Approach The Bench: Law & Order General Discussion Thread

[GHScorpiosRule]

1 hour ago, Catlyn said:

It's funny because I've seen two shows where the take-off from the Mary Bell case has the girl get off by their mothers. In the real one, she ends up in Juvenile and was released as an adult.  One was the Law and Order episode, the other a German show, Tatort. 

I would also love to see a follow-up episode to see how she has grown and see which side was correct.

This is so weird-the site shows you quoting me, but I'm sure I didn't say that, since "Killerz" is one of my favorite episodes. I suspect it's the poster who quoted me and for some reason, the post you quoted makes it look like it was my post. This is an ongoing issue with PTV and I'm not sure why it keeps happening!?

Yep, it was @merylinkid's post that got quoted instead of mine!???

Edited April 26, 2017 by GHScorpiosRule

[Spartan Girl]

On 4/24/2017 at 7:14 PM, GHScorpiosRule said:

"We were married for 25 YEEEEEEARRRRRRS!!!!"

To quote Arthur from The Holiday: "So he's a schmuck.  Let him go."

[Xeliou66]

Watched Faccia a Faccia on Sundance last night, great episode. Probably my favorite of the many mob episodes L&O ever did, very good mystery and cast of characters, nice twists and investigation and great use of all characters. I loved Skoda taunting the son of the "Diaper Don", one of the funniest L&O scenes IMO. Great cast of characters, the mob boss, his son, the vengeful daughter and the wannabe hitman. Love that episode, great plot, great cast of characters, L&O at its finest. 

[Spartan Girl]

"Promises to Keep" was on last night, with Lindsey Crouse as the shrink boinking her patient behind his fiancée's back, which lead to the guy murdering the fiancée. Still don't know why Ben and the team felt sorry for the crazy asshole. Yeah, the shrink took advantage of him, but the only real victim in that case was the actual murder victim. Her boyfriend cheated on her, then murdered her just to "protect" his precious Diiiiiiiiaaaane. And then the shrink tries to throw the cops off by making her out to be a crazy drunk slut. Ugh.

[SunnyBeBe]

I saw another old episode that I did see a long time ago, but, this time, it peaked a question in me that I wasn't able to get answered.  Maybe, I missed something.  This was in an episode called Burned.  The main guest star was Robert Vaughan.  (I like him, he always seems to really carry a role.)  He plays an old friend of the first older District Attorney.  His grandson is discovered to have a mental disorder and burned an apt that killed his younger sister.  However, the only reason the crime came to anyone's attention, was that the young man had left a message on what he believed to be his father's answering machine.  He said something about, don't worry, I took care of DeDe.  (His sister.)  But, he left the message on the wrong phone number's machine.  The police were notified.  

The police checked out the guy who lived there and it was determined that someone must have leave it, thinking it was someone else's number. They went back to who had the phone number before and discovered it was the father of the mentally ill young man.  But, here's my question.  The fire had occurred years before.  Why would the young man wait months to leave that kind of message AND why would the young man, not know that his dad's phone number had changed over a period of time?  It just didn't make sense to me.  Also, the attitude the boy had when he left the message, didn't mesh with the one he described in the courtroom.  It just seemed like a mismatched episode, with a lot of mistakes. 

Edited May 1, 2017 by SunnyBeBe

[Xeliou66]

That was a good episode but that kind of bugged me as well. Since the grandson was bipolar, I wonder if he wasn't fully aware of what he was doing, I've known a few bipolar people and their moods swing rapidly causing bizarre and sometimes irrational behavior, I bet that's what happened. I don't know why he didn't know about the changed phone number, I don't think he had had any contact with his dad in a long time so maybe he didn't know. 

[Spartan Girl]

Watching "Virus" now. As much as I despise the asshole hacker son and the crazy dad, I also have contempt for the mother. Her insistance to Ben that her son "made a mistake" pissed me off.  Spilling coffee is a mistake. Dropping your phone is a mistake. Hacking into a hospital system and sending diabetic patients into insulin shock is NOT a mistake. It's willful and malicious murder. That whole family had a screw loose.

