S24.E15 Crossing Lines

[Xeliou66]

Episode description 

When an up and coming politician is found dead, Shaw and Riley untangle the victim’s personal life to identify a suspect; Baxter recuses himself to help Price make the case. 

[dubbel zout]

A lot of the locations of this episode were shot in my neighborhood, so that was fun. I often eat at the diner where Baxter and Price met. To meet in Riverside Park around 9 at night is "in public," but the park isn't exactly teeming with people. 

For Baxter and Kate to continue to see each other during the case was ridiculous, A DA and a defense attorney dating is a bad idea, given the obvious conflict of interest that can arise.

[Xeliou66]

Interesting episode albeit predictable in the second half.

I was surprised a bigger deal wasn’t made about Baxter’s girlfriend/the defense lawyer basically committing witness tampering, I thought she was slimy, and I think Baxter was starting to agree by the end - she seemed to think that anything was justified to try to get her client off. I did wonder why a plea deal wasn’t discussed more, as this case could’ve gone either way - 5 years was too light but I thought a plea to manslaughter 1 might’ve been agreed to by both parties - the victim was sleazy but there was no evidence of attempted assault and I think the killer was just fed up with him and she bashed his head in 3 times, that wasn’t self defense, but given the victim’s slimy character I wasn’t sure the jury would convict. 

I agree it was a bad idea for Nick and Kate to be having dinner during the trial, and I also thought Kate was slimy for trying to pit Nick and Nolan against each other, and I was glad Nick called her on it. The judge didn’t seem pleased with Kate at all, but I was kind of surprised a bigger deal wasn’t made. 

Maroun was annoying once again when she was whiny about Price using the prior perjury against the perp, what the hell was she expecting? Price would’ve been negligent not to use it, Maroun really needs to reevaluate her career IMO, she would be better as an activist lawyer than a prosecutor, she really grates on me.

The investigation was good but it was weird how Shaw vanished after the start and didn’t appear again until testifying at the end. I missed him and Riley working together, they are a great pairing, but I liked seeing Violet get some action in the field and Riley and Brady worked fine together, while it remains kind of annoying how much screen time Brady gets, she’s grown on me, I liked her at the club, her grabbing a handful of the mints and then passing them around to Riley and Yee was funny, I liked that bit of humor. But it was odd that Shaw vanished, I wonder if Mehcad Brooks was busy during filming?

It was also weird how they never explicitly talked about Baxter’s divorce from his wife. I did like seeing him and Brady interact though.

Decent episode but the second half was predictable and only unique because of Baxter’s tie to Kate. And while the investigation was good I missed Shaw/Riley together. 

[Irlandesa]

I was surprised the ex-girlfriend disappeared.  Didn't she kind of imply that that the vic was grabby/handsy even when she said no and that's why she threw a glass at him? 

I would have thought she could testify for the defendant.

I am also surprised they didn't stipulate that she lied in family court and ask that the particulars be left out. 

[MerBearHou]

I was so glad they didn’t offer the defendant a deal.  There was nothing to prove the allegation of attempted rape or to justify self-defense to the extent of pushing a man down concrete stairs and bashing his head 3 times.  The defense attorney literally said her client killed the victim.  

I hated what the defense attorney did to intimidate the eyewitness.  And I hated her tactics of defense and I hated her inappropriate case conversations with Baxter.  I hope she’s in the rearview mirror and we don’t see her again, at least not dating Baxter.  I guess you can tell I don’t like her!

I rolled my eyes yet again at Maroun.  She really is not in the right profession.  

It was odd that Shaw disappeared for half of the episode — something had to be up with the actor’s schedule.  But it was a unique, good way to use him on the stand to represent the eyewitness — he did a good job of standing up to the defense attorney.  

[Xeliou66]

9 hours ago, MerBearHou said:

I was so glad they didn’t offer the defendant a deal.  There was nothing to prove the allegation of attempted rape or to justify self-defense to the extent of pushing a man down concrete stairs and bashing his head 3 times.  The defense attorney literally said her client killed the victim.  

I hated what the defense attorney did to intimidate the eyewitness.  And I hated her tactics of defense and I hated her inappropriate case conversations with Baxter.  I hope she’s in the rearview mirror and we don’t see her again, at least not dating Baxter.  I guess you can tell I don’t like her!

