S24.E03 Big Brother

[Xeliou66]

Episode description 

Riley’s personal and professional lives clash when his brother is connected to a murder investigation; Price takes a chance on a witness who can testify to a hidden motive. 

[dttruman]

I hope they don't pull one of the oldest blunders to police dramas, where relatives to the investigating officers are implicated in crimes the officers are involved with. I am really tired of those kind of episodes

[wknt3]

The hardest part of this episode was asking me to believe that so many people were passionately into Hudson University basketball and were freaking out about a coach using them as a stepping stone. They already have a St. John's stand in within the franchise - St. Raymond's. They could have gone with them and not expect me to believe that the whole city was living and dying with an Ivy League/Division III research university athletic program.

[txhorns79]

5 minutes ago, wknt3 said:

The hardest part of this episode was asking me to believe that so many people were passionately into Hudson University basketball and were freaking out about a coach using them as a stepping stone.

Given how many Hudson students/professors seem to have been involved in crimes over the years, I expected a long line of suspects for this one.

More seriously, there is no reality where Riley would have continued as the detective in this matter once his brother became an informant.  (As a side note, while I appreciate both actors, I don't buy them as brothers.  They look nothing alike, there is nothing about how they acted with one another that I saw that would convince me there were years of shared history and Eggold was trying to do some kind of accent that just did not work.)    

[Xeliou66]

This was a good episode but Riley’s loser brother was one of the most irritating characters in L&O history - what a spineless douche. He was beyond pathetic and I was glad he was in trouble at the end and that Vince wasn’t going to help him anymore - he blew every chance he had and hopefully Vince cuts him off for good. He drove me nuts. 

I was kind of surprised the jury convicted but I guess the evidence of the watch plus Costa being where the weapon was dumped plus the motive evidence of bad blood was enough to nail him, and I guess the jury saw through Matt covering for Costa.

Shaw and Riley had some nice scenes and I really like their partnership. The new LT is still too abrasive though, she has potential but she kind of gets on my nerves.

Not enough of Baxter in this episode, I liked what we got but it wasn’t much. Not much of Maroun either but I don’t care about her. Price was good again. This week was much heavier on the police than DAs.

I also laughed at the Hudson U stuff and once again having a criminal investigation involving them.

Overall a solid episode and case, Riley’s brother was beyond irritating though. 

[dubbel zout]

This case hung together more than last week's, which I thought had too many threads, but I didn't think it was that interesting.

The brother was beyond irritating, and I was also irritated with Riley for waiting so long to toss his brother in jail. A speeding ticket is one thing, but the guy was selling guns! Why Riley had any crisis of conscience about that surprises me. Especially after the brother was connected to the bar owner. And I agree with others who said Ryan Eggold's accent didn't work. I know they were going for the easy difference between troublemaker brother and (mostly) upstanding cop brother, but Eggold's character didn't need a bad NYC accent for that. In fact, it's kind of insulting to people with that accent. It doesn't automatically make them problematic people.

Oh, and the business about the watch was so aggravating. Rolex sales numbers are not a state secret. Once again, we see the DA's office drop the ball on basic investigative information.

 

Edited October 18 by dubbel zout

[preeya]

1 hour ago, dubbel zout said:

Oh, and the business about the watch was so aggravating. Rolex sales numbers are not a state secret. Once again, we see the DA's office drop the ball on basic investigative information.

 The "watch excuse" also bothered me. I believed that all Rolex's are registered and traceable until I searched and found this:

Quote

How are Rolex watches not traceable to their owners if each watch has its own unique serial number?

There are several reasons for this. When you buy a brand new Rolex from a Rolex store (authorised dealers as they are called, or AD for short), that store knows who you are and which watch you purchased of course. And if your AD is one store in a bigger chain (eg Watches of Switzerland in the UK) then all stores in that group also know who you are and which watch you purchased through their shared computer systems. But, here comes the first break in the chain - when you buy a Rolex from your AD, the warranty card is swiped /scanned in their machine and the data on the warranty card is sent to Rolex in Switzerland. The data that is transferred is the purchase date, model number, serial number and the store that sold the watch. Your name does not get transferred to Rolex in Switzerland so Rolex HQ does not keep a list of owners names and addresses, it just knows which store sold the watch and when they sold it. Perhaps there is another step I am unaware of whereby the AD does in fact send your name and address to Rolex HQ in some way, but here comes the second break in the chain! If you decide to sell your Rolex to someone else then there is no Rolex system that the buyer can register themselves as the new keeper of the watch. Other manufacturers offer this via online registration portals but Rolex does not. So once the watch is sold to the second owner, only the seller and buyer knows who now owns the watch. Rolex could of course fix this anytime they want by having an online service to register your Rolex but they have chosen no to so far.

Hope this helps.

 

Edited October 18 by preeya

[blackwing]

I enjoyed this episode.  I thought the plot was well done.  It was nice seeing the guest stars Ryan Eggold, Katie Sackhoff and Chris Bauer, even if I didn't like any of their characters.  And it was nice that we had minimal Maroun once again.