Edited May 3, 2017 by Spartan Girl

[Cobalt Stargazer]

And Securitate, which was on right afterwards, is almost as bad. It's one thing to take in a kid because he's a relative, and maybe because you want to get him away from the father who doesn't want him around anyway, but it seemed so obvious that Leon was determined to 'win' his dad's love no matter what, up to and including getting his uncle murdered, that I was surprised his aunt was so stunned by the news.

[Xeliou66]

Some interesting season 13 episodes today, just saw Chosen, Randy Dworkin's first appearance. Dworkin was one of the funniest defense lawyers but he was rather smart as well, his appearances were always entertaining. Dworkin could always try to turn a simple murder into something else entirely, such as in this one making it about Isreal. I was glad McCoy got the jury to see through it and they convicted anyway. I thought Serena was hyper annoying in this one, accusing McCoy of being anti Semitic without any basis, she was very whiny and irritating. The only racists were the defendant and his wife, I loved when McCoy asked the wife what she would say if the victim was Jewish when she was saying the victim's life didn't matter basically. 

Under God was just on, interesting episode as it references Briscoe's daughters death numerous times, which isn't referenced much after season 8. Lennie has an interesting line about how sometimes he wishes he had killed the guy who killed his daughter, interesting considering how the guy in jail offered Lennie to kill the guy if he got him out of jail and it was left ambigious, this episode pretty much let's us know that Lennie didn't do it. 

[Cobalt Stargazer]

Mother's Milk just ended on WE. Man, I wanted to punch both the mother and the father of the poor baby who died because they were too young and stupid to have a kid. As not-sympathetic-at-all as the lactation counselor from the hospital was, Amy sitting in court crying when Rodgers was talking about the condition her son would have been in at the time of death just made me want to throttle her.

[Xeliou66]

Yeah, those parents were stupid and had no business trying to care for a kid, and as a result the kid died. I hated both of them, they deserved longer prison sentences. Why didn't they just give the baby up for adoption/have an abortion or just use protection? Cause they clearly had no business taking care of a baby, I don't think those dumbasses could take care of a pet hamster. Definitely one of a the more depressing L&O episodes, but a very good one as well, and I have heard of several similar cases in real life.

[merylinkid]

I believe that is the one with the great line about how if you are going to choose to have kids, then you are responsible about it.    Which is about the abortion debate but more about what happens after you make the decision to have the child.

It was also about those self-righteous lactation counselors.   I've always wondered how they would enforce that "contract."   

[Spartan Girl]

On May 3, 2017 at 7:15 PM, Cobalt Stargazer said:

Mother's Milk just ended on WE. Man, I wanted to punch both the mother and the father of the poor baby who died because they were too young and stupid to have a kid. As not-sympathetic-at-all as the lactation counselor from the hospital was, Amy sitting in court crying when Rodgers was talking about the condition her son would have been in at the time of death just made me want to throttle her.

Dude, I was ready to take Negan's bat and beat the living shit out of everyone in that episode: the lawyer, the counselors, the dad, and -- I use this term loosely -- the mother. FEED YOUR FUCKING BABY, YOU STUPID [REDACTED]!!!!!

Our girl Abbie gave it her all with that one, and it sure took a lot out of her.

Edited May 5, 2017 by Spartan Girl

[Cobalt Stargazer]

2 hours ago, Spartan Girl said:

Dude, I was ready to take Negan's bat and beat the living shit out of everyone in that episode: the lawyers, the counselors, the dad, and -- I use this term loosely -- the mother. FEED YOUR FUCKING BABY, YOU STUPID [REDACTED]!!!!!

Not surprisingly, I was totally with Abbie when she said that the 'mother' was the primary caregiver for the baby, and thus she should have taken the brunt of the punishment. If you're capable of watching an infant starve to death because some bitch with a PhD told you not to give him a bottle instead of your breast you're either evil or you're a special kind of stupid. Or both.

I might still be mad.

[biakbiak]

On Wednesday, May 03, 2017 at 2:11 PM, Xeliou66 said:

Lennie has an interesting line about how sometimes he wishes he had killed the guy who killed his daughter, interesting considering how the guy in jail offered Lennie to kill the guy if he got him out of jail and it was left ambigious, this episode pretty much let's us know that Lennie didn't do it. 

In Hate from season 9 which just aired it's revealed that the person who killed his daughter died of a heroine overdose, so this seems more a continuity issue.

