowhere?

As far as the I know this guy actors. The other shift supervisor on the oil rig was one of the soldiers on the Vietnam War series Tour of Duty. The  bailiff's, LA County Sheriff's Deputy uniform colors being wrong enough to give me the bizarro feeling. And I wonder what part of the city's beaches had a calm tidal pool for the victims body to wash into in the Jaws homage opening.

On 6/9/2023 at 12:40 PM, shapeshifter said:

the prosecution discovers damning text messages from the accused to the victim.
When these are sprung on the accused at trial, it is obvious that these exhibits were not familiar to the defense attorney, which seems to violate everything I've ever heard on any law show about sharing evidence to the defense.

Well ADA McCoy had pulled that impeachment evidence for a testifying defendant trick many times, Deputy DA Dekker was in classic L&O mode, his indignation would only be matched by Ben Stone. Deputies Dekker and Stanton's interaction being the best part of this episode.

[Raja]

As an episode without the Lieutenant reminds me that coming out of Total Recall everyone expected the big career from Rachel Ticotin. But probably to sell more advertising time the traditional L&O was cut to doing nothing 

[shapeshifter]

I watched all the episodes in production order, but, even so, the weird shake up of the cast kept taking me out of the suspension of disbelief. It was like watching a game of Musical Chairs in which, when the music stopped playing, some people were sitting in chairs that were the wrong size and shape. I always hated that game.

[WendyCR72]

On 6/13/2023 at 5:09 PM, shapeshifter said:

I watched all the episodes in production order, but, even so, the weird shake up of the cast kept taking me out of the suspension of disbelief. It was like watching a game of Musical Chairs in which, when the music stopped playing, some people were sitting in chairs that were the wrong size and shape. I always hated that game.

If you had watched in broadcast order, I guarantee your reaction would magnify this post's issue by 1,000.

[Xeliou66]

I found that this series is available for free on Amazon Prime, so I decided to rewatch it - I’ve watched it before but it’s been a long time - I’ll post thoughts on each episode here, I just watched episode 1.   
I think this show was actually not as awful as it’s remembered as, but it was miscast and a weaker version of original L&O, it was such a bad move to cancel the Mothership in favor of LA that I think it soured many people on LA from the start. 

Anyway, my thoughts on episode 1, titled Hollywood (very odd how the titled each episode after an LA location) - this was actually a pretty good episode - they were constantly reminding the viewers that they were in LA with the whole actors/Hollywood theme, that was sort of overdone in this one, I guess to remind viewers they weren’t in NYC anymore. But the case itself was interesting, with what started as the burglary ring targeting actors turning into a homicide case where it was revealed the mom of the young actress was behind the burglary ring, and it was a good twist that the fence they were giving the stolen items to was the estranged husband of the ringleader mom. Everything tied together pretty well and the case was solid enough.  
The characters however were just kind of there, not bad but not great, just as I recalled. Morales was the exception, he was really good and had a commanding presence, definitely the best character on the show. The 2 detectives, Winters and Jaruszalski, were decent but rather low key, while the second chair ADA to Morales, Evelyn Price (I had to look up her name, they never said it) was very bland and didn’t make much of an impact at all.    
Overall episode 1 was decent and slightly better than I remember the show - however I know the episodes were aired out of order later on and there were a ton of cast changes which I’m sure weakened the quality. I remember strongly disliking Dekker, the other lead prosecutor who alternated episodes with Morales until Morales became a detective. And I hated how the DA was more of an adversary than a protagonist, he wasn’t in episode 1 but I remember really disliking how they did that role.  
I look forward to watching each episode again and seeing what I think. 

 

 

[Raja]

19 hours ago, Xeliou66 said:

(very odd how the titled each episode after an LA location)

I think was to signal unlike the mothership with it all on Manhattan in the 27th Precinct  that the new show focusing on the LAPD's equivalent of the Criminal Intent Major Case Squad, the Robbery Homicide Division was going all over Los Angeles. With jurisdiction issues coming up elsewhere on the board this weekend, even outside of the city limits  for the post finding the victim's remains turn on the East Pasadena (LA Sheriff's jurisdiction) episode. 