I rolled my eyes yet again at Maroun.  She really is not in the right profession.  

It was odd that Shaw disappeared for half of the episode — something had to be up with the actor’s schedule.  But it was a unique, good way to use him on the stand to represent the eyewitness — he did a good job of standing up to the defense attorney.  

Agreed with all of this, although I thought a manslaughter 1 plea might at least be discussed, but yeah I didn’t buy the self defense claim, she bashed his head in 3 times. 
Maroun is definitely not in the right profession, she can really drive me nuts at times, like I said above Price would’ve been derelict not to use the prior perjury to impeach the defendant. 
And yeah the defense attorney was slimy and was really pushing ethical boundaries, I don’t think Baxter could trust her again after the way she acted in this case. Not a fan of her either. 

[dubbel zout]

13 hours ago, Xeliou66 said:

Maroun really needs to reevaluate her career IMO, she would be better as an activist lawyer than a prosecutor, she really grates on me.

She should move to the restorative justice group.

13 hours ago, Xeliou66 said:

it was weird how Shaw vanished

I wonder if Mehcad Brooks got sick/had a personal obligation/another gig of some sort? It was nice that it allowed Connie Shi to do more than sit in front of a computer screen.

Who was the woman interviewed in the makeup chair, an ex of the victim's? I missed the context there, so it seemed very random.

[marc20]

good episode

clearly the reboot is far more comfortable than the original in delving into the private lives of the main characters...guess I'll just have to get used to it...and to Baxter and Brady being involved far more than those positions used to be

have no idea where Shaw vanished to....must say, I've fallen in love with his gray stocking hat...bought a new one recently, it's not as nice as his

female runner two weeks in a row, has to be a record...speaking of her when she hit the guy with the car that truly shook me, haven't had many moments with the entire history of the show to rock me like that...nice little action scene...hope she did some time

knew there was going to be trouble with the park witness, that was going to be too clean for the prosecution

yes, Maroun needs to be replaced...worst prosecution team of the series...Price really needs to go too, was never right, but doubt they replace both at the same time

new episode next week, #16...how many are they doing now?...20?

p.s. guest star spotting...the Latino guy at the Fisk (sp?) place talking to Brady was a young perp many many years ago...he was involved with a construction company that was using illegal immigrant labor and he pushed a woman at an apartment building hurting or killing her?... but the owner of the company got busted too

Edited March 14 by marc20

[Xeliou66]

I think there are 22 episodes this season.

Good call on the guy at the Fisk club, the episode you are talking about is Melting Pot from season 17 - his character in that one injured the women who was going to call the cops and then his boss finished her off because he didn’t want the police looking into his company’s practice of hiring illegal workers.

They interviewed several female suspects so I would have to rewatch it to see which one the poster above is talking about - off the top of my head I remember them intervening an ex girlfriend and the crisis manager and then the actual perp.

Baxter seems to get the amount of screen time that McCoy got in seasons 18-20 as DA, he got an increased role then, his screen time was reduced to his age on the revival so I think people are used to seeing a bit less of the DA. I like Baxter and am fine with him getting the role that Jack got in seasons 18-20, and while Brady gets a bit too much screen time she’s grown on me since the start. Shaw/Riley remain my favorite part of the show, they are both awesome. I’ve liked Price pretty good this season, he’s always been rather hit or miss but I think he’s been good overall. Maroun can exit any time though. 

[marc20]

1 hour ago, Xeliou66 said:

I think there are 22 episodes this season.

Good call on the guy at the Fisk club, the episode you are talking about is Melting Pot from season 17 - his character in that one injured the women who was going to call the cops and then his boss finished her off because he didn’t want the police looking into his company’s practice of hiring illegal workers.

They interviewed several female suspects so I would have to rewatch it to see which one the poster above is talking about - off the top of my head I remember them intervening an ex girlfriend and the crisis manager and then the actual perp.

