Season 6: A Charming (?) Rey of Sunshine

[radishcake]

Ah season 6. How we love/hate you! <3

 

1 Bitter Fruit 1995-09-20
2 Rebels 1995-09-27
3 Savages 1995-10-18
4 Jeopardy 1995-11-01
5 Hot Pursuit 1995-11-08
6 Paranoia 1995-11-15
7 Humiliation 1995-11-22
8 Angel 1995-11-29
9 Blood Libel 1996-01-03
10 Remand 1996-01-10
11 Corpus Delicti 1996-01-17
12 Trophy 1996-01-31
13 Charm City (1) 1996-02-02
Special For God and Country (2) (Homicide: Life on the Street) 1996-02-09 
14 Custody 1996-02-21
15 Encore 1996-02-28
16 Savior 1996-03-13
17 Deceit 1996-03-27
18 Atonement 1996-04-10
19 Slave 1996-04-21
20 Girlfriends 1996-05-01
21 Pro Se 1996-05-08
22 Homesick 1996-05-15
23 Aftershock 1996-05-22

Edited June 28, 2014 by radishcake
Adding Season List

[GHScorpiosRule]

Rey? Charming? Anything BUT. And someone please explain to me, why every single female and gay guy, was always hitting on his sanctimonious ass.
 
Watching "Paranoia", I'd forgotten what a judgmental douche Curtis was; pontificating how he wouldn't let his girls watch any network television, how it's evil...blah, blah, blah...loved Lennie's come back about shooting the television or something. I remember thinking, Curtis thinks Network television is bad? Wait a few more years for cable, you ass.
 
I was looking forward to seeing the episode with Larry Miller, "Encore" who finally got caught and indicted for at least killing wife No. 2, since he'd gotten away with killing wife No. 1 in Season five, which I think was "Coma."
 
I'm always amazed at the talent of the comics that play rapists and murderers on this show. Larry Miller, Stephen Colbert (CI), Darrel Hammond, to name a few.

 

And then there's "Aftershock" when he cheated on his wife. Because oh noes! Watching a murderer being executed was so traumatizing, he couldn't seek solace with his wife, but with Jennifer Garner's graduate student character.

Edited May 14, 2014 by GHScorpiosRule

[radishcake]

Oh man I forgot that was Jennifer Garner! Now here's a devils advocate position, why is Rey's moralizing worse than Max Greevey's? I find their Catholic worldview very similar and both of them rail against the evils of the world and it's affect on their children.

I did find the constant "Rey is so attractive" annoying but they did that with Chris Noth too and Jeremy Sisto IIRC. Maybe it's just Benjamin Bratt you don't like! :)

[rujasu]

I don't like Curtis either, and I think Benjamin Bratt is a big part of that.  He is not a good actor.

[FormerMod-a1]

It's funny, I never had a problem with him while I was watching "live".   I may have disagreed with him at times, just like any other character, but it never bugged me.  It wasn't until after coming to online discussion groups (like this) well after the fact that I even noticed the moralizing and other annoying things.  And rewatching some of those eps, I do see what people are talking about, but I still enjoy them.

[DXD526]

Why is Rey's moralizing worse than Max Greevey's?

 

It's not, IMO. I always found them to be very similar characters. I know there's lots of Max Greevey love on these threads, but I've always thought he was sanctimonious and irritating, and I was glad he was gone after one season. As for Rey, I also didn't mind him during his run, but watching now, years later, he's really annoying. It's nice to stumble across a L&O re-run, particularly in the wee hours, but whenever it's a Rey episode, it's like, ugh. Where are Briscoe and Green when you need them?

[radishcake]

Oh man I forgot this was the season where they had the Homicide Life on the Street crossover! Cool stuff. 

[GHScorpiosRule]

Oh man I forgot this was the season where they had the Homicide Life on the Street crossover! Cool stuff. 

 

Yeah, but one was a two parter, I think, and since Homicide isn't on the air, we don't see the resolution! Nor do the dvds give us those part two episodes, so we're left hanging!

[radishcake]

What the whaaaa? So dumb. I loved Homicide too. Stream it Netflix!!

[GHScorpiosRule]

What the whaaaa? So dumb. I loved Homicide too. Stream it Netflix!!