Edited September 17, 2023 by Raja

[Raja]

22 hours ago, Xeliou66 said:

The characters however were just kind of there, not bad but not great, just as I recalled. Morales was the exception, he was really good and had a commanding presence, definitely the best character on the show. The 2 detectives, Winters and Jaruszalski, were decent but rather low key, while the second chair ADA to Morales, Evelyn Price (I had to look up her name, they never said it) was very bland and didn’t make much of an impact at all.

What I got character wise from the first episode was that Detective Winters was a family man with compassion for the collateral damaged child of the killer and Deputy DA Morales was the son of a groundskeeper. Their partners very much in the junior partner mode left to be filled out in later episodes.

I did a re-watch at the beginning of the pandemic but still had forgotten that the Lieutenant had been recast. In this episode she, Wanda De Jesus  had no more to do than the other unnamed detective in the RHD squad room.

[Xeliou66]

29 minutes ago, Raja said:

What I got character wise from the first episode was that Detective Winters was a family man with compassion for the collateral damaged child of the killer and Deputy DA Morales was the son of a groundskeeper. Their partners very much in the junior partner mode left to be filled out in later episodes.

I did a re-watch at the beginning of the pandemic but still had forgotten that the Lieutenant had been recast. In this episode she, Wanda De Jesus  had no more to do than the other unnamed detective in the RHD squad room.

I like Morales a lot, I remembered liking him the most when I first watched the show and he had a very commanding presence it felt like in each of his scenes. He made the courtroom scenes good and it felt like there was more life to the show when he was onscreen. His second chair, Price, had very little to do and didn’t have an impact. 
As for the detectives, it felt like Jaruszalski was a bit more colorful whereas Winters was more stoic, but his compassion did show at the end. Yeah the Lieutenant had been recast and only had 1 line in the first episode I believe.  
Overall I felt like the first episode was actually pretty good, I enjoyed it fine even if the characters didn’t stand out as much. I know the show had a lot of chaos with episodes being aired out of order and people leaving, but the first episode was fine. 

[Raja]

On 9/16/2023 at 8:23 PM, Xeliou66 said:

Anyway, my thoughts on episode 1, titled Hollywood (very odd how the titled each episode after an LA location) - this was actually a pretty good episode - they were constantly reminding the viewers that they were in LA with the whole actors/Hollywood theme, that was sort of overdone in this one, I guess to remind viewers they weren’t in NYC anymore.

There was the Hollywood factor seen in the Julia Roberts episodes from the mothership but also thrown in was Det. Winters wondering why they were there for this assaults and burglary.  On The Closer why was Priority Homicide/Major Crimes called in instead of the local understanding why  RHD was there instead of the local division  like Hollywood Division detectives on Bosch taking the case.

[wknt3]

On 9/16/2023 at 11:23 PM, Xeliou66 said:

Anyway, my thoughts on episode 1, titled Hollywood (very odd how the titled each episode after an LA location) - this was actually a pretty good episode - they were constantly reminding the viewers that they were in LA with the whole actors/Hollywood theme, that was sort of overdone in this one, I guess to remind viewers they weren’t in NYC anymore.

To be fair NYC has always been a character in the franchise. And as I've mentioned before the spinoffs have always been most successful when they have something different to offer from the original and the biggest problem with this series was it was too similar to the original, so I can totally understand why they were putting LA front and center. I do think it would have been better to focus on another aspect of LA since the city does not lack for distinctive local flavor that still ties in to national issues and the franchise had already covered the industry pretty thoroughly, but there were a lot of missed opportunities with this series so that's par for the course.