Baxter seems to get the amount of screen time that McCoy got in seasons 18-20 as DA, he got an increased role then, his screen time was reduced to his age on the revival so I think people are used to seeing a bit less of the DA. I like Baxter and am fine with him getting the role that Jack got in seasons 18-20, and while Brady gets a bit too much screen time she’s grown on me since the start. Shaw/Riley remain my favorite part of the show, they are both awesome. I’ve liked Price pretty good this season, he’s always been rather hit or miss but I think he’s been good overall. Maroun can exit any time though. 

Reza Salazar is the actor's name in Melting Pot and last night....was in A Complete Unknown and Elsbeth recently...looks like he's been working steadily since that old L&O episode

just checked that episode's cast list...Jeremy Allen White was in it too

Edited March 14 by marc20

[Raja]

1 hour ago, dubbel zout said:

I wonder if Mehcad Brooks got sick/had a personal obligation/another gig of some sort? It was nice that it allowed Connie Shi to do more than sit in front of a computer screen.

Recently Reid Scott/Detective Riley stood aside for most of the Law episode as Connie Shi had more to do. Since in both cases the big 6 all appeared they aren't saving money but I think are looking for opportunities to get "Violet", I believe this is the first time I noticed her first name used by LT Brady, more screen time.

I can't recall any other pair making room for their reoccurring 27th detectives but the LT occasionally stepped up, even if not as often as LT Brady.

1 hour ago, Xeliou66 said:

Maroun can exit any time though. 

With DA Baxter's personal life all over this episode you can ask why she was there at all as with putting Detective Shaw on the bench for Detective Yee after the cold openning.

[shapeshifter]

15 hours ago, Irlandesa said:

I was surprised the ex-girlfriend disappeared.  Didn't she kind of imply that that the vic was grabby/handsy even when she said no and that's why she threw a glass at him? 

I would have thought she could testify for the defendant.

This! 

 

14 hours ago, MerBearHou said:

It was odd that Shaw disappeared for half of the episode — something had to be up with the actor’s schedule.

Yes: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1419635/

 

 

[Sake614]

Did I miss that Baxter got divorced? Have I been living under a rock? 

like others have already said, I do NOT like Kate. Not as a defense attorney, not as Nick’s girlfriend. Not as anything. Can she leave and never return?

Interesting case. I agree with both Kate and Maroun that if the suspect was a man, none of these salacious details would matter. And certainly no one would be calling him a whore. That said, she tried to play herself as s victim when in fact, she’s just a killer. So I’m glad there was no plea deal and she lost.

[Xeliou66]

3 minutes ago, Sake614 said:

Did I miss that Baxter got divorced? Have I been living under a rock? 

like others have already said, I do NOT like Kate. Not as a defense attorney, not as Nick’s girlfriend. Not as anything. Can she leave and never return?

Interesting case. I agree with both Kate and Maroun that if the suspect was a man, none of these salacious details would matter. And certainly no one would be calling him a whore. That said, she tried to play herself as s victim when in fact, she’s just a killer. So I’m glad there was no plea deal and she lost.

It was weird how they didn’t explicitly address Baxter’s split from his wife - last week was the first mention all season of Nick’s personal life - last season’s finale heavily implied his wife left him when she didn’t show up at his election night party, it seemed like their marriage was in trouble for a while and Nick persuading their daughter to testify was the last straw for them, but it’s weird how there wasn’t a line early in the season about Baxter being divorced now - he likes to keep his personal life private but it was odd how nothing had been said about it. 
I have a feeling this is probably the last we’ve seen of Kate - I don’t think Nick could trust her again after her slimy behavior in this case. 
Maroun may have had a point that there is a double standard for women about their sex lives, but I get sick of her whining and like I said earlier, Price would’ve been derelict not to use the prior perjury to impeach the defendant. 

[Sake614]

2 minutes ago, Xeliou66 said:

last season’s finale heavily implied his wife left him when she didn’t show up at his election night party, it seemed like their marriage was in trouble for a while and Nick persuading their daughter to testify was the last straw for them

So I really HAVE been living under a rock because I don’t remember any of this lol!

[Xeliou66]

4 minutes ago, Sake614 said:

So I really HAVE been living under a rock because I don’t remember any of this lol!