Moolah

[DXD526]

All episodes of Homicide, and the three Law & Order crossovers, are on the Homicide 'filing cabinet' box set. It was available on ebay last time I checked.

[DXD526]

Caught "Paranoia" last night and found it nearly unwatchable. It should be called "Sanctimony". Rey's sanctimonious crap is relentless, he never stops for the entire episode. And worse is the fact that he keeps dissing Lennie. Every time Lennie tells him to do something, he does the opposite. Hey Rey, Len's been on the job a hell of a lot longer than you, he's been around the block a few times and has earned some respect, so when he talks, STFU and listen, you arrogant, clueless turd. Ugh. Can't. Stand. Him.

[Princess Sparkle]

And someone please explain to me, why every single female and gay guy, was always hitting on his sanctimonious ass.

 

Well, I will say this - if he never spoke, I'd be all over him.  Because I find Benjamin Bratt to be a beautiful, beautiful man.  But Rey should never speak...like, ever.  

 

Yeah, but one was a two parter, I think, and since Homicide isn't on the air, we don't see the resolution! Nor do the dvds give us those part two episodes, so we're left hanging!

 

If anyone wants a summary of the resolution (I went to look, since I HATED that you could never see it on tv in reruns), here's the wikipedia summary.  

[GHScorpiosRule]

Oh YUCK! Pod!Paul is on! "Custody" Why oh am I watching? Because I'm a masochist, that's why!

 

And as for "Trophy", really, Adam? Jack and Diana were two of your best? Please. Ben was in your office when the original murders happened.

 

Ugh, I can't emphasize enough how gross I found Diane's statement to Jack near the end, how she lied and was guilty of the prosecutorial misconduct "for mah maaaaan." UGH. Gross. BLECH. YUCK!

 

And Claire's got the WORST poker face.

[Princess Sparkle]

Oh YUCK! Pod!Paul is on! "Custody" Why oh am I watching? Because I'm a masochist, that's why!

 

*LA LA LA LA LA* I can't hear you, that Paul doesn't exist!  He and Stone clearly left to set up a small law firm in a small town,  and Paul's evil twin is the one who shows up post-S3.  

[GHScorpiosRule]

*LA LA LA LA LA* I can't hear you, that Paul doesn't exist!  He and Stone clearly left to set up a small law firm in a small town,  and Paul's evil twin is the one who shows up post-S3.  

 

Agree! That's why I called him Pod!Paul. You don't think I'd call original and Awesome Paul a Pod, do you?

[WendyCR72]

Ugh, re-watching "Aftershock." Why in the hell did Rey have to attend the execution? Just because he's Lennie's partner? Rey had zero connection to the executed guy. 

 

I missed my chance re-watching this season over the last week to start a Rey-related spreadsheet, charting how many episodes someone commented on his attractiveness and/or hit on him; or he interjected his religion into an investigation. Off the top of my head, I'd say it's been every. single. one.

 

UGH, Rey. I loved Logan with Briscoe and also liked Ed Green(e), but Rey "High Horse" Curtis? I was so glad to see the back of his sanctimonious ass.

[WendyCR72]

It's just...if he didn't always act like he was judge, jury, and executioner on EVERY. FREAKING. THING., I maybe could have tolerated him, but his dig at Lennie and his dead daughter in regards to frozen embryos, and the whole sanctity of marriage only for St. Rey to cheat himself?

 

Dude, STFU and have several seats.

[GHScorpiosRule]

Well, everyone here know how much I 'luuuuuuurve' Rey (insert sarcasm), but I do have to admit, that I do like "Encore" only because it revisits the case of Larry Miller's wife killing character, that they finally got here.

 

"What happened to the other guy?" his line to Lennie, asking about Logan, who was Lennie's partner in Season 5, episode two with the first murder.

[ktwo]

Watched most of Season 6 on We yesterday and the day before. Rey irks me so much because otherwise the episodes are SO good. The writers really had it together that year. Encore, as previously mentioned. Atonement, with pre-Sopranos Michael Imperioli. Hot Pursuit with Amanda Peet (yes, I love her, I know not everyone does.) Slave! The college hookers episode, the nanny episode, the serial killer violinist episode - all of these were really unpredictable on first watch and full of twists and turns - the good kind that hold up on rewatch, not the kind that stretch the imagination as in much later years. And Rey is the only sore thumb of the bunch. That season would have been just as good or better without the "conflict" between Lennie and Rey that the PTB apparently thought was lacking between Lennie and Mike.