[Xeliou66]

So I just watched episode 2, Echo Park, and this one, well it just wasn’t good. The storyline had a lot of holes on the legal - I disliked the whole plot about Winters’ wife being one of the cops who put the defendant away years earlier for the fire it turned out she didn’t cause, and I couldn’t even figure out what to make of it - did Winters’ wife act improperly somehow? They never answered that question or the question of why the defendant confessed, and they never revealed what Winters’ wife’s role in it was, and the way Dekker quickly stipulated that the defendant was wrongfully convicted made it look like there was something to hide. It was a melodramatic plot point that went nowhere. 
Also, it introduced the DA, Jerry Hardin, who was not only an unlikable political hack but he also came off as a moron - it was obvious the defense would be able to show that the fire wasn’t arson, so why was he trying to bury it? It would look better for the DA’s office to come out in the open and admit they made a mistake, instead of putting a woman they had already falsely accused once back on trial where the defense could have a field day with everything. Hardin was right in wanting a plea to be reached though, so I don’t know why Dekker was so hell bent on a trial, and then he changed his tune at the end. The smart thing to do would’ve been to acknowledge the wrongful conviction and then make a deal. The defendant had been horribly abused by the psychopath victim, and she deserved leniency and sympathy IMO. A trial felt like a waste of time and was done just to prolong the episode to fill up screen time IMO, the whole legal thing could’ve been quickly put to bed it seemed like. 
Also, Dekker sucks, he came off as both smug and robotic the whole time, it was like they were trying to make him out to be this beacon of morality but he came off as just smug, and he didn’t have much personality at the same time. Whereas Morales had an authoritative and commanding presence while being likable and charming at the same time, Dekker had the presence of a robot while also coming off as a smug know it all. Dekker’s second chair, Lauren Stanton, was very bland just like the other female prosecutor. The Lieutenant was also extremely bland. Winters and Jaruszalski were okay, they are not bad but if the stuff with Winters’ wife was supposed to make the character more compelling it didn’t work. 
So this one was a stinker - the characters remained mostly bland and, in the case of Dekker and Hardin, unlikable, and the legal stuff was just a disaster, the case started out with promise but the legal stuff should’ve been over with quickly and was just poorly done. So a weak second episode after a decent first episode.

[Raja]

As I watched Echo Park my mind was saying why not the more famous Venice where the murder took place. 

The theme of the episode of Deputy DA Decker feeling sorry that the murder had its roots in a false imprisonment was recently done on the mothership with Detective Shaw. And I liked Terrance Howard in the role. The initial false confession rabbit hole just seemed like a waste of time. A lot of the new Lieutenant, more than I remember from following episodes seemed like the show trying to find its place still.

They did miss that Los Angeles County is not New York County with the DA worried about the LAPD being mad at his office as if that was the only department feeding cases to him. He is the DA of 88 cities and the county Sheriff's jurisdiction. Perhaps the unseen Chief or someone from the system putting pressure on him should have been shown instead of it all coming from the DA.

It seemed clear that Mrs Winter as a detective was part of a rush to judgement and some ineffectual defense saw the first confession, for a different reason than the man who said he killed the faux Manson, and conviction. I don't think an actual innocents' project lawyer would have let that stipulation Decker but I guess ethics demanded he worked for the single client and not all the others in a similar position.

[Xeliou66]

1 hour ago, Raja said:

As I watched Echo Park my mind was saying why not the more famous Venice where the murder took place. 

The theme of the episode of Deputy DA Decker feeling sorry that the murder had its roots in a false imprisonment was recently done on the mothership with Detective Shaw. And I liked Terrance Howard in the role. The initial false confession rabbit hole just seemed like a waste of time. A lot of the new Lieutenant, more than I remember from following episodes seemed like the show trying to find its place still.

They did miss that Los Angeles County is not New York County with the DA worried about the LAPD being mad at his office as if that was the only department feeding cases to him. He is the DA of 88 cities and the county Sheriff's jurisdiction. Perhaps the unseen Chief or someone from the system putting pressure on him should have been shown instead of it all coming from the DA.

It seemed clear that Mrs Winter as a detective was part of a rush to judgement and some ineffectual defense saw the first confession, for a different reason than the man who said he killed the faux Manson, and conviction. I don't think an actual innocents' project lawyer would have let that stipulation Decker but I guess ethics demanded he worked for the single client and not all the others in a similar position.