Did you miss last season’s finale? That was the only other time we’ve seen Baxter’s personal life be featured, it was implied his wife didn’t want him accepting the DA job in the first place and then when he got their daughter to testify that was the last straw. But yeah they left the viewer to fill in the gaps between Baxter’s wife not showing up to support him on election night and then him being divorced now and seeing a new woman 

Edited March 14 by Xeliou66

[Sake614]

1 minute ago, Xeliou66 said:

Did you miss last season’s finale? That was the only other time we’ve seen Baxter’s personal life be featured, it was implied his wife didn’t want him accepting the DA job in the first place and then when he got their daughter to testify that was the last straw. But yeah they left the viewer to fill in the gaps between Baxter’s wife not showing up to support him on election night and then him being divorced now and seeing a new woman 

I didn’t think I did, but now I’ll have to see if I can find it online to refresh my memory. I vaguely recall the election night party but not much else…

[shapeshifter]

38 minutes ago, Sake614 said:

, she tried to play herself as s victim when in fact, she’s just a killer.

I thought they left it that she may very well have fought him off.
2 other women in the opening interviews said he was a lech, and so did her defense attorney to Baxter.
Just because the "witness" didn't hear her verbally protesting specifically against him pulling at her clothes and grabbing her crotch doesn't mean he didn't.
Having been in such situations decades ago, I still recall not wasting my relatively smaller physical resources on screaming unless I thought there was someone to hear. 
And the witness was just an ear-witness while while they were arguing.

[Madding crowd]

I don’t think the reporter had a real motive for the killing even if the guy threatened to ruin her life. I’m a retired reporter and once I filed a story it was in the hands of the editor; I had no further control . Reporters don’t have the authority to quash stories, if she didn’t do it someone else would be assigned. I think he did attack her unless she has a history of violence.

Maroun really needs to work as a public defender or victim advocate. She doesn’t like the prosecution side of things. I see Maura Tierney still plays every role like she is clinically depressed.

[shapeshifter]

4 minutes ago, Madding crowd said:

I don’t think the reporter had a real motive for the killing even if the guy threatened to ruin her life. I’m a retired reporter and once I filed a story it was in the hands of the editor; I had no further control . Reporters don’t have the authority to quash stories, if she didn’t do it someone else would be assigned. I think he did attack her unless she has a history of violence.

Even though I just plead the case for defendant, I could also argue that since the defendant had already been previously smeared in the papers with a sex tape from her ex-husband, and had worked very hard to get the respect she had a Pulitzer contender, she might have been very motivated to not have the rich politician smear her reputation to save his. 

This is why I would be terrible on a jury unless the goal was a hung jury. 

[Madding crowd]

That’s true but why even meet with him? She knew the kind of person he was and also that she couldn’t quash the story. If she was meeting to kill him she would have to be sure he didn’t already give the information in her to his attorney or someone else. I just think the whole story was a little weak.

[EtheltoTillie]

2 hours ago, Sake614 said:

Did I miss that Baxter got divorced? Have I been living under a rock? 

like others have already said, I do NOT like Kate. Not as a defense attorney, not as Nick’s girlfriend. Not as anything. Can she leave and never return?

Interesting case. I agree with both Kate and Maroun that if the suspect was a man, none of these salacious details would matter. And certainly no one would be calling him a whore. That said, she tried to play herself as s victim when in fact, she’s just a killer. So I’m glad there was no plea deal and she lost.

This was the week for gender reversals. They did it on SVU as well. Were they purposely trying to pair them?  

[preeya]

22 hours ago, Xeliou66 said:

I agree it was a bad idea for Nick and Kate to be having dinner during the trial, and I also thought Kate was slimy for trying to pit Nick and Nolan against each other, and I was glad Nick called her on it. The judge didn’t seem pleased with Kate at all, but I was kind of surprised a bigger deal wasn’t made. 

Given Nick's personality and his demeanor toward his subordinates, I found it hard to believe he would even consider dating a defense attorney with a personality displayed by slimy Kate.

[EtheltoTillie]

23 hours ago, dubbel zout said:

A lot of the locations of this episode were shot in my neighborhood, so that was fun. I often eat at the diner where Baxter and Price met. To meet in Riverside Park around 9 at night is "in public," but the park isn't exactly teeming with people. 

For Baxter and Kate to continue to see each other during the case was ridiculous, A DA and a defense attorney dating is a bad idea, given the obvious conflict of interest that can arise.