[GHScorpiosRule]

On 5/3/2017 at 7:15 PM, Cobalt Stargazer said:

Mother's Milk just ended on WE. Man, I wanted to punch both the mother and the father of the poor baby who died because they were too young and stupid to have a kid. As not-sympathetic-at-all as the lactation counselor from the hospital was, Amy sitting in court crying when Rodgers was talking about the condition her son would have been in at the time of death just made me want to throttle her.

 

On 5/4/2017 at 2:43 AM, Xeliou66 said:

Yeah, those parents were stupid and had no business trying to care for a kid, and as a result the kid died. I hated both of them, they deserved longer prison sentences. Why didn't they just give the baby up for adoption/have an abortion or just use protection? Cause they clearly had no business taking care of a baby, I don't think those dumbasses could take care of a pet hamster. Definitely one of a the more depressing L&O episodes, but a very good one as well, and I have heard of several similar cases in real life.

 

16 hours ago, Spartan Girl said:

Dude, I was ready to take Negan's bat and beat the living shit out of everyone in that episode: the lawyer, the counselors, the dad, and -- I use this term loosely -- the mother. FEED YOUR FUCKING BABY, YOU STUPID [REDACTED]!!!!!

Our girl Abbie gave it her all with that one, and it sure took a lot out of her.

I have so much RAGE toward the nimtwit who was the birth mother. ????

For all her whining that she didn't have help or know what to do, when she was finally at trial, right there, behind her, was her own FUCKING MOTHER! What, she couldn't pick up the phone to call her and ask for her help???Mom is suddenly there? Where was she when she became a grandma? From what I can recall, (because I refuse to watch this episode, along with the one about those two entitled RICH kids with a Twu Wuv Womance, who threw their baby away and her father took the blame), nimtwit had a good relationship with Mommy.

[Xeliou66]

6 hours ago, biakbiak said:

In Hate from season 9 which just aired it's revealed that the person who killed his daughter died of a heroine overdose, so this seems more a continuity issue.

I've always thought that there were 2 people that killed Briscoe's daughter, I figured the drug dealer ordered some minion to shoot Briscoe's daughter, so that's what I took about the line about the killer being in prison. I was talking about the line where Briscoe says that he sometimes wakes up and wished he had killed his daughter's killer, implying that he didn't do it. 

[Cobalt Stargazer]

From the Favorite/Least Favorite Episodes thread:

8 hours ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

What I find interesting is that the actress who played the mom, ended up as a recurring judge in later seasons!?

And the evil father from Indifference was played by the same guy that portrayed the judge Claire had an affair with, the one who threatened to kidnap another of his lover's kid. In addition, the skeevy doctor who raped Olivet came back as the shrink in the Hollywood three-parter. The producers must have had a Rolodex of people they knew they could call if they needed someone for a week or two. :-)

[shapeshifter]

On May 22, 2017 at 9:58 PM, Cobalt Stargazer said:

From the Favorite/Least Favorite Episodes thread:

And the evil father from Indifference was played by the same guy that portrayed the judge Claire had an affair with, the one who threatened to kidnap another of his lover's kid. In addition, the skeevy doctor who raped Olivet came back as the shrink in the Hollywood three-parter. The producers must have had a Rolodex of people they knew they could call if they needed someone for a week or two. :-)

Was it shot in NYC? If so, that might have had something to do with speed dial actors. I thought it might also be why many of the COW characters looked like real people, and not all Hollywood. NYC would have a lot of off-Broadway actors who haven't had "work" done for the HD screen.

[Xeliou66]

Yeah L&O was shot in NYC, and it used a ton of Broadway/theatre actors. I'm surprised more people don't know this is the reason why the same actors were used over and over, NYC is very prominent in the series, they do a great job with the cinematography and locations. 

[WendyCR72]

A lot of Broadway actors - and many, many NYC-based soap actors, too. On all 3 shows. But one such actor I remember, Benjamin Hendrickson, appeared all the way back in S2 in "Wages of Love" as the attorney for the ex-boyfriend of the female victim. Hendrickson played Hal Munson on As The World Turns for around two decades.

He sadly committed suicide in 2006.

I do also recall when L&O: LA was on that it tried doing the same for California-based soap actors. Saw a few. But of course, the show tanked (for good reason).