I couldn’t stand Dekker - he reeked of smugness. I recall disliking him the first time I watched the show and I disliked him in this episode, maybe he’ll improve but he just came off as both smug and robotic in his delivery. 
I was confused by the whole confession/wrongful conviction stuff and I thought it was very unclear what Mrs Winters role was in it, and the episode made it look like she had something to hide. The whole legal portion of the show was a mess and a trial seemed like such a waste of time. The episode just wasn’t very good IMO.

[Xeliou66]

So I got back to watching this show today - I watched episode 3, Harbor City, today - this was a strong episode IMO, I actually liked it quite a bit. It was an interesting case and they made very good use of the scenery and of the California setting, much better than in the premiere, it didn’t feel forced or cliched like all of the movie stuff did in the first episode - I liked seeing all of the scenes on the beach here. The case of the murder of the marijuana dispensary owner was good - there were a lot of red herrings, more so than normal, with plenty of people suspected and the detectives had to go through a lot of suspects before figuring out the gang intimidating people using the beach did it. 
As I said before, Morales was my favorite character by far the first time I watched the show, and he shined here - him figuring out a way to charge the father of one of the killers as part of the gang was clever and his argument in court to make the charges stick was great - I loved when he called the smug dad a thug in court and when he was in the dad’s home earlier and the jackass was complaining about people using the beach peeing in the bushes and Morales said “maybe you should petition for more public toilets” that was a great line. Very satisfying to see Morales nail the gang for the murder and force the prick dad to come clean. 
The detectives, Jaruszalski and Winters, showed much more personality in this episode and were enjoyable, I liked the tidbits about Winters’ knowledge of surfing and TJ’s knowledge of drugs. The second chair prosecutor, Evelyn Price, was once again bland and didn’t do much, but she came off as whiny a couple of times. I did like the end with her and Morales eating lunch at the beach. No sign of the Lieutenant or the DA. 

So this was an actual strong episode - an interesting case with some good twists and legal maneuvering, and the detective pairing had a lot more life, and Morales was very good again. So based on this episode, this show definitely had the potential to be strong.

[Xeliou66]

I watched episode 4, titled Sylmar, today - the detective portion of it was strong, with the explosion of the meth lab leading to the terrorist plot and they had to track down the perps and find their explosives, it was sort of a ticking clock episode which are usually good and Winters and Jaruszalski have settled in to become a solid detective pairing at this point. Then the second half comes and the episode loses its steam - it’s a Dekker episode and there’s something about Dekker that rubs me the wrong way - I think they tried too hard to make Dekker some kind of beacon of morality and justice and it just results in him coming off as smug some of the time and it feels forced. With Morales things seem natural and he has a compelling presence and personality, with Dekker things seem forced.   
It doesn’t help that the unlikable, one note jerk, political hack DA was back in this episode - this was one of the show’s biggest mistakes - making the DA a one note jerk who only cared about politics. Not every DA can be as great as Adam Schiff or Jack McCoy, but at the very least make the character someone who cares about justice and is a multilayered character - this guy is a political hack jackass.    
The whole debate in the second half about where the defendants should be tried and what charges they should face just wasn’t very compelling to me. And the second chair to Dekker, Lauren Stanton (I had to look up her name, it’s never been said) is even more bland than the other second chair ADA. Those two characters are nice to look at but add nothing to the show, they are even more bland than Serena on the Mothership! 
The Lieutenant finally played a role in this episode which was nice to see, even if she didn’t make much of an impact.
So while the detectives have settled into a solid dynamic, the legal side isn’t that good when it’s Dekker and not Morales. There’s something about Dekker that just isn’t likable to me. 

[Xeliou66]