City Diner!  I’m in the same nabe but I am closer to sister restaurants Manhattan Diner and Metro Diner

I don’t go down to Riverside Park at night!  

Edited March 15 by EtheltoTillie

[storyskip]

I really liked this episode.

There has been a lot of discussion about Nolan being too soft, and in this episode we got to see him play hardball. And not just against any other defense attorney, but against Baxter’s girlfriend as well.

It’s a quick line, but in the beginning when Kate, Nolan and Sam are walking to some place private to discuss the deal, Kate mentions the salacious nature of the case, given Julia’s sex tape history and Kate dating Baxter. Sam says they have no interest in dragging any of that into the courtroom. Nolan then tells Sam, after the Senator threatens him, that they’re going to keep their case to the facts.

It isn’t until Kate starts crossing the lines and pulling shady tactics that Nolan drops the gloves. Kate shot herself in the foot by threatening the witness, and then doubling down on a he said/she said defense. 

Whether Powers grabbed Julia or not, there were no FACTS to substantiate the claim, and unfortunately there were FACTS showing that Julia had lied in the past. So her credibility went out the window.

That was all Kate’s doing. She opened the line of testimony and Nolan swung for the fences.

I think Kate got too comfortable thinking that she could intimidate Nolan into accepting the plea, and if that didn’t work, she’d leverage Baxter. Both assumptions blew up in her face.

I was glad, after the tensions between them, Baxter had Nolan’s back. I like character relationships growth.

I’m kinda sad that Kate went this route, because I LOVED Maggie Siff as Wendy in Billions. Wouldn’t have minded if she stuck around.

 

ETA: It was Sam who said they would not be dragging past or current relationships into the courtroom. Still that would have been a strategy laid out by Nolan. But wanted to be clear about who spoke the line.

Edited March 15 by storyskip

[marny]

It made zero sense that the entire DA’s office wasn’t recused out of the case. Recusals like that happen for way lesser conflicts of interest. Not doing that would absolutely be scandalous in the press. 

[Theli11]

On 3/14/2025 at 9:06 AM, Xeliou66 said:

Maroun is definitely not in the right profession, she can really drive me nuts at times, like I said above Price would’ve been derelict not to use the prior perjury to impeach the defendant. 

I think the issue is with Nolan using another slimey tactic to get a conviction. It was a legal thing that Nolan did but I don't think it had anything to do with the murder.. 

11 hours ago, marny said:

It made zero sense that the entire DA’s office wasn’t recused out of the case. Recusals like that happen for way lesser conflicts of interest. Not doing that would absolutely be scandalous in the press. 

This legal portion was really good, and I think it was because it like.. forced me to suspend my disbelief. There's absolutely no way this trial could be a real thing. It felt like Nolan was about to go very very far. I wish they had made him go farther, almost into a disbarment threat. Very fun episode. I wish they had just explained away Shaw's disappearance with like a desk duty thing from Lt. Brady, when I saw the preview I wish that was what it was. Det. Yee felt like when Profaci would cover for a detective in some episodes so that felt nice. 

 

[Xeliou66]

53 minutes ago, Theli11 said:

I think the issue is with Nolan using another slimey tactic to get a conviction. It was a legal thing that Nolan did but I don't think it had anything to do with the murder.. 

This legal portion was really good, and I think it was because it like.. forced me to suspend my disbelief. There's absolutely no way this trial could be a real thing. It felt like Nolan was about to go very very far. I wish they had made him go farther, almost into a disbarment threat. Very fun episode. I wish they had just explained away Shaw's disappearance with like a desk duty thing from Lt. Brady, when I saw the preview I wish that was what it was. Det. Yee felt like when Profaci would cover for a detective in some episodes so that felt nice. 

 

Have to disagree about Nolan - nothing Nolan did was slimy or underhanded - the defendant had committed perjury in a prior legal proceeding, it was very much relevant to bring it up to impeach her credibility. I got Maroun’s point that there is something of a double standard regarding sex scandals when it comes to females vs men, but any prosecutor would use prior perjury to impeach a defendant, man or woman. Nothing slimy there. It was the defense attorney Kate who was rather slimy, convincing a witness he would lose his job if he testified when his private stuff couldn’t even be brought up, and trying to pit Nick and Nolan against each other, which Nick called her on. I don’t know if they’ll mention Kate again but I doubt Nick could trust her fully after this. 
It was an interesting episode with some good character moments and a decent enough case. 