[GHScorpiosRule]

Watched most of Season 6 on We yesterday and the day before. Rey irks me so much because otherwise the episodes are SO good. The writers really had it together that year. Encore, as previously mentioned. Atonement, with pre-Sopranos Michael Imperioli. Hot Pursuit with Amanda Peet (yes, I love her, I know not everyone does.) Slave! The college hookers episode, the nanny episode, the serial killer violinist episode - all of these were really unpredictable on first watch and full of twists and turns - the good kind that hold up on rewatch, not the kind that stretch the imagination as in much later years. And Rey is the only sore thumb of the bunch. That season would have been just as good or better without the "conflict" between Lennie and Rey that the PTB apparently thought was lacking between Lennie and Mike.

 

Wordy, McWordy, Word, ktwo!

 

And please. Lennie and Mike had their own differences of opinion, just not in every.fucking.episode.  There was the growing pains, when Sorvino left, and Mike was going around telling everyone that Lennie being his partner was only temporary.  They had differences of opinions about perps' they were investigating and if x or y or a, b or d was the right perp.  Then there was that line in "Breeder" I think, when abortion came up, and Lennie made a crack, and Mike snapped back "I didn't want the abortion, she did" or something like that. Which just made/makes me love him more, because for Mike, it's not ALL ABOUT MIKE and his "man" feelings. Perfect Man; because he's so very flawed. Which makes him Perfect.

 

Capisce?

[GHScorpiosRule]

If only they could have shoehorned a way for Rey to have found out about the abortion, so he could give his judge-y face and then say he'd pray for Mike's soul.

 

Chatty I liked your post, not because I agree, but because it's SO true what ReySanctimoniousarseholeCurtis would say, and it made me laugh and guffaw.

[wanderingstar]

I am watching "Savior" now on Sundance. I've always liked this episode, particularly for the twist at the end.

[txhorns79]

I caught the episode, Homesick, and I realized that Jack and Claire suborn perjury, as they knew (and had proof) the son was going to lie in his testimony, and more bizarrely, they set it up so the kid will confess to the murder on the stand, rather than just dropping the case against the au pair and going after the son.  And I'm not even going to get into the fact that what appeared to be a 15 or 16 year old was allowed to give a confession in the Judge's chambers, without ever speaking to his parents.    

 

Also, shut up Patti LuPone. 

Edited February 9, 2015 by txhorns79

[Spartan Girl]

Re "Homesick" I can't watch that episode because dead babies are where I draw the line.  But let me just add that I thought the dad in that case was such a complete asshole.  Nothing justifies killing a baby, of course, but I sure as hell did not feel sorry for him.

[wanderingstar]

And I'm not even going to get into the fact that what appeared to be a 15 or 16 year old was allowed to give a confession in the Judge's chambers, without ever speaking to his parents.

 

 

Yes! I just saw that ep, and the kid says, "I don't need a lawyer." Once again, I screamed at my TV "Yes, you do!"

[FormerMod-a1]

Humiliation was just on, and while overall a fine episode I never did like the motive of Mrs Danforth.  Her husband is cheating on her and rather than get a divorce, she kills the other woman (a prostitute) and frames her husband so he will "hurt as much as [she] does".  The hell?  She also says how she was "supposed to smile and be happy and bounce up and down with him once a week"...  Why?  Why was she "supposed to"?  Who was making her?  Herself, that's who.  Idiot.  I (obviously) felt nothing for her, didn't sympathize at all.

[ByTor]

I didn't particularly like Rey, but I didn't mind him much either.  That being said, I don't remember the episode's name, but I LOATHED him in that one where the hyper-religious woman throws her baby in an incinerator so she could be out of this horrible world and in heaven.  How in the hell did he think that making her spend an entire day walking around with him was an okey-dokey way to get a confession?  Did he REALLY think it would stick??? 