[merylinkid]

On 3/11/2017 at 8:39 PM, Xeliou66 said:

More good season 10 episodes on WE tonight, just saw Fools for Love. One of L&O's darkest and most disturbing episodes, about the serial rapist and his girlfriend who wound up killing the girlfriends sister and her friend. 2 of the most twisted, sociopathic killers L&O ever had, but very good episode. The deal that McCoy gave to the girlfriend was extremely lenient and I'm glad the judge agreed and overturned it. Interesting in that Stabler and Benson from SVU made appearances on that one and Cragen was referenced. There was a hilarious line from Schiff to Skoda when they were debated the case in Schiff office, he growled "do you ever give a straight answer" to Skoda after he was providing alternate theories. Schiff's one liners were hilarious. 

Trade This is on now, another good, underrated episode. 

Speaking of this lovely episode -- Karla Homulka about whom this episode was loosely based has been spotted volunteering at a Montreal Elementary school.   Somehow she passed a background check.   I'm thinking she used her new identity and didn't admit to any past names.

[Epeolatrix]

The school knew who she was from the beginning and there was no background check because she wasn't ever going to be alone with children. They appear to be working along the lines of, "We forgive her as God forgives her."

[merylinkid]

4 hours ago, Violet Impulse said:

The school knew who she was from the beginning and there was no background check because she wasn't ever going to be alone with children. They appear to be working along the lines of, "We forgive her as God forgives her."

Yeah that school really does not want my opinion on that one.   Seriously, she was technically never alone either when she killed those kids.   She svengalied her boyfriend into doing it for her.   So clearly that is not a safety measure.

[Xeliou66]

It is incredibly disturbing that a school would let that psycho bitch anywhere near kids, she deserved the death penalty IMO, so did her piece of shit boyfriend-partner in serial killing. One of the most disturbing cases you'll ever read about, I thought L&O did a great job of portraying how twisted and fucked up the killers and the case was, and it's an absolute miscarriage of justice that Karla Holmolka was ever released. 

Anyway, back to actual L&O episodes, there were some great ones on Sundance tonight. One of my favorite episodes, Teenage Wasteland was on, I think that the closing arguments and final scenes in that one are some of the most dramatic, well written and well acted in the shows history, and also one of the only times Nora Lewin was remotely interesting. Following that was Phobia, which was a great episode with another great closing argument from McCoy, although I thought Celia, the bio mom, should've gone to jail for a couple of years at least instead of getting a slap on the wrist. Then A Losing Season, based on Rae Carruth, was on, another good episode. I love almost all Briscoe and Green episodes, they were the best pairing of detectives L&O ever had. 

[roseslg]

I second you on the Briscoe and Green pairing :).  I've probably watched most episodes at least 4 times, but I don't know what any of them are called.  Which one was Teenage Wasteland @Xeliou66

[Xeliou66]

Teenage Wasteland was the one where the teenager killed the Chinese deliveryman after robbing him with his friends, and Nora Lewin decides to seek the death penalty against him because of the senseless brutality of the murder and his past record and lack of remorse, despite the fact that Nora opposed the death penalty and the killer was just 18. Great episode that had an interesting investigation followed by some very interesting legal and ethical debate with no easy answers, and I thought the closing arguments from McCoy and the Texas lawyer representing the killer were 2 of the best in the show's history and a very intense and dramatic final few minutes. 

Briscoe and Green were the best, they just worked very well together. 

Edited June 7, 2017 by Xeliou66

[wanderingstar]

Lost Boys from season 19 is on. Jena Malone is great in this episode, but it makes for some depressing watching.

[Cobalt Stargazer]

All My Children is on Sundance. Julianne Nicholson is very pretty, but her hollering about how she and the victim were brother and sister is really annoying.

[WendyCR72]

36 minutes ago, Cobalt Stargazer said:

All My Children is on Sundance. Julianne Nicholson is very pretty, but her hollering about how she and the victim were brother and sister is really annoying.

That episode always depressed the hell out of me for some reason.