[CrystalBlue]

I actually screamed out loud when Rose Gregory hit the bicyclist.  A great running-away-woman scene again.

[Cotypubby]

The scene with the witness and the dog barking at Riley was weird. They kept pulling focus to the dog lunging and his reaction, I was expecting that to somehow be relevant later on.

[dubbel zout]

SameI I though we'd find out Riley didn't like dogs or was scared of them.

[Xeliou66]

I liked the interview of the witness with the dog, I think the dog barking just added a bit of uniqueness/humor, kind of reminded me of how we used to see more colorful witness/detective interactions and interviews on the show.

I’ll add in one more comment not just about this episode but the season as a whole - I think they are doing a really good job having the police and DA characters interact a lot, I always like when they have that and they are doing a great job of it this year - we saw Brady visit Baxter at home in this one, we’ve seen Baxter interact with the detectives a couple of times, we’ve had lots of scenes between Price/Maroun and the police characters. Makes the cases feel like a full team effort instead of two separate halves and I really like that, L&O did a good job of that at the end of its original 20 year run and I’m pleased to see they are doing it again - it’s one thing the revival writers are doing well. 

[Raja]

2 hours ago, Xeliou66 said:

I’ll add in one more comment not just about this episode but the season as a whole - I think they are doing a really good job having the police and DA characters interact a lot, I always like when they have that and they are doing a great job of it this year - we saw Brady visit Baxter at home in this one, we’ve seen Baxter interact with the detectives a couple of times, we’ve had lots of scenes between Price/Maroun and the police characters.

I thought it seemed strange as if Lt Brady had been there before just without the girlfriend going public in front of her. I would have expected LT Van Buren to be played like oh oh a VIP, their DA popped up in connection with our case and I will go handle him. But then she had Mr. Schiff and Mr. Branch as DA for most of time as squad leader.

[Xeliou66]

17 minutes ago, Raja said:

I thought it seemed strange as if Lt Brady had been there before just without the girlfriend going public in front of her. I would have expected LT Van Buren to be played like oh oh a VIP, their DA popped up in connection with our case and I will go handle him. But then she had Mr. Schiff and Mr. Branch as DA for most of time as squad leader.

We’ve seen Brady and Baxter interact a couple of other times, Baxter called her by her first name in one of their interactions so they’ve clearly known each other for a while. I don’t know if she had been to Baxter’s residence before. 
I really enjoy seeing the police and DAs interact and work together, they did this very well during the last few years of the original run when Jack became DA, and I’m glad they are doing it again on the revival. During Van Buren’s run she had scenes with Schiff in a lot of different episodes, she had 2 scenes with Branch that I can recall, I don’t think Nora Lewin ever had a scene with a cop. It’s enjoyable to have all 6 main characters working together closely and I wish they had had more scenes between the two “separate but equally important groups” in the show’s early years - I would’ve loved a conversation between Lennie Briscoe and Adam Schiff, that would’ve been awesome! So it’s nice that they are working all the characters into scenes together, they’re doing it really nicely. 

[ML89]

18 hours ago, CrystalBlue said:

I actually screamed out loud when Rose Gregory hit the bicyclist.  A great running-away-woman scene again.

I wondered why we never saw the guy again 

Spoiler

then seeing the trailer for next week, when they finally get to the most obvious ripped from of the season, I had an odd thought that maybe that guy is the perp in the Mangione ripoff.

[txhorns79]

On 3/13/2025 at 9:22 PM, Xeliou66 said:

I liked her at the club, her grabbing a handful of the mints

I did love that moment. 

Am I the only one who thought the crisis management lady looked like Sarah Palin? 

Edited March 17 by txhorns79

[CrystalBlue]

3 hours ago, ML89 said:

I wondered why we never saw the guy again 

  Hide contents

 

I was concerned the police just took the bicyclist's word for it that he was OK.  I know they had time constraints on arresting the woman who hit him, but I would have liked to see them dispatch another cop to take care of him and get him to the hospital to get checked out.

