Favorite/Least Favorite Episodes

[roseslg]

I loved when Adam gave the smackdown to that skeevy judge!

 

Good thing I was asleep during the three parter...

[FozzyBear]

On September 14, 2016 at 8:32 AM, roseslg said:

I loved when Adam gave the smackdown to that skeevy judge!

 

Good thing I was asleep during the three parter...

Oh I do too. Although, I kind of hate it that they wrote Jamie as being fine with it until it stopped benefiting her. I hate that they wrote Jamie that way a lot. She was fine with men hitting on her in professional settings as long as she got what she wanted and scandalized when she didn't. Of course I hate Jamie so...

the villians final speech about how her sister didn't have a life that mattered is chilling.

[Spartan Girl]

While I wouldn't count "Smoke" as one of my favorite episodes, I do love the ending where the molestation victim, upon finding out the extent of his parents' betrayal, retestifies against them, complete with a graphically detailed description of how they not only knew what was going to happen, but also planned the whole thing. It almost worth putting up with Serena's stupidity just for that.

[Cobalt Stargazer]

Abbie's first episode, Cherished was on Sundance early this morning, and watching her utterly demolish that wench who abandoned the baby she and her husband adopted from Russia because they couldn't deal with the responsibility of such a sick child warms my cold, black little heart every.single.time. When the woman is whinging about "What else could we have done? Tell me....what?!" I know the destruction is about to start. Love it. Just me? Okay.

[Spartan Girl]

One my least favorite episodes (or at least the one that infuriated me the most) would be "Sheltered" in which a young Sebastian Stan foreshadows his role as the Winter Soldier by playing a teen sniper and kidnap victim.  That one really gets under my skin.  I know I probably should have felt some sympathy for the kid since he was kidnapped and brainwashed, but I didn't.  And I really hated how the trial made him out to the only victim, pretty much overshadowing the FOUR PEOPLE he killed, and didn't even show the least bit remorse over it.  Bucky Barnes was brainwashed too, but he at least still took responsibility for his actions. 

And while I get why his long-lost mother and sister supported him despite his rejection, they basically chose to spend the rest of their lives as pariahs for his sake.

Even Jack went far too easy on him in his cross-examination.  I totally agreed with Arthur at the end when he thought that after murdering four innocent people he didn't deserve another chance.  And Jack's response to that "(I agree)...but I'm a father" just made me angrier.  The victims had/were parents too!  Just saying...

[topanga]

On 9/17/2016 at 10:58 PM, Cobalt Stargazer said:

Abbie's first episode, Cherished was on Sundance early this morning, and watching her utterly demolish that wench who abandoned the baby she and her husband adopted from Russia because they couldn't deal with the responsibility of such a sick child warms my cold, black little heart every.single.time. When the woman is whinging about "What else could we have done? Tell me....what?!" I know the destruction is about to start. Love it. Just me? Okay.

Abbie isn't a favorite of mine, but she did kill it in this episode. 

[GHScorpiosRule]

4 minutes ago, Spartan Girl said:

One my least favorite episodes (or at least the one that infuriated me the most) would be "Sheltered" in which a young Sebastian Stan foreshadows his role as the Winter Soldier by playing a teen sniper and kidnap victim.  

THAT was Bucky Sebastian?!????

Other than my shock over not remembering that was him, total WORD! on everything you said @Spartan Girl!

[FormerMod-a1]

22 minutes ago, Spartan Girl said:

One my least favorite episodes (or at least the one that infuriated me the most) would be "Sheltered" in which a young Sebastian Stan foreshadows his role as the Winter Soldier by playing a teen sniper and kidnap victim.  That one really gets under my skin.  I know I probably should have felt some sympathy for the kid since he was kidnapped and brainwashed, but I didn't.  And I really hated how the trial made him out to the only victim, pretty much overshadowing the FOUR PEOPLE he killed, and didn't even show the least bit remorse over it.  Bucky Barnes was brainwashed too, but he at least still took responsibility for his actions. 

I agree with all this.  I felt so bad for the other victims and their families.  This kid killed 4 people in cold blood, 3 for no reason beyond covering up and trying to keep from getting caught.  4 people that had parents and/or kids and other friends and family.  All of which he knew right from wrong, no matter how dependent he was on kidnapper dad, and they let him off.

Another thing I wish we'd gotten a little more info on was why kidnapper dad picked him.  They kind of alluded (obliquely) with mentioning he had lost a wife and kid and fill in the blanks on this being a replacement kid.  But why this kid, who had a seemingly stable good family at the time.  (Dad didn't drink until after he was kidnapped, iirc).  Did he see him every day at the park?  Did he take him totally randomly and spur of the moment (doubtful, but still)?  I didn't want it to be the focus, but just a little more exposition.  