Just watched episode 5, titled Pasadena - this was a good episode. It featured a complex plot - about the attempted murder of the pregnant woman run over by a car who turned out to be the mistress of a Congressman, and the Congressman’s wife conspired with the victim’s ex husband to run her over, it pulled off the plot nicely and flowed smoothly. 
The characters gelled in this one more than any in of the episodes before it, Jaruszalski and Winters are a very solid pairing and I love Morales, he is compelling character with a colorful personality. Morales’ second chair, Evelyn Price, finally got more personality and seemed to click with the others in this episode. I thought everyone worked well together in this one, and I honestly think if the show had stuck with this cast it might’ve succeeded. 
Very good investigation and legal work in connecting everything, and I liked seeing Morales and Price comb over all of the financials and before that Morales realizing the driver would have to stop for gas and being able to break his alibi that way.   
The only thing I didn’t get was Morales promising to keep the dying wife out of jail, I was glad the judge overruled him and sent the bitch to die in jail, she masterminded the plot to try to murder a pregnant woman and she killed the unborn baby, all because she felt sorry for herself and didn’t want her husband to move on after she died. The woman who was run over would never be okay. Glad the judge threw her in jail, I felt zero sympathy for her, or for the Congressman who was a sleaze, kind of ironic how Morales said most men fear being alone and that’s why the Congressman did what he did only for him to wind up completely alone at the end. 
The unlikable DA was just in one minor scene so that helped the episode. 
Overall this was a strong episode - out of the first five, I’ve only disliked episode 2, and I’ve liked each of the Morales episodes a lot. My main issue has been with the Dekker character. I look forward to seeing how the show does as the season goes along, so far it’s been better than I remembered, not as good as original L&O but not bad by any means.

[Xeliou66]

I just finished watching episode 6, titled Hondo Field, this was a middle of the road episode, decent but not spectacular. Dekker continues to be my main issue with the show - while he was better here than in his first two episodes, he comes off as smug and some of the dialogue feels forced. He had a very weird line when him and his second chair Stanton were talking about trying to convince the victim’s mother to testify and Dekker said “this voice has changed the minds of a lot of women” or something like that, very smug and borderline creepy. Stanton’s line just before that about the mom needing a man to change her mind was weird as well, it felt like they were just throwing in lines about sexism/gender roles given the nature of the case but the lines felt very forced and were awkwardly delivered, and there wasn’t really a point to them. Very odd dialogue. Dekker also came off as smug when he told Stanton law school should’ve toughened her up more when she was annoyed by the defense lawyer’s tactics. Something about Dekker really rubs me the wrong way, and a lot of his lines feel unnatural and forced, whereas Morales is very natural in the role and has a lot of charisma. However Dekker was less robotic in this episode and came alive more when prosecuting the case in court, and he nailed the defendant during his cross, I liked him in court fine for the first time, but he still seems stiff and wooden some of the time, I can’t quite put my finger on what’s off with the show when Dekker is on but something just doesn’t click and Dekker seems to have a constant smirk on his face and smugness to his character. 

The case was pretty good, about the oil rig worker killed by his female boss, and I liked seeing Jaruszalski and Winters go out to sea on the oil rig to investigate, they used the California scenery nicely again and the investigation was good, the second half was just kind of average, mainly cause I can’t warm to Dekker and the whole angle with his law school classmate being the defense attorney just didn’t intrigue me. It was interesting how the perp was harassing the victim because she wanted to have power over someone so she picked on him because he was vulnerable due to being an illegal immigrant, as Dekker said at the end oppression can roll downhill. The perp was unlikable to me as she was just as much of a bully as the people who were giving her a hard time and she wound up killing the guy because he stood up to her, and then her using his immigration status to try to smear him and make it look like he was more likely to try to assault her because he was an illegal immigrant was disgusting and bigoted, so it was nice seeing Dekker nail her on cross. The case was solid enough.

The detective side has gelled and I like both detectives fine, I’ll be sad to see Winters go when he’s killed off in a few episodes, I’m just going to watch the episodes in the order they were aired instead of figuring out the order they were intended to be aired in. Winters isn’t the problem with the show, the detective side is working well. The main issue with the show for me is Dekker, the character is stiff and not that likable and things don’t feel natural when he’s onscreen. Stanton is dull and while they seemed to be trying to give her more life in this one it just didn’t feel right, her and Dekker have no chemistry, then again Dekker doesn’t have chemistry with anyone he’s so wooden.

No sign of the Lieutenant or DA in this one.