[Joimiaroxeu]

Bentley the dog wasn't here for any part of that crime investigation. So much barking!

And right off the bat Baxter is implicated in a case again because he and the victim or perp ran in the same social circles.

Heh, Brady was feeling a way about Baxter's sleepover lady friend Kate. Lowkey jealousy?

I think the exotic dancer suspect could've passed for Sabrina Carpenter as a brunette.

Ditto on the comment upthread that the fixer suspect looked like she was cosplaying Sarah Palin.

Price wanted to recuse the entire DA office because Baxter's girlfriend was representing the defendant. Lol, he is so tired of Baxter's personal life affecting their murder trials.

Price: the defendant decided to FAFO.
Maroun: did she though?
The jury: yep, she did. GUILTY!

Next week is the Luigi Mangione episode! Wonder if he knows he's made Law & Order? Whatever, apparently Dick Wolf is fine with poisoning the potential jury pool.

Edited March 17 by Joimiaroxeu

[marc20]

On 3/16/2025 at 5:52 PM, Xeliou66 said:

We’ve seen Brady and Baxter interact a couple of other times, Baxter called her by her first name in one of their interactions so they’ve clearly known each other for a while. I don’t know if she had been to Baxter’s residence before. 
I really enjoy seeing the police and DAs interact and work together, they did this very well during the last few years of the original run when Jack became DA, and I’m glad they are doing it again on the revival. During Van Buren’s run she had scenes with Schiff in a lot of different episodes, she had 2 scenes with Branch that I can recall, I don’t think Nora Lewin ever had a scene with a cop. It’s enjoyable to have all 6 main characters working together closely and I wish they had had more scenes between the two “separate but equally important groups” in the show’s early years - I would’ve loved a conversation between Lennie Briscoe and Adam Schiff, that would’ve been awesome! So it’s nice that they are working all the characters into scenes together, they’re doing it really nicely. 

"I would’ve loved a conversation between Lennie Briscoe and Adam Schiff"

idk, NBC might have kicked them off the show to start a sitcom with them :)

[Xeliou66]

12 minutes ago, marc20 said:

"I would’ve loved a conversation between Lennie Briscoe and Adam Schiff"

idk, NBC might have kicked them off the show to start a sitcom with them :)

LOL - they were the 2 funniest L&O characters for sure. That’s why a conversation with them would’ve been epic

[txhorns79]

12 hours ago, marc20 said:

I really enjoy seeing the police and DAs interact and work together, they did this very well during the last few years of the original run when Jack became DA, and I’m glad they are doing it again on the revival. During Van Buren’s run she had scenes with Schiff in a lot of different episodes, she had 2 scenes with Branch that I can recall, I don’t think Nora Lewin ever had a scene with a cop. It’s enjoyable to have all 6 main characters working together closely and I wish they had had more scenes between the two “separate but equally important groups” in the show’s early years - I would’ve loved a conversation between Lennie Briscoe and Adam Schiff, that would’ve been awesome

I can't even imagine what Lennie and Schiff would have talked about.  With Schiff, if a cop was interacting with him it was because the police had made a mistake.  Van Buren was typically there to get reprimanded in her role as leadership at her precinct because some type of evidence had been excluded due to a police mistake.  Sometimes she might also be giving an update on a particularly important investigation.  

One thing with the revival, and particularly with Brady, is they have started giving the Lieutenant much more to do during the investigation as opposed to Van Buren mostly just being given updates and suggesting courses of action for the detectives.  I may not even be remembering correctly, but with the first series, it felt like a big deal if Van Buren was questioning a witness/perp.  Here, Brady seems to do it as a matter of course.          

Edited March 18 by txhorns79

[blackwing]

I loved the fact that Violet Yee finally got away from the computer.  She appears to be a Detective yet her only role on this show until this episode has been to review CCTV footage.

Maroun feeling bad for the reporter and telling Nolan they should offer a plea is just absolutely ridiculous.  How does this kind of thing not come up in an annual review?  "Heart bleeds too much for defendants, especially those who are female.  Suggest that she might be happier as a public defender.  Her flinty voice makes my ears bleed."

On 3/13/2025 at 8:22 PM, Xeliou66 said:

Interesting episode albeit predictable in the second half.