And why did this kid have no memories of his first 5 years?  Even with the total mind control kidnapper dad had, you'd think seeing his mom and sister would stir some recollection, even while in denial and/or keeping his extreme attachment to kidnapper dad.  Even when it did seem he accepted that fact with passive aggressive swipe at them during the trial about kidnapper dad always being there for him (unlike some folks, hint hint), it seemed he believed they were his biol family more because people told him so, and not because any glimmer of recognition.  I know they really wanted to play up the mind control and abuse of kidnapper dad, but I think him accepting and recognizing his bio family and still rejecting them would be just as powerful, if not more so.  Anyway, I'm rambling and this is the least of my issues, really.  The first 2 are the big ones.

[Spartan Girl]

6 hours ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

THAT was Bucky Sebastian?!????

Other than my shock over not remembering that was him, total WORD! on everything you said @Spartan Girl!

Yup, that was Bucky. And if you want further proof that the internet's obsession with him is beyond ridiculous, someone on Tumblr referenced this episode and called him "the most adorable sniper ever." Excuse me while I vomit. I mean, I like Sebastian Stan and all, but seriously?!

I guess I automatically hate episodes where a person murders innocent people in cold blood and winds up getting off because of a sob story. Case in point: "Undercovered". Yes, the prospect of losing a child is awful and insurance companies are frustrating. But I swear that ending made me go to my Hulk angry place.

And I would NOT let a guy that bashed a guy's head in stay under the same roof as his terminally ill child.

[CraftyHazel]

On 9/5/2014 at 1:18 PM, Eolivet said:

 

Me. I love anything with the late, great Michael Zaslow (Ben Hollings, and the charismatic villain Roger Thorpe for many years on "Guiding Light"). I also loved seeing Lauren Graham before she was "famous," even if she is coming on to Curtis for reasons unknown. And it contains one of my favorite McCoy one-liners when describing Eddie Newman's descent from aspiring auteur to mainstream kiddie movie guy: "A daring neo-realist foray into Jellystone Park."

 

(But I mainly love it because my husband and I watched "Turnaround" the night of our first date, and we were the only two people we knew who loved Law & Order, and we've been married for 13 years, so it always will hold a special place in my heart.)

 

I have two least favorite Law & Orders, where I am absolutely guaranteed to turn the channel. The first is "Agony," the one with the awful serial killer who got off on torturing women and burying them in Fort Trion Park and then coming back to look at them...yuck. When he commands Abbie to "Sit down" and listen to how he made those women beg for their lives and say they admired him... :shudders:

 

The second one I don't even know the name, and I can't remember if it's Curtis or Green, but it's a little girl who was raped in a building by a fuse box, with an entire bug of bug spray stuffed down her throat, and they originally think it's one guy, but it turns out to be the oh-so-helpful building super who I believe admits he didn't use the bug spray to kill her (:shudders:), but pretty much got off on her suffering, and then has the unmitigated gall to offer a half-hearted defense of his crime: "I thought she liked me."

 

Nothing will get me to turn the channel faster than those two episodes. There were many vile, scummy criminals but these two just took the cake.

"Agony" is one of my all-time favorites!  That, and "Slave", the ones with Ellen Pompeo (even though I don't care for her outside of the "L&O" universe), and the one where the punk killer confesses to Lennnie, but nobody believes Lennie...only to find out that he really DID confess after all.

I HATE the 3-parter and the one with the execution.

[Xeliou66]

There are so many great episodes it's hard to choose a favorite. There were great ones every season, and most L&O's are very rewatchable on reruns. Certain episodes that are my favorites are : 

Teenage Wasteland : Great discussion about the death penalty and a terrific case, one of the only times Nora Lewin was remotely interesting. 

Thinking Makes It So : The episode were Fontana stuck the kidnappers head in the toilet. Very balanced and thought provoking look at when and if excessive force is ever okay, very good writing in that one. 

Marathon : Where no one believes Briscoe when he claims the suspect confessed to him, very good episode. 

Gaijin from season 14 : Just stands out as a terrific, classic L&O, good police investigation in the first half, good legal maneuvering in the second half. 

Challenged from season 19 because I really liked the character of the mentally ill witness Pete who overheard his long lost brothers murder, one of the most memorable L&O one off characters. 

From the Stone episodes, Sanctuary from season 4 stands out as a memorable episode dealing with racial tensions. Life Choice from season 1 was a great one as well. 

Best seasons would be 7 and 10, almost all episodes from those seasons were great. 