[Xeliou66]

I saw one episode tonight that always pisses me off, Hunters from season 9, about the bounty hunters who killed 3 people and got away clean because of the extreme leeway bounty hunters are given. Those guys were scum and should've been put away, that was such bullshit that they got away with all of that because they claimed the first shooting was an accident. They should've still been charged with murder or manslaughter for the shooting in the apartment, it was pretty clear that they went in shooting and the prosecutors didn't need the whole conspiracy to cover up the first murder to go after them for that IMO. It really pissed me off that those reckless scum who didn't give a damn about what collateral damage got in their way as long as they got their guy got off with a slap on the wrist. 

I loved when Lennie slugged the bounty hunter after they killed the wife and babysitter, it was very unusual to see Lennie lose his temper like that and it was very satisfying to see. 

[wanderingstar]

On 6/25/2017 at 2:00 AM, Xeliou66 said:

I saw one episode tonight that always pisses me off, Hunters from season 9, about the bounty hunters who killed 3 people and got away clean because of the extreme leeway bounty hunters are given. Those guys were scum and should've been put away, that was such bullshit that they got away with all of that because they claimed the first shooting was an accident. They should've still been charged with murder or manslaughter for the shooting in the apartment, it was pretty clear that they went in shooting and the prosecutors didn't need the whole conspiracy to cover up the first murder to go after them for that IMO. It really pissed me off that those reckless scum who didn't give a damn about what collateral damage got in their way as long as they got their guy got off with a slap on the wrist. 

I loved when Lennie slugged the bounty hunter after they killed the wife and babysitter, it was very unusual to see Lennie lose his temper like that and it was very satisfying to see. 

This episode pisses me off for the exact reasons you stated, Xeliou66. I wanted someone to smack the smug off those bounty hunters' faces.

[Spartan Girl]

Does anybody else hate the way Connie acts in "Dignity"? I don't care if you are pro life or pro choice, and it is a very hard issue. But she was acting like the abortion doctor deserved to be killed, and the murderer was justified in doing it all to pressure his daughter to have a baby that she wasn't sure she would be able to take care of because of the genetic abnormalities.

[Xeliou66]

On 7/16/2017 at 6:35 AM, Spartan Girl said:

Does anybody else hate the way Connie acts in "Dignity"? I don't care if you are pro life or pro choice, and it is a very hard issue. But she was acting like the abortion doctor deserved to be killed, and the murderer was justified in doing it all to pressure his daughter to have a baby that she wasn't sure she would be able to take care of because of the genetic abnormalities.

Dignity was one of L&O's worst episodes, it was basically just anti choice propaganda. I hated Rubirosa, Cutter and Bernard in that one. Bernard's comment about rape victims giving birth was one of the stupidest and most insensitive things an L&O character ever said, right up there with some of Curtis and Greevey's comments, and no one called him on it. Rubirosa was way out of line helping the defense, very OOC for her. Cutter for the most part did his job but his one comment comparing the killer to John Brown was idiotic and he rightfully got called on it by McCoy.

But worse than the characters was the terribly one sided way they handled the issue, usually L&O did a very good job of balancing the sides, this episode felt like an anti abortion PSA. The testimony of the woman who chose not to abort a terminally ill baby was not only totally irrelevant and the judge was an idiot for letting it in, but totally inaccurate, no, choosing to give birth to a baby with a rare terminal disease likely means the baby will be in pain its whole life instead of dying peacefully, or that giving birth is a more humane choice than abortion in that case, and choosing to give birth doesn't make the mother of the baby physically or emotionally better off by any means. The late term abortion doctor that testified for Cutter was like a cartoon character. The arguments from the pro choice characters ( McCoy, Lupo, Van Buren ) were weak or nonexistent instead of responding with strong pro choice arguments. The statement that "most Americans are pro life" is a bold face lie. Most Americans are pro choice and always have been, just look at any available data. That comment was based on one misleading study. 

But the worst part about the episode was that it was obviously inspired by the murder of Dr George Tiller, with Dr Benning being shot in church and having been shot before and all, but they had Dr Benning be responsible for sticking scissors in the head of a baby that was accidently born alive, a criminal act which Dr Tiller never did. This was an insult to the memory of Dr Tiller, who was a brave, honorable man that was gunned down by a fruitcake, I think the family had a right to sue the show and NBC for defamation. 

I think the episode was an attempt to placate the right wingers who were angry about the season 20 premiere that put the Bush administration on trial, so they decided to do an episode showing that they could have a right wing bias as well. 