Did the show fire Connie Shi and her character Detective Violet Yee?  Budget cuts?  Who has been finding all of the CCTV evidence for them if she is gone?  She was the show's only semi-regular Asian character, it's a shame that they cut her.

16 hours ago, txhorns79 said:

More seriously, there is no reality where Riley would have continued as the detective in this matter once his brother became an informant.  (As a side note, while I appreciate both actors, I don't buy them as brothers.  They look nothing alike, there is nothing about how they acted with one another that I saw that would convince me there were years of shared history and Eggold was trying to do some kind of accent that just did not work.)    

I agree.  Even if his brother wasn't an informant, the minute he was involved at all, Riley should have recused himself.  In the beginning, it was portrayed that the brother might be the killer.  

I agree that the two of them look nothing alike and I didn't buy them as brothers.  With the name Riley I would assume they are supposed to be Irish.  But Reid Scott looks Italian or Jewish to me, while Ryan Eggold looks to be of a completely different ethnic background.  If they are supposed to be brothers, why did Matt have a very thick/bad New Yawk accent that doesn't sound at all like Vincent's?

14 hours ago, Xeliou66 said:

I was kind of surprised the jury convicted but I guess the evidence of the watch plus Costa being where the weapon was dumped plus the motive evidence of bad blood was enough to nail him, and I guess the jury saw through Matt covering for Costa.

I was surprised they found Costa guilty as well.  I was prepared for the jury to say they didn't have enough evidence without Matt's testimony.  Instead, I guess they went with all of the other circumstantial evidence that Price talked about before they tried to have Matt testify.

I'm wondering why the defence attorney wasn't all up in arms when Price basically testified as to what Matt was going to say.  I was expecting her to ask that some questions be stricken from the record and disregarded.

As it is, I think she would have an argument on appeal that the jury considered these statements when deliberating.

2 hours ago, preeya said:

 The "watch excuse" also bothered me. I believed that all Rolex's are registered and traceable until I searched and found this:

I don't think Walsh would have bought it second hand though.  He would have been the original owner and the store would have had a record of he (or his wife) buying it.  Really irritating that the cops didn't follow up with the store to ask about the purchase.

[dubbel zout]

Maybe the watch was a gift from a booster, so it was never registered in the coach's name. Regardless, we once again see the DA's office look shocked—shocked!—that information they could easily have obtained gets presented in court. The show keeps doing this, and it's a very bad look for the prosecution. 

[I Want My MBTV]

45 minutes ago, dubbel zout said:

Maybe the watch was a gift from a booster, so it was never registered in the coach's name. Regardless, we once again see the DA's office look shocked—shocked!—that information they could easily have obtained gets presented in court. The show keeps doing this, and it's a very bad look for the prosecution. 

If I remember correctly the wife told Riley/Shaw it was from a former athlete of his that had just signed a big contract.   Now why they couldn't find that person and ask them where he bought it IDK.    The wife made a mistake on the stand by saying that WAS his watch when it was more "that looks exactly like his watch" regardless though the bar owner had it in a hidden compartment with no explanation of where it or the cash that was also there came from. Circumstantial but damning.  Though I was still surprised they got a conviction.  

 

I hope we never see Riley's brother again.  I spent the whole episode someone would punch him in his smug face!

[paigow]

Douchebag brothers are common in L&O universe. Tony Goldwyn was a Goren in Criminal Intent 

Edited October 19 by paigow

[driver18]

I wasn't surprised Costa was found guilty. Riley's brother essentially said that Costa was a murderer at the end of his testimony. Price asked him if it bothered him that he was covering for a murderer and he said "not a bit." That must have held sway along with all the circumstantial evidence.

[woofy]

Maroun doesn't bother me, but I can't stand Price.  I wish they'd get Hugh Dancy off the show.  And I'm having a hard time seeing Maura Tierney as anyone other than ER's compassionate Abby Lockhart.

[Theli11]

This episode wasn't offensively bad. I definitely want more Maroun next week (considering next episode we will) she's had less than 10 lines in the past 2 episode, and really only 1 scene where she wasn't second chair in each. 

I kinda enjoyed this episode, but I think if Price's brother (who is also named Price..) Riley's brother, just went right back to the tombs after he screwed up his end of the deal instead of waiting until the end of the episode. I liked both detectives this week a little bit more, I think Shaw has become a really good detective, I just think that they both can be a bit too dry. I guess what I want is them to be frustrating and in character. I think with Riley, a lot of it is implied but we haven't seen him do anything questionable. 

 

2 minutes ago, woofy said:

Maroun doesn't bother me, but I can't stand Price.  I wish they'd get Hugh Dancy off the show.  And I'm having a hard time seeing Maura Tierney as anyone other than ER's compassionate Abby Lockhart.

She's isn't here enough to bother me. Price is doing better but he too needs like.. opinions on stuff. 