Now to the worst : 

Aftershock, easily the worst L&O ever. It split the fanbase and I'm on the side that hates it. Pure soap opera drivel that went against everything the franchise was. I don't care about the characters personal lives and most people don't either, it was a soap opera and a really fucking stupid soap opera like way to kill off Kincaid. 

Season 17 was easily the worst season and had a lot of bad episodes, the worst being Released, really stupid and offensive and I hated McCoy in that one. Talking Points was really bad as well. 

Embedded from season 14 was really bad, just felt like a forum to discuss the Iraq War in a preachy way. Pretty much the only season 14 episode I didn't like, it was an otherwise great season. 

Tragedy on Rye from season 13 because of the stupid ending. Seriously, the fact that someone stopped calling the victim means they were the killer? Totally out of the blue and a bad ending to an otherwise promising episode. 

A lot of season 5 episodes were boring IMO, episodes such as Seed, Performance and Scoundrels were just boring and uninteresting. 

[AnnieBananie]

I've always loved the L&O/Homicide crossovers - the snark between Lennie and Munch was pure gold. (But we never get to see the Homicide second parts anymore!)

In terms of individual episodes, my possible favorite is "Matrimony" (the much younger woman who marries the older man, and her mom is very southern, and gives off one of the best guest star lines: "Girl, you are as dumb as a sack of hair,") followed closely by the aforementioned "Legacy" (woman marries her stalker) and another Bradley White episode in which he stalks the soap star, "Star Struck." 

Anything "ripped from the headlines" is generally an automatic "no" for me, in addition to that wretched three-parter and, yes, "Aftershock." 

[Xeliou66]

I love the L&O/ Homicide crossovers as well, 2 great shows, but I never watch them on TV because I don't get to see the second part on Homicide, however I do have the Homicide DVD's so I watch them on there. 

Matrimony and Legacy are 2 excellent season 7 episodes, season 7 was one of the best seasons. Buy you know, most episodes are similar to some headline in some way, including Matrimony. So why are those no goes for you?

Edited February 10, 2017 by Xeliou66

[sockii]

I was just coming over here to say the Homicide crossovers are my favorites...funny that's a sentiment shared by the last two posters! Two very different casts that somehow blended together in those episodes in such interesting & entertaining ways. I could watch Briscoe and Munch trading barbs for hours on end. (I love that the HLotS DVD set has the crossovers complete on them).

It's hard for me to think of least favorites when there are a lot of episodes that just left me feeling "meh", especially post-Briscoe. Though one moment that just will forever make me go WTF is Serena's "Is this because I'm a lesbian?" in "Ain't No Love". Like...goodbye, Serena, but to just pull that non sequitur out in the middle of that conversation was the worst.

[WendyCR72]

3 hours ago, sockii said:

Serena's "Is this because I'm a lesbian?" in "Ain't No Love". Like...goodbye, Serena, but to just pull that non sequitur out in the middle of that conversation was the worst.

I don't know. She is now remembered for that line more than anything else, so it wasn't a total wash!

[Xeliou66]

Yeah that line certainly became famous, which is what they were going for. It was totally out of left field and badly acted, both actors looked very uncomfortable. 

[Snookums]

Quote

One of my least favorites episodes is the one where Julia Roberts guest starred ("Empire"/S9,E20: A businessman planning to build a new football stadium in New York City is on trial for murder. But the prosecution's star witness, a professional fundraiser who was having an affair with the victim, may have her own sinister motives.)

I HAAAAATED that for many reasons, but the biggest is the whole reason she embarked on that campaign of mendacity was because they were building a stadium and it meant sooooo much and would stand forever--I was all John Galt, what? You aren't building the Empire State Building or Union Station! This thing's going to be named Cool Ranch Dorito Stadium and be torn down in ten years to make way for overpriced condos!

[merylinkid]

On 9/3/2016 at 3:02 AM, Cobalt Stargazer said:

Megan Follows is so damn good as the distraught mother who proves that she knew she did a terrible thing and would have died with her son given half the chance.

That was Megan Follows?    OMG.   For YEARS it's been bugging me who the actess was.   I knew I recognized her but couldn't place it.

Yeah, every time I have a client of a special needs kid who might be going overboard in the martyr department, I remember that episode.

[Katy M]

On ‎9‎/‎5‎/‎2014 at 3:10 PM, Maherjunkie said:

Any time a parent says "A child is my best friend" you know you are headed for trouble!  I loved Mayhem.  Logan all the way through, with full hair and figure.

Especially if they use that line because the NEED their child to stay with them.  Which, IIRC is what happened.  The DA wanted to send the girl to a mental hospital rather than possibly to prison for life, and she said "No, she's my best friend.  What would I do without her?"  Selfish.

I always wished that we had gotten a follow-up to that epi where the girl killed again.  Maybe even killed her mother.