I know that sounds like a political rant, but the episode was very political so it is on topic. Terrible episode, worst of season 20. 

[GHScorpiosRule]

I LOATHE "Dignity," for all the reasons @Xeliou66 stated above. "Life Choice" from season one at least showed all sides of the abortion issue-from Mary's father and brother and let's not forget the delusional Rose Schwimmer, wanting her to be a martyr for the Pro-Lifers when they thought she was the bomber; to her fiancé Coulson* Michael? Pat? and her mom, who just mourned her.  How Mike and Max got into the whole subject. Where Mike said it was legal and should be the woman's decision, and Max saying how he didn't condone the violence, but understood "their frustration."

The best SHADE and SLAM came from Ben, when Rose said she didn't believe in Man's Law, only God's, and said if all she was saying was true-that abortion/killing of babies was murder, no matter how she cut it, then wasn't she guilty of murdering Mary's baby when she bombed that clinic?

BOOM!!!!

I posted that dialogue as well as Adam shaking his head, saying here they were (him, Ben and Paul), talking about a subject that they know nothing about in the quotes thread.

*Gregg Clarke from Avengers and Agents of Shield.

Edited July 18, 2017 by GHScorpiosRule

[Xeliou66]

Agreed. I liked Life Choice, they handled the abortion issue very well in that one, the passionate arguments between Logan and Greevey ( I hated Greevey in that one ), Stone's cross examination of Rose Schwimmer and his general behavior, much more professional from someone who opposed abortion than what we saw in Dignity, and I especially liked Schiff's line about how he was getting angry that 3 men were sitting around trying to decide what rights a woman has over her own body. 

Dignity was one of the lowest moments of L&O. The pro choice arguments were non existent, no one said that women shouldn't be forced to give birth and no one countered Bernard's idiotic comments about rape victims giving birth, even though his argument was beyond stupid. No Bernard, a rape victim undergoing the extremely painful process of giving birth to a baby she doesn't want isn't a cause for celebration, and just because the fetus might become a great person doesn't outweigh the fact that the woman has the right to control her own body and is more than a fucking baby factory. Lupo should've responded with something along those lines, instead he let Bernard's personal story silence him. 

I'm getting angry just thinking about it. I will try to calm down and not go on an all out tirade about how stupid that episode was. 

I do think there at least should've been a special disclaimer about how the Dr Benning character was NOT Dr Tiller, the way in the episode Bronx Cheer they had a disclaimer about how the fictional DA wasn't based on the real Bronx DA. 

[andromeda331]

Me too. I hated Dignity, normally they present both sides of an issue and clearly didn't here. Very one-sided and I didn't like Bernard's remarks about a rape victim either. I wish Lupo had responded with something. A rape victim already going through a nightmare it isn't a celebration that she doesn't abort the baby conceived during her rape. Whether she choses to give birth or abort, its her choice and what she can handle. I know, I know calm down.  Life Choice handled it much better with both sides being presented. Except for Greevey I hated him in that one too. Stone's take down of Rose was awesome. But I also loved Adam's remarked too.  

[WendyCR72]

Got a kick out of seeing the world's most incompetent defense lawyer, Stan (?) Shattenstein on the Mothership episode, "Thrill", on Sundance. I recall him from the CI episode, "Tomorrow", from S2 where he could barely string a sentence together.

I either forgot or didn't know he also appeared here (and I saw this episode lots, so how I never connected this before now, I don't know!), still sounding just as clueless. (I know it's fiction, but how the hell did a character like him pass the Bar?!)

[Ailianna]

The same way lots of lawyers in real life passed it--dumb luck.  (Or being better on paper than they are in person.)

[Cobalt Stargazer]

[Disciple is on TNT as I type this, and I would like to say that Frances Conroy is both impressing and scaring me right now. I haven't been religious in a very long time, but Conroy is seriously bringing it as a woman who truly believes she's doing the work of God. Even if the mother of the girl didn't realize she most likely had some mental issues and needed a shrink instead of an exorcist, Rosa Halasy believes she was tapped by the Almighty to save people.

[Spartan Girl]

WETV is airing from the beginning again! Yay!