[Arcadiasw]

I started watching L&O during the Green years and stayed with it until the end. So I only caught Rey's years in syndication. I thought he was okay but a little too judgmental and very ignorant to be a cop. Sometimes it seemed as if he was trying to provoke an argument with Lennie and made big deals over nothing. I can't recall which episode but Lennie was in a restaurant eating breakfast on the house and encourage Rey to get the special. Rey considered the free meal a bribe even though Lennie explained he helped out the employers' kid a while back. Rey's first year was definitely his worst year and after his holier than thou attitude was taken down a peg with his affair he became a little more tolerant. Still, he continued to do things that caused my eyes to roll until he left the series.

[Spartan Girl]

One of my all time favorite Jack moments was in "Bitter Fruit", where a woman shoots the guy that kidnapped and murdered her daughter...and then we find out the actually hired the guy to kidnap her daughter to get back at her ex husband.

At the end of the episode , the bitch is ranting about how horrible her marriage was and blaming everyone else but herself for the whole mess, ending with "I loved my daughter!"

Jack, barely able to mask his contempt, replies, "But. You hated your husband more."

Love love LOVE that moment.

[WendyCR72]

L&O: UK re-did "Bitter Fruit", and it was fine, but I think the original had much more punch to it.

[an463]

Please, for the love of god, can someone explain this to me?  I've seen this episode a thousand times and watched and rewatched the exchange between Jack and Adam, and I keep feeling like the tag at the end ("second time in thirty years") is supposed to be a winking reference to the FIRST time he lied - otherwise, why not just leave it at "I lied"? - but for the life of me I can't figure out what that would be.  I feel like I'm missing some crucial piece of information or that I'm somehow missing the joke here, and I feel like the answer is something simple staring me in the face and I'm just too dumb to see it.

 

Season 6, Episode 10, Remand
Jack: "Didn't you tell me you never make this job personal?"
Adam: "I lied...second time in thirty years."

 

Anyone?

[WendyCR72]

Please, for the love of god, can someone explain this to me?  I've seen this episode a thousand times and watched and rewatched the exchange between Jack and Adam, and I keep feeling like the tag at the end ("second time in thirty years") is supposed to be a winking reference to the FIRST time he lied - otherwise, why not just leave it at "I lied"? - but for the life of me I can't figure out what that would be.  I feel like I'm missing some crucial piece of information or that I'm somehow missing the joke here, and I feel like the answer is something simple staring me in the face and I'm just too dumb to see it.

 

Season 6, Episode 10, Remand

Jack: "Didn't you tell me you never make this job personal?"

Adam: "I lied...second time in thirty years."

 

Anyone?

Maybe it's just what he meant: Another time we are not privy to in his career when things did get personal. :-)

[Cobalt Stargazer]

The crossover of the Mothership and Homicide: Life on the Streets, Charm City, is on  Sundance right now. I had forgotten that Frank Pembleton and Tim Bayliss came up from Baltimore to assist with a case, with a side order of animosity. And as much as I don't really dislike Jack, watching him confront Pembleton after him and Bayliss interrogated a suspect, resulting in the confession being thrown out because they didn't have any authority in Manhattan, is making me say, "Get out of Frank's face, Jack. If you could use the confession, you would, out of their jurisdiction or not, so put a sock in it."

 

Yes, I need a life.

[GHScorpiosRule]

Yeah, I couldn't look past the hypocrisy of our New York cops getting all indignant over how Pembleton and Bayliss were doing their job, when they do the same fucking thing all the time. Ignoring perps when they ask for laywers, Jack lying, cutting corners.

 

And I find myself wishing for Ben Stone.

[an463]

The crossover of the Mothership and Homicide: Life on the Streets, Charm City, is on  Sundance right now. I had forgotten that Frank Pembleton and Tim Bayliss came up from Baltimore to assist with a case, with a side order of animosity. And as much as I don't really dislike Jack, watching him confront Pembleton after him and Bayliss interrogated a suspect, resulting in the confession being thrown out because they didn't have any authority in Manhattan, is making me say, "Get out of Frank's face, Jack. If you could use the confession, you would, out of their jurisdiction or not, so put a sock in it."

 

Yes, I need a life.

Naw, I think when you love a show these things just rankle.  

 

I always found these sorts of instances to be sloppy, lazy, formulaic writing.  Thankfully rare from this show, but to be expected on network TV.  How many times does Jack cross the line or give his own detectives the go-ahead to do what they need to?  That's his whole character - he rides and occasionally crosses the line.  