This was a rather long post but my main takeaway right now is - the show is better than I remembered it so far, I’ve only disliked episode 2, I can’t help but feel that the show would be much better if Morales was the full time lead prosecutor though, I’ve liked all 3 Morales episodes better than the 3 Dekker episodes. The show has its issues and it isn’t as good as the Mothership was, but I don’t think it’s as bad as most people think, at least not so far. The Mothership never should’ve been canceled though, and I think the backlash of canceling the Mothership and LA being constantly compared to it may have killed LA. 

[Xeliou66]

Just watched episode 7 - Ballona Creek - strong episode, definitely the best of the Dekker episodes so far. The case about the murdered maintenance worker who was on the trail of the serial killer was good, and the issues with DNA evidence being admissible or not has been done before but it was interesting enough here, and I liked how Dekker figured out the serial killer was the one who raped his niece and was able to nail him that way. The only thing I would’ve liked more exploration of was how the original victim figured out his co worker was tied to the murders, at the end the murderer just said that the guy asked a lot of questions and figured out he changed his name, but I would’ve liked to have known how he exactly he linked the guy to the murders. It was a good twist that the guy who found the body was the killer, and he had probably just dumped the body when the woman spotted it from above and told him.

Jaruszalski and Winters have really gelled as a detective pairing, they were enjoyable to watch once again and do a good job. I’m puzzled as to why they got rid of Winters. For once Dekker was fine, he didn’t annoy me at all in this episode, nothing about the character seemed forced and out of place, he did a good job prosecuting. I liked how he told the killer it was up to the jury to decide whether he deserved any mercy but that he was going to speak for the victims.

The dad who was interfering with their case because he didn’t want his adopted son to know he was the product of a rape really pissed me off, his family’s privacy shouldn’t matter more than keeping a serial killer off the street.

The second chair prosecutor, Stanton, has no personality, bland as a character can be. Dekker doesn’t have a lot of personality but he was much more natural in this episode than he was in previous episodes.

I liked the LA scenery once again, particularly the detectives apprehending the killer in the creek.

I’m liking this show more than I remembered, this was a good episode. 

 

[Raja]

1 hour ago, Xeliou66 said:

Just watched episode 7 - Ballona Creek - strong episode, definitely the best of the Dekker episodes so far. The case about the murdered maintenance worker who was on the trail of the serial killer was good, and the issues with DNA evidence being admissible or not has been done before but it was interesting enough here, and I liked how Dekker figured out the serial killer was the one who raped his niece and was able to nail him that way. The only thing I would’ve liked more exploration of was how the original victim figured out his co worker was tied to the murders, at the end the murderer just said that the guy asked a lot of questions and figured out he changed his name, but I would’ve liked to have known how he exactly he linked the guy to the murders. It was a good twist that the guy who found the body was the killer, and he had probably just dumped the body when the woman spotted it from above and told him.

That was a strong ripped from LA headlines episode being a race flipped from Black to Latino case of The Grim Sleeper wiki

[Xeliou66]

7 minutes ago, Raja said:

That was a strong ripped from LA headlines episode being a race flipped from Black to Latino case of The Grim Sleeper wiki

Yeah I knew it was ripped from the headlines, disturbing case. The perp in this episode was evil and I thought it was pathetic how he was whining about how he would behave well in prison and all, he raped and stabbed numerous women and killed the guy who was onto him. Fuck him, he deserved the death penalty and I liked Dekker telling him he would speak for the victims and wouldn’t show him mercy. His real life counterpart was just as evil, and it’s interesting how in real life the serial killer took a decade long break from his killings as well. It was a good episode, definitely the best of the Dekker episodes so far. 

[Xeliou66]

I watched episode 8, Playa Vista today - decent episode, about the female golfer who was murdered, she was about to expose the prominent male golfer for banging hookers and having a sex addiction (clearly inspired by Tiger Woods and his sex scandal, they even mentioned Tiger by name). It was a solid case and I liked how they figured out the son of the golf star was responsible and had been brainwashed by his mom - both of the parents were awful in this one, it’s not surprising the son wound up disturbed enough to murder someone given how selfish and all around shitty both parents were.