[Spartan Girl]

On May 17, 2017 at 2:28 PM, Katy M said:

Especially if they use that line because the NEED their child to stay with them.  Which, IIRC is what happened.  The DA wanted to send the girl to a mental hospital rather than possibly to prison for life, and she said "No, she's my best friend.  What would I do without her?"  Selfish.

I always wished that we had gotten a follow-up to that epi where the girl killed again.  Maybe even killed her mother.

That reminds me of a sort of similar moment in "Cruel and Unusual" where the mother of a mentally disabled boy approved of the torture methods a doctor was using on her son because she believed it was getting through to him (it wasn't) and while on the stand testifying for the sadistic doc, she said, "Now I have a son that loves me!"

Now I know how hard it is to have a child in that condition. And God knows we all want our kids to love us. But anyone that becomes a parent just because they want someone to love them...ugh.

Oh and FYI, just because a kid is brain damaged/has mental problems doesn't mean they aren't capable of love. So that woman could STFU.

[merylinkid]

I felt so bad for that woman.   She so wanted to believe her severely autistic son was communicating with her.   Then to find out it was all wishful thinking.

Of course, the ending was horrible.   She told McCoy she didn't know where to send him now that the torture clinic was closed.

[Spartan Girl]

3 minutes ago, merylinkid said:

I felt so bad for that woman.   She so wanted to believe her severely autistic son was communicating with her.   Then to find out it was all wishful thinking.

Of course, the ending was horrible.   She told McCoy she didn't know where to send him now that the torture clinic was closed.

I did feel a wisp of pity when she found out she wasn't actually communicating with her son. That pity evaporated when it became obvious that she rather would have kept her son in the torture clinic because she didn't know what else to do with him.

[Cobalt Stargazer]

19 hours ago, merylinkid said:

I felt so bad for that woman.   She so wanted to believe her severely autistic son was communicating with her.   Then to find out it was all wishful thinking.

Of course, the ending was horrible.   She told McCoy she didn't know where to send him now that the torture clinic was closed.

"Do you want him, Mr. McCoy? Can he come home with you now?"

I felt a tiny bit bad for her myself, because I can't imagine what it'd be like knowing that nothing can be done for the child you brought into the world. But the bitter way she asked Jack if he wanted the responsibility of taking care of the kid because he had the clinic shut down - y'know, the clinic that had already resulted in one death - made me pretty sure she was more worried that her son's presence in her life would be a burden/inconvenience.

[GHScorpiosRule]

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

She was much more palatable then, because I just wanted to rant and rave when she refused to help Jack shut down the clinic.??? Yeah, I'm a big, mean cold-hearted monster.

[topanga]

'DNR' was on recently, and I'd forgotten how much I enjoyed this ep. The plot surrounding the female judge being shot then defending her husband was tense and moving. And everyone's performances were excellent, especially Lindsay Crouse, who played the judge. She had me close to tears during her testimony at the hearing when she turned to the presiding judge and said, "Lisa, make them stop."

[Xeliou66]

18 minutes ago, topanga said:

'DNR' was on recently, and I'd forgotten how much I enjoyed this ep. The plot surrounding the female judge being shot then defending her husband was tense and moving. And everyone's performances were excellent, especially Lindsay Crouse, who played the judge. She had me close to tears during her testimony at the hearing when she turned to the presiding judge and said, "Lisa, make them stop."

Agree completely with DNR, that's a great episode that I can watch anytime, great investigation followed by fascinating legal case, classic L&O. That courtroom scene at the end was terrific. 

I just saw Hot Pursuit on WE, that's another one of my favorite episodes. They didn't use the ticking clock format often, but they used it well when they did, and this was the best one of those. I have to say, I found Kincaid a bit annoying with her constant defense of the rich girl in the second half, she was almost Serena like. And I loved Schiff's line to McCoy after Danielle Melnick used evidence that McCoy got admitted to help her case and they were discussing it in Schiff's office, Schiff says "she's (the defendant ) not as smart as her lawyer. You are" with a classic delivery. Steven Hill had such a great way of delivering lines.

[mahree]

On 5/21/2017 at 8:05 PM, Spartan Girl said:

That reminds me of a sort of similar moment in "Cruel and Unusual"

The episode with Steve from Blues Clues as the person who dies in the opening scene!

[topanga]

3 hours ago, mahree said:

The episode with Steve from Blues Clues as the person who dies in the opening scene!

Really? How did I miss that? I used to watch that show twice a day when the kids were little. 

Off to see if it's playing again soon...

[mahree]

Here is a (very dark) still - he's the one that starts flipping our at the precinct and when Logan tries to restrain him he dies.