I caught "Perscription for Death" and, man, do I hate that smug bastard alcoholic doctor. Not one shred of remorse that his issues wound up killing several patients; he's even brazen enough to go to a bar during the trial! I loved it when Ben exposed his inebriation during his cross examination.

[WendyCR72]

44 minutes ago, Spartan Girl said:

WETV is airing from the beginning again! Yay!

I caught "Perscription for Death" and, man, do I hate that smug bastard alcoholic doctor. Not one shred of remorse that his issues wound up killing several patients; he's even brazen enough to go to a bar during the trial! I loved it when Ben exposed his inebriation during his cross examination.

L&O: UK "re-did" this one and, IMO, really watered it down. I agree with everything you said here. What an arrogant SOB. It was cool to see the late John Spencer as the victim's father, though.

[WendyCR72]

Sundance just circled back to "Everybody's Favorite Bagman", the original pilot (but 6th episode of S1), and the music and such is so...'80s. Makes sense since Wikipedia says this was actually filmed in 1988.

What I didn't know until reading Wiki was Steven Zimkilton, otherwise known as the narrator of the beginning of each and every L&O series, actually appeared in this episode and had a speaking line, "Look at that. Do you believe these guys?"

[Spartan Girl]

I watched "Sonata for a Solo Organ" the other day, the one with the rich guy that paid the doctor to butcher an innocent guy for his kidney so his daughter could have it. Boy, did I feel for that poor guy testifying on how violated he felt after the attack.

Then I was pissed by the rich guy's daughter trying to justify his actions by telling Ben about the trust fund he supposedly set up for the guy and his family, going on about how generous her dad really is...like that made it any better! 

Wish we could have seen her reaction of Ben playing the taped phone call of her dad telling the doctor to kill the guy if he had to.

[CoderLady]

14 minutes ago, Spartan Girl said:

I watched "Sonata for a Solo Organ" the other day, the one with the rich guy that paid the doctor to butcher an innocent guy for his kidney so his daughter could have it. Boy, did I feel for that poor guy testifying on how violated he felt after the attack.

Then I was pissed by the rich guy's daughter trying to justify his actions by telling Ben about the trust fund he supposedly set up for the guy and his family, going on about how generous her dad really is...like that made it any better! 

Wish we could have seen her reaction of Ben playing the taped phone call of her dad telling the doctor to kill the guy if he had to.

In that same conversation Stone asked her if she would have been so sanguine about it if she'd needed a heart instead of a kidney and that made her shut the hell up. Yessss.

[GHScorpiosRule]

1 hour ago, Spartan Girl said:

I watched "Sonata for a Solo Organ" the other day...Wish we could have seen her reaction of Ben playing the taped phone call of her dad telling the doctor to kill the guy if he had to.

 

1 hour ago, CoderLady said:

In that same conversation Stone asked her if she would have been so sanguine about it if she'd needed a heart instead of a kidney and that made her shut the hell up. Yessss.

THIS!!! I LOVED how her face fell and she turned around and left with the proverbial Tail between her legs. 

Quietly, unselfishly, my ASS.

Edited August 12, 2017 by GHScorpiosRule

[Spartan Girl]

Speaking of defending people that don't deserve it, I'm watching "Blood is Thicker" right now, when Ceretta and Logan are questioning the hospital worker to get the identity of the doc Mrs. Ryder was having the affair with. She replies, "He has a wife and kids, leave him out of it!" Never fails to annoy me how protective people get of cheaters. If he had a wife and kids, he shouldn't have been sleeping with another married woman, period.

[Cobalt Stargazer]

Watching Sisters of Mercy right now, and its so weird to see William H. Macy playing his character in Fargo three years in advance.

[WendyCR72]

Speaking of William H. Macy, he popped up in "Everybody's Favorite Bagman" a few days ago. I had completely forgotten that he was in that pilot! Macy seemed to launch many good shows, with ER besides this one, although he recurred on the latter.

(I remember in, I believe, the last season of ER and many old characters returned, as did Macy's. And his character's last arc was with a patient played by Bill Macy of Maude fame. Kind of got a kick out of the name deal.)

Back to this show, it's too bad it was a one and done. I think Macy could have had a good recurring role here, too.

[Spartan Girl]

The racist family that literally murdered a kid just to get rid of their son's academic competition in "Intolerance" are just the worst.