I was surprised a bigger deal wasn’t made about Baxter’s girlfriend/the defense lawyer basically committing witness tampering, I thought she was slimy, and I think Baxter was starting to agree by the end - she seemed to think that anything was justified to try to get her client off. I did wonder why a plea deal wasn’t discussed more, as this case could’ve gone either way - 5 years was too light but I thought a plea to manslaughter 1 might’ve been agreed to by both parties - the victim was sleazy but there was no evidence of attempted assault and I think the killer was just fed up with him and she bashed his head in 3 times, that wasn’t self defense, but given the victim’s slimy character I wasn’t sure the jury would convict. 

I agree it was a bad idea for Nick and Kate to be having dinner during the trial, and I also thought Kate was slimy for trying to pit Nick and Nolan against each other, and I was glad Nick called her on it. The judge didn’t seem pleased with Kate at all, but I was kind of surprised a bigger deal wasn’t made. 

Maroun was annoying once again when she was whiny about Price using the prior perjury against the perp, what the hell was she expecting? Price would’ve been negligent not to use it, Maroun really needs to reevaluate her career IMO, she would be better as an activist lawyer than a prosecutor, she really grates on me.

The investigation was good but it was weird how Shaw vanished after the start and didn’t appear again until testifying at the end. I missed him and Riley working together, they are a great pairing, but I liked seeing Violet get some action in the field and Riley and Brady worked fine together, while it remains kind of annoying how much screen time Brady gets, she’s grown on me, I liked her at the club, her grabbing a handful of the mints and then passing them around to Riley and Yee was funny, I liked that bit of humor. But it was odd that Shaw vanished, I wonder if Mehcad Brooks was busy during filming?

It was also weird how they never explicitly talked about Baxter’s divorce from his wife. I did like seeing him and Brady interact though.

Decent episode but the second half was predictable and only unique because of Baxter’s tie to Kate. And while the investigation was good I missed Shaw/Riley together. 

Agree with every single comment.  I got the impression that Nick and Kate are already living together, which seems awfully quick.  I wish the judge would have said something about recommending sanctions against Kate.  Or that someone else said it.  She definitely deserves them, and she doesn't even feel bad about it.  I hope from the way she walked away from Nick that this is the last we see of her.  If we see her again, I hope there is a mention of her getting sanctions.

On 3/13/2025 at 9:07 PM, Irlandesa said:

I was surprised the ex-girlfriend disappeared.  Didn't she kind of imply that that the vic was grabby/handsy even when she said no and that's why she threw a glass at him? 

I wasn't.  She was the initial suspect.  This show is very formulaic, the initial suspect that they first talk to is always the red herring.

On 3/14/2025 at 2:02 PM, Xeliou66 said:

It was weird how they didn’t explicitly address Baxter’s split from his wife - last week was the first mention all season of Nick’s personal life - last season’s finale heavily implied his wife left him when she didn’t show up at his election night party, it seemed like their marriage was in trouble for a while and Nick persuading their daughter to testify was the last straw for them, but it’s weird how there wasn’t a line early in the season about Baxter being divorced now - he likes to keep his personal life private but it was odd how nothing had been said about it. 

I thought it was weird too.  We knew that there was trouble based on her not showing up at his party, but I thought a line about the separation/divorce earlier this season would have been appreciated.  How many months in L&O time have elapsed since the election?  Seems awfully quick for Nick to be moving on with someone new, especially if the divorce hasn't even happened or been finalised.

On 3/14/2025 at 2:50 PM, shapeshifter said:

I thought they left it that she may very well have fought him off.
2 other women in the opening interviews said he was a lech, and so did her defense attorney to Baxter.
Just because the "witness" didn't hear her verbally protesting specifically against him pulling at her clothes and grabbing her crotch doesn't mean he didn't.

I think the biggest issue is that she didn't mention anything at all about it when they first talked to her.  It was only afterwards that she told this story, and based on Kate's behaviour, I wouldn't be surprised if Kate put the suggestion into her head.

On 3/16/2025 at 10:55 PM, txhorns79 said:

Am I the only one who thought the crisis management lady looked like Sarah Palin? 

Yes!  The swept up dark hair and the glasses.