 

But because the script in this case needs a conflict - (here's the formulaic part) because this is what we're all supposed to expect in this sort of a movie/tv situation, namely a turf war - the writers just go ahead and assign the stock reactions to whatever characters they have.  I could see Adam or Rey or Claire being outraged, but from Jack this doesn't fit for me.  Coming from Ben it would have made perfect sense, or Jack being pissed that they failed to go FAR enough to get what he needed.  But not this.

 

I actually just watched a Season 9 episode (Episode 4, Flight, I think) where the FBI comes together to help the police on a case, and they're all sitting at a table discussing, and just as I'm wondering when the cliche turf war will start, out of nowhere an FBI guy says (paraphrasing), "By the way, our usual turf wars are all on hold, we're all going to cooperate, etc." and without even acknowledging the non-sequitur the discussion continues.  

 

To me this almost felt like the writers breaking the fourth wall and saying to the audience, "you know that thing that happens in every cop movie/tv drama ever, and that we ourselves always do?  Well we don't have time for it this time, so we're not gonna do it because reasons.  Ok, back to the show."

[Cobalt Stargazer]

Naw, I think when you love a show these things just rankle.  

 

Speaking of, Custody is on right now.

 

STFU, Pod!Paul.

[an463]

Maybe it's just what he meant: Another time we are not privy to in his career when things did get personal. :-)

Thanks, I think you're exactly right!  

 

I re-read a synopsis of the episode and apparently the origin of the case in question was 30 years prior (don't know why I didn't notice that before) and Adam prosecuted it himself.  So probably the first time he said something along those lines was 30 years ago when he prosecuted the case, and clearly both times he let a nasty case affect him personally. 

[an463]

 

Speaking of, Custody is on right now.

 

STFU, Pod!Paul.

You know, I totally agree, because wow, he's a completely different person, and the kind of person that Paul always saw right through and was disgusted by.

 

But the one tiny sliver of credit I give the show as a whole - and again, I totally agree that the new Paul isn't Paul at all - is that at least there was a setup and a pay off with his change of heart.  The writers at least put in the minimal effort to go back and check the character's history and find some way to at least TRY to justify the character arc.  I guess considering the way things eventually went downhill with this show, I'm impressed by the earlier years when there was more thought and effort (however minimal or misguided) put into things.

 

There were a couple of times in early seasons where they at least setup the idea that Paul was unsure of his identity and was searching for an answer: the discussion he has with Ben (which he references in Custody) about whether he's a black lawyer or a lawyer who's black, and an episode where Marcus Tate's widow tells him to look into the hearts of the men he has coffee with every morning, and we see him stop alone in the dark at the end of the episode, clearly questioning things.  So when he finally shows up again, it pays off those moments, though in no way do I think they actually planned for that so far in advance, nor do I think the answer he would have arrived at is his new persona.

 

Also...Richard Brooks did get paid, so there's that.

[wanderingstar]

I DVR'd "Humiliation" for the umpteenth time (mostly to watch Clare Wren's tight, pasted on smile). Rey is so insufferably judgmental of the plastic surgeon who had sex with the prostitute that I have to think it's foreshadowing for Rey's own little indiscretion at the end of this season.

[GHScorpiosRule]

I'm just deleting all the season six episodes, EXCEPT..."Trophy was on this morning! So I'm watching it, but not really paying attention. Except (thar's that word again!) that I'm noticing how miffed Jack is that Claire isn't all gung ho and automatically on his side, when they're "role playing" about what she would say about him.

 

And the only other episode I'm interested in seeing again, is the one where Larry Miller's wife murdering ass, finally gets caught.

[Cobalt Stargazer]

Claire: " 'He didn't feel it was his duty to disclose.' Does that help?"

 

Jack: "Not when you say it like that."

 

Me: "Don't ask her questions you don't want the answer to, then."

[BW Manilowe]

I'm just deleting all the season six episodes, EXCEPT..."Trophy was on this morning! So I'm watching it, but not really paying attention. Except (thar's that word again!) that I'm noticing how miffed Jack is that Claire isn't all gung ho and automatically on his side, when they're "role playing" about what she would say about him.

And the only other episode I'm interested in seeing again, is the one where Larry Miller's wife murdering ass, finally gets caught.

