S24.E13 In God We Trust

[Xeliou66]

Episode description 

A young lawyer with a secret past is found dead; Price and Baxter debate the pros and cons of prison as a punishment versus alternative justice options. 

[dubbel zout]

A friend of mine played the victim's father!

It would be a nice change of pace to see a case that didn't blow up spectacularly in Price and Maroun's faces. Make the monkey wrench something they can have Shaw and Riley clear up. Or hey, about have Price and Maroun do some fancy legal footwork?

I understand restorative justice, but how does that translate to the guy working in his community doing the same thing he'd be doing even if he hadn't committed murder?

I'm also getting tired of Price and/or Maroun getting wobbly about a charge or what they have to do to convict. Justice is an imperfect, messy business.

Edited 19 hours ago by dubbel zout
belated typo

[Xeliou66]

This was a very good episode overall - I loved the investigation as usual, good detective work by Riley/Shaw, even though it was predictable where it was going it was still well done, not every case has to have a lot of shocking twists or be sensational - this was simply a murder committed by a jealous boyfriend over a love triangle, with the added component of the sheltered community.

But Price was getting on my nerves this week, after Maroun did last week - Price was starting to go soft because of sympathy for the families, thankfully Baxter held his ground and I was cheering his every word when he told Price to stick to the law and that the legal system they worked in was what they should go by and follow. I also liked Baxter telling the attorney that he wasn’t going for restorative justice for murder. I’m not opposed to restorative justice in some cases but murder is murder and must be punished severely. I was very glad the murderer got the lengthy sentence he deserved, and I really liked Baxter. I was also glad Maroun didn’t go soft and went at the fiancé/wife which got the husband to plead guilty.

It was predictable that the judge would toss the confession and that the victim’s mom would have a change of heart.

Overall this was strong, like I say a lot of it I could see coming but it was executed well and I liked having a more ordinary case instead of one filled with twists or involving the rich and famous. Riley/Shaw remain my favorite part of the show, and Baxter was really strong as well here. I agree that Price/Maroun can be too soft at times, at least Maroun was fine this week. Solid case that flowed well. Good episode.

[Irlandesa]

Yeah, I thought this was probably the strongest episode of the season.  Or at least the least frustrating case. 

They got a bit of a luck with the pregnancy and the fact that Jacob was willing to confess to protect his fiancee's reputation. 

[dubbel zout]

"A bit of luck" is one way to put it, lol. As soon as the woman fainted in the church, I knew she was pregnant, and I inwardly groaned. In some ways, I'd have rather seen the case go to the jury and have them acquit, instead of falling back on such a contrivance as pregnancy.

[marny]

So Price feels sad for the young white guy who jealously murders the guy his girlfriend loves because he's softspoken and part of a "sheltered religious society", but had zero conflict a few episodes ago about sending a Black man with zero criminal record to prison for life for murdering the man who was abusing and sex trafficking his daughter? Got it. 

I'm a big believer in restorative justice, but this wasn't the case. It was simply a bunch of people who were afraid to go against the pastor's family out of fear they'd be shunned. Really not that different than a gang case where fellow members won't testify against the leader/kingpin for fear of retribution.

[marc20]

they clearly have come to the conclusion that lack of a sense of humor, at least between the two detectives, was missing from the reboot as compared to the original...Riley/Shaw aren't Briscoe with Logan, Curtis, or Green...but they're trying :)

[shapeshifter]

When they were talking about giving the killer a pass, no mention of a guy who killed in a jealous rage likely to do so again or maybe abuse his wife if he thinks she is lusting after someone at work or maybe even abuse the child of the guy he killed???

OTOH, he looked like the other guys in prison would have him for lunch in his first week.

[storyskip]

Yep. At this point I’m even more convinced that this season’s arc for Price is for his exit.

[CheshireCat]

9 hours ago, marny said:

So Price feels sad for the young white guy who jealously murders the guy his girlfriend loves because he's softspoken and part of a "sheltered religious society", but had zero conflict a few episodes ago about sending a Black man with zero criminal record to prison for life for murdering the man who was abusing and sex trafficking his daughter? Got it. 

I had similar thoughts and felt it was an odd choice on the writers' end. In addition to what you said above, I was surprised that no one in the DAs office thought about the precedent it would set. Wouldn't it give anyone with strong ties to a religious community grounds to argue that they will pay their penance in the church community? What about honor killings? They're permitted in certain cultures/communities, so, how would that differ in Price's mind? How would he justify prosecuting honor killings by someone of Muslim faith but letting the Christian murderer go free even though what he did wasn't all that different from an honor killing. After all, he, too, killed someone because the woman he wanted wasn't doing what he wanted her to do, had chosen someone else and was making her own choices. The difference is, he killed the man but the motive is fairly similar in principle.

There's also the fact that Price ruined a young, dedicated cop's career over perjury in that aforementioned episode. And last week, he was so hungry for a conviction that he chose to go after the mother of the victim even though the mother was a victim herself.

How was the relationship the parishioners had with their church any different from the abusive relationships the mother had been in all her life? The church prohibited the parents to speak with their son because he left the church and they obeyed. Based on how they communicated that, I don't think they did so because they wanted to. I think they did so because they were afraid of the consequences and I think they'd only be afraid of the consequences if they were in an unhealthy dependency relationship. I'd consider that as a sign that the relationship they have with the church is the equivalent of an abusive relationship. 

But in this episode, Price wasn't bothered by any of that and when the mother of the victim perjured herself, he didn't even ask to treat the witness as a hostile witness, although, she struck me as the type of person who would have broken had he done so. He just looked on as she gave her speech. 

I was also surprised that no one argued religion. As far as I understood, the church is Christian, so, what about the ten commandments? No one asked any member about the ones they violated, no one asked if they thought God thought it was cool that they violated the commandments to protect someone who'd done something the church said they didn't do - raise a hand against someone. 

The community acted like they were saints and yet, I think the teachings of their curch are based in anything but Christian values. 

While I felt there was great ambiguity in the case about the Black father who killed the man who abused and trafficked his daughter, and I could see both sides in last week's case, I don't think there was any ambiguity here. So yeah, from where I'm sitting, this felt like a very strange case to have Price have doubts about prosecuting and I think they did Price's character a disservice. (I also felt it was kind of frustrating because of all of the above).