Season One: Law & Order Goes Cerebral

[TakomaSnark]

'Jones' is on and I can't help missing some commentery here.

[Xeliou66]

Season 1 on BBC America today -

Phantom is a good episode, the theme of a con artist sociopath who pretends to be what he’s not has been done plenty of times on the franchise, but it was done well here and it was a compelling case and hunt for the fraudster/murderer, who was even about to kill his own children before he was stopped.

I love the episode Seizure, very strong, twisted and suspenseful plot with the serial killer and the two scummy research doctors - really wild twist with Dr Dwyer being manipulated by both the serial killer and Dr Buckman, Buckman was manipulative scum, he just wanted to make sure his theory wasn’t discredited, so he set up a murder, Dwyer was a psycho and a nut, willing to kill for the sociopathic serial killer Reddick. Great investigation by Goren/Eames and Carver got some nice stuff as well in this one. 

[Shadow Lass]

"Seizure" is the episode where it's introduced that someone in Goren's family is schizophrenic.

I don't know if schizophrenia just fascinated Balcer and the other producers, or there was someone in their family with the condition; it seemed that if someone had mental difficulties on CI, it usually involved schizophrenia, not bipolar disorder or anything else.

[wknt3]

19 hours ago, Shadow Lass said:

I don't know if schizophrenia just fascinated Balcer and the other producers, or there was someone in their family with the condition; it seemed that if someone had mental difficulties on CI, it usually involved schizophrenia, not bipolar disorder or anything else.

SVU pretty much has bipolar disorder locked up within the franchise...

[Shadow Lass]

Been watching Season 1 on Peacock yesterday and today. "Enemy Within" is on now. That was one crazy old guy.

[Xeliou66]

18 minutes ago, Shadow Lass said:

Been watching Season 1 on Peacock yesterday and today. "Enemy Within" is on now. That was one crazy old guy.

Enemy Within had some memorable characters but the plot was so convoluted and contrived that it was one of season 1’s weaker episodes, and season 1 didn’t have many weak episodes. The actor who played the old rich guy who died in the fire played several other roles on the Mothership. 

[Shadow Lass]

Well, we get a Howard Hughes type vic, two selfish family members, plus a commentary about the shitty way rich people treat their help.

[peacheslatour]

1 hour ago, Shadow Lass said:

Well, we get a Howard Hughes type vic, two selfish family members, plus a commentary about the shitty way rich people treat their help.

And an oddly social climbing heath care aide.

[Shadow Lass]

4 hours ago, peacheslatour said:

And an oddly social climbing heath care aide.

I don't know if Zainer was social climbing as much as he was obsessed by getting his kids into a good school (shades of "Kissinger" later on). People do weird things to get their kids into a better school. The lady across the street from us lied about where she lived and then when she got found out, the whole family moved so her kids would go to a better rated school.

[Shadow Lass]

Watching the end of "Smothered" and chuckling through the scene where Roger Jameson and Goren are having their "eye duel" (it's when he's talking about having scars on his genitals from torture). Just the posturing they do with their eyes and little flicks of expression.

[peacheslatour]

36 minutes ago, Shadow Lass said:

Watching the end of "Smothered" and chuckling through the scene where Roger Jameson and Goren are having their "eye duel" (it's when he's talking about having scars on his genitals from torture). Just the posturing they do with their eyes and little flicks of expression.

VDO is a terrific "eye actor".

[Xeliou66]

I watched The Good Doctor again last night on Charge, this is one of my favorites, and every time I watch it I think about how I wish Carver had gotten more screen time - he was awesome in court in this one. He could’ve been just as beloved as any L&O lawyer had he gotten more screentime. It’s a travesty he barely got to go in court. Carver’s cross of the smug Kelmer was awesome, he threw him off balance by asking about the dissections in between asking about his marriage and then got him to explode. Goren was at his best as well in this one. It’s a classic CI episode.

I watched some of The Third Horseman a bit later, I love the manhunt for the sniper in this one and how they figured out who was his next target. Eames was great and very passionate in this one. But it’s the one time Carver kind of annoyed me - he seemed to have personal anti abortion views and it seemed like he was letting it cloud his judgment. 

[peacheslatour]

5 hours ago, Xeliou66 said:

I watched The Good Doctor again last night on Charge, this is one of my favorites, and every time I watch it I think about how I wish Carver had gotten more screen time - he was awesome in court in this one. He could’ve been just as beloved as any L&O lawyer had he gotten more screentime. It’s a travesty he barely got to go in court. Carver’s cross of the smug Kelmer was awesome, he threw him off balance by asking about the dissections in between asking about his marriage and then got him to explode. Goren was at his best as well in this one. It’s a classic CI episode.

I watched some of The Third Horseman a bit later, I love the manhunt for the sniper in this one and how they figured out who was his next target. Eames was great and very passionate in this one. But it’s the one time Carver kind of annoyed me - he seemed to have personal anti abortion views and it seemed like he was letting it cloud his judgment. 

All The L&O's seemed to need several characters like that. It bugged me too.

[Xeliou66]

23 minutes ago, peacheslatour said:

All The L&O's seemed to need several characters like that. It bugged me too.

What do you mean specifically? Are you talking about Carver’s comments in The Third Horseman?

[Xeliou66]

Season 1 is on Charge again now 

Jones is a really good episode, with the lawyer killing his mistresses, Henry Talbot was an interesting villain - his wife was stupid and pathetic, why on earth was she standing by him? She was beyond pathetic. Goren and Eames final confrontation with Henry was great - Goren taunting him about feeling inadequate and small and that’s why he loved petite women was pretty great, he certainly got under Henry’s skin and caused him to lash out and incriminate himself. Carver was barely in this episode but Deakins had a large role.

The Extra Man is another strong case, with the good twist that the fake DuPont guy killed his assistant and made people think it was him who was dead - Goren luring him out was quite good. I did think Carver took a big risk by charging the others for murdering the perp knowing the perp wasn’t dead - seems like he could’ve gotten into ethical trouble if others figured out he knew all along the guy wasn’t dead. But I guess he could say he didn’t know for sure. 

[Shadow Lass]

On 6/16/2024 at 1:01 AM, Xeliou66 said:

Quote

 his wife was stupid and pathetic, why on earth was she standing by him? She was beyond pathetic.

The Extra Man is another strong case,

I think she was always insecure about herself, and the fact that Talbot actually wanted to marry her--of course he did it for her money, but I think she made herself believe it was for herself--made her overlook his indiscretions. And of course he supplied her with her drugs! After all, he did come home, and they had two nice kids...can you imagine what happened to those poor kids? Dad's in prison, Mom's been outed as a drug addict...

I always enjoy "Extra Man" because I vaguely remember the guy who passed himself off as a Rockefeller for so long. Wealthy people on this series really get raked over the coals!