That ep was on TNT at 6AM Eastern this morning (Valentine's Day). I couldn't sleep & I watched it.

[GHScorpiosRule]

Oh boo hoo! First Jack convinces Liz to make a diagnosis about the family annihilator in "Savior" even though she hasn't spoken with the defendant, and Jack told her he wouldn't take the stand. So when Jack breaks him down to the point where Weber broke down in tears, but still claiming his innocence, Jack assumes they've won, and then pouts when Liz qualifies her diagnosis--when she says he should have confessed when he broke down. Jack's all butt-hurt and indignant because Liz didn't "tell" him about this aspect.

 

I did love Liz coming back with, first, she told HIM that she was on shaky ground and that Jack told her Weber wouldn't testify.  Even Adam started to complain about Liz. Good thing Claire defended Liz.  And look! Claire calls Jack out on wanting to win, sometimes to the point he overlooks stuff.  And then Jack tells Adam, no need to tell the defense what Liz said, because "it's not exculpatory."

 

Bleagh. I see Jack pull this kind of shit and I never fail to think: How would Ben Stone have handled this?

[GHScorpiosRule]

How could I forget that this season had my second favorite episode, "Homesick"? Only because of Patti Lupone and for the buuuurn that Liz gave to Jack, when, once again, he approached her to make a diagnosis on the stand about a suspect/defendant that she hadn't even spoken with. She told him she didn't want to do it, because if she didn't give him what he wanted, he'd start bitching about not getting the result he wanted, just like he did in "Savior.".  I had walked away to my kitchen, so missed what Jack said, but I think Liz did respond with "Jack, that's the nicest thing you've ever said to me." Or something like that.

 

But Lupone was just wonderful as Ruthie Miller. I posted in the recurring characters thread that I just love her, and she's the ONLY defense attorney I did like over the years, that appeared on a recurring basis. I just wish she had recurred more than just the two episodes.

[Cobalt Stargazer]

And it wasn't just Liz, either. Jack would also get P.O.'ed at Van Buren if the cops couldn't get him what he wanted, and if they did get it and it got thrown out or suppressed, he'd get pissed about that. As annoying as Rey could often be, I liked it when he'd tell Jack that if he thought he could be a better cop that him or Briscoe, he should have given it a try.

[GHScorpiosRule]

And it wasn't just Liz, either. Jack would also get P.O.'ed at Van Buren if the cops couldn't get him what he wanted, and if they did get it and it got thrown out or suppressed, he'd get pissed about that. As annoying as Rey could often be, I liked it when he'd tell Jack that if he thought he could be a better cop that him or Briscoe, he should have given it a try.

 

 

Yeah, that was another example of why Jack just infuriated me and why I love Stone so much more. Jack DEMANDS that the cops get him the evidence he needs, no matter what corners need to be cut, and when they do, and the evidence is thrown out, he gets into a hissy fit like a whiny man-boy, acting as if the cops had acted on their own.

 

And I hate how he acted toward Van Buren in "Competence" which was in the previous season, when Van Buren ended up shooting that mentally challenged kid. And oh look! We learned that Jack's old man was a beat cop in Chicago, who he hated.

 

Mike was AWESOME in that episode.

[Maherjunkie]

AS in every episode, but of course I have a bias.

[Arcadiasw]

I’ve seen “Aftershock” several times. I understood why Jack and Lennie ended up at the bar and the emotions they were going through that day. I understood Claire and why she left the office, delayed picking up Jack and fatally drove Lennie home but I still don’t understand Rey’s affair and what led to that. All season he’s been described as a family man, as someone who is faithful to his wife, love her and their children. I know L&O don’t focus on the personal lives of the characters but Rey’s affair comes out of nowhere. In real life there aren’t always answers or explanations but for TV I think there should be some even if it’s as small as Rey mentioning he and his wife had been arguing a lately or argued the morning of the execution and he didn’t want to go home.  

[wanderingstar]

It's been a while since I saw "Aftershock," but I think Rey cheating on Deborah was supposed to be his way of coping with seeing the execution - like he was just acting out. But I'm ok with there being no explanation, because as you said, Arcadiasw, IRL sometimes people cheat for reasons unknown even to themselves. From a storytelling standpoint, I think the writers just wanted to do something to complicate the Rey character - not that it made him particularly interesting to me.