Edited October 18 by Theli11

[paigow]

21 hours ago, woofy said:

And I'm having a hard time seeing Maura Tierney as anyone other than ER's compassionate Abby Lockhart.

the long suffering wife of Fletcher Reed in Liar, Liar

Edited October 19 by paigow

[shapeshifter]

8 hours ago, dubbel zout said:

irritated with Riley for waiting so long to toss his brother in jail. A speeding ticket is one thing, but the guy was selling guns! Why Riley had any crisis of conscience about that surprises me.

There were a couple of throwaway lines that seemed intended to explain Riley's own feelings of guilt surrounding his brother, but they didn't really spell it out:

• [RILEY TO SHAW] when our dad got sick, he stepped up. He took care of him, no questions asked. Wasn't looking for a medal. He just did it.

 

19 hours ago, Xeliou66 said:

I was kind of surprised the jury convicted but I guess the evidence of the watch plus Costa being where the weapon was dumped plus the motive evidence of bad blood was enough to nail him, and I guess the jury saw through Matt covering for Costa.

5 hours ago, blackwing said:

I was surprised they found Costa guilty as well.  I was prepared for the jury to say they didn't have enough evidence without Matt's testimony.  Instead, I guess they went with all of the other circumstantial evidence that Price talked about before they tried to have Matt testify.

47 minutes ago, driver18 said:

I wasn't surprised Costa was found guilty. Riley's brother essentially said that Costa was a murderer at the end of his testimony. Price asked him if it bothered him that he was covering for a murderer and he said "not a bit." That must have held sway along with all the circumstantial evidence.

Yes:

• [PRICE ADDRESSING MATT ON THE STAND] You think it's a cowardly act to testify against a friend, regardless of his guilt or innocence. Isn't that true? That snitching is a crime unto itself, that ratting someone out is an unforgivable betrayal.
• [MATT] I don't know what your point is.
• [PRICE] My point is that you agreed to tell the truth, but you didn't do it. You couldn't do it, because in your mind, it's better to let a killer go free than testify against a friend. Am I right? Is that how you think? Better to be a stand-up guy and keep your mouth shut.
• [MATT] Yeah. You're damn right it is.

 

About the watch —
Are we supposed to assume this was brought up in court?:

4 hours ago, I Want My MBTV said:

regardless though the bar owner had it in a hidden compartment with no explanation of where it or the cash that was also there came from.

 

Defense attorney seems like a sea change of role type for Katee Sackhoff/Starbuck.

 

[dubbel zout]

15 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

There were a couple of throwaway lines that seemed intended to explain Riley's own feelings of guilt surrounding his brother, but they didn't really spell it out:

• [RILEY TO SHAW] when our dad got sick, he stepped up. He took care of him, no questions asked. Wasn't looking for a medal. He just did it.

That explanation would make more sense for a minor infraction, IMO. But again, the guy was selling guns. And really, is caring for a sick parent supposed to get someone a medal? I know a lot of adult kids don't/won't do it, but a lot of them do. The brother isn't some unicorn in that respect. Just because he's a dirtbag doesn't mean he doesn't have some good parts.

[Joimiaroxeu]

Trying to sell guns illegally in New York is no joke. Riley's brother was practically begging to get arrested.

I always thought Hudson University was the fictional version of Columbia University, but per this episode it's UConn?  (Though reddit seems to think it was St. John's. <shrugs>)

Ugh, how sleazy was that rich booster guy? And so self-entitled.

The guy playing Matt was leaning way too hard into his imitation of a New York accent. It distracted me.

Seems unlikely to me that Costa didn't already know Matt's brother was a cop.

Yeah, Riley should've had to recuse himself from the case once they knew his brother was deeply involved in it. Good grief.

How convenient that the infamous Rolex watch wasn't engraved. And that the watch's provenance was easily rendered moot. That particular model must not retain much of its original dollar value.

Maroun mentioned omerta. Costa was mob-connected?

Price should not have been surprised Matt got on the stand and perjured himself. The guy was a total weasel.

Amazing that the jury went ahead and convicted Costa despite the shaky evidence and Matt lying on the witness stand.The defense underestimated the public's usual high regard for a winning college coach.

A lot of familiar faces among the guest actors. I recognized Costa, the defense attorney, and Matt though I couldn't immediately place what other shows I'd seen them on. (The Expanse, The Mandalorian, and New Amsterdam, respectively.)

 

[Raja]

8 minutes ago, Joimiaroxeu said:

I always thought Hudson University was the fictional version of Columbia University, but per this episode it's UConn?  (Though reddit seems to think it was St. John's. <shrugs>)

I think UConn came from the back to back NCAA championships the coach/school had. And St John's being the real New York university with the best basketball tradition.

[dubbel zout]

46 minutes ago, Joimiaroxeu said:

Maroun mentioned omerta. Costa was mob-connected?

Omertà is often used generically to mean a code of loyalty and silence.

[Zaffy]

That was a "Meh" episode.
I find the L&O episodes with the main characters personal drama the weakest.
The naughty Bro was irritating but his cop brother was even worse and all of his attempts to cover for him should had him kicked out of police.

Plus the motive for the murder was really weak. 

Nice to see Katee having her 2nd appearance in the L&O universe, although it was too short.