Winters and Jaruszalski are a good pairing, I think the next episode is the one they get rid of Winters in, and I’m really not sure why they did that, he’s not the issue with the show by any means. In fact the show is going pretty well right now, so killing off Winters was a mistake IMO. Dekker is still not very likable but he was better in this episode as he was in the last one - once again he felt more natural and nothing felt forced or odd about his dialogue or actions. I much prefer Morales but I haven’t hated Dekker in his past couple of episodes. The second chair to Dekker, Lauren Stanton, is definitely the weakest link, she has no personality, and it was interesting to me how she stopped the son from talking to Winters and Jaruszalski at the school because she didn’t think a confession would be admissible, and it was interesting that even Dekker criticized her for it saying he would rather have a confession than not. It just made Stanton look weak and a goody two shoes, not to mention she’s bland. I know she’s gone as well soon, and good riddance.

I like that they introduced a recurring ME in the last few episodes, that’s nice to see. The Lieutenant has been used a lot more in the last couple of episodes. No sign of the jerk DA since episode 5 and that’s for the better.

This show is better than I remembered it - I like Winters/Jaruszalski and I like Morales a lot. I don’t care for Dekker and both of the female ADA’s are dull as dirt, and they made a huge mistake with the DA character, and the Lieutenant doesn’t really add a lot. Definitely as good as the Mothership, which NEVER should’ve been cancelled, but not a bad show. Maybe it gets worse when they kill Winters, and I know the episodes aired out of order so I’ll still have a few Winters episodes left at the end of the season. 

[Xeliou66]

Just watched episode 9 - Zuma Canyon, the episode where Winters is killed off. Intense episode and a well told story, it’s just too bad it didn’t get a proper conclusion, the story was left open and I know they briefly returned to it in a later episode and kind of left a cliffhanger open as to whether the cartel members who killed Winters would be brought to justice or not. It’s a shame the storyline never got closure, and I think that may be one reason people don’t remember this show fondly, because it killed off a character and then didn’t wrap up the major storyline.

I honestly think it was a mistake to kill off Winters, he was a solid detective and him and Jaruszalski worked well together, Winters wasn’t the issue with the show, I liked the pairing of him and Jaruszalski. Morales quit the DAs office and took over Winters’ role as Jaruszalski’s detective partner at the end of this episode, I think Morales is the show’s strongest character so I can them wanting to have him in every episode, but Winters wasn’t the issue with the show. A major issue with the show is the one note political hack DA, who cares about nothing but politics and is just an obstacle to his prosecutors. It was very satisfying to see Morales let him have it at the end of the episode - the DA was being a chickenshit coward throughout the episode, and then at the end it was implied he didn’t want to bring in the feds because it would make his office look weak - I thought how would it make his office look to let a mass murderer walk out the door? And the DA was so concerned with his office’s relationship to the police back in episode 2, well how is his office going to have a good relationship with the police department going forward when this coward didn’t do everything he could to bring Winters’ killers to justice? That didn’t make much sense to me, and it seemed done just so Morales would get pissed and quit so he could take Winters’ place as a detective. Making the DA a one dimensional hack was a huge mistake, it made me wonder if some of the SVU writers who trashed the Manhattan DAs office in the years the Mothership was off the air were involved in writing this show.

If they wanted to get rid of a character, they should’ve dumped Dekker and made Morales the lead prosecutor in every episode. Dekker comes off as smug and at times wooden and forced, even though he’s improved in his last couple of episodes. I was glad to see Morales again and I loved his fury at the bureaucrats hindering his case and at the defense lawyer after the boy was murdered in his cell. Morales was great here, and I understand wanting him to be in every episode, I just think killing off Winters may have been a mistake because that part of the show was flowing smoothly.

There were some flaws here, such as how did the fake interpreter get credentials to get in and kill the witness? And what happened to her, was she ever caught? And there were still some loose ends - there were 4 shooters who committed the murders at the start, yet we don’t even know who for sure pulled the trigger on any of them.

So while this episode was intense and I thought Morales was strong, there were some flaws in the story, and the DA was more unlikable than ever. Maybe the show needed a change but I don’t think killing off Winters was it.

[Raja]

I was just on Freevee and they had up the soon leaving banner on Law & Order Los Angeles. I still have the DVD set which I re